Margaret Abbott, the first American woman to win an Olympic event, died at age 76 without knowing of her pioneering feat.

The 1900 Games in Paris were the first that allowed women to compete, but also so nascent and unorganized that Abbott spent the rest of her life under the impression she’d merely won a local golf tournament. It didn’t help that her prize was a gilded porcelain bowl and not a gold medal.

Paula Welch, now professor emeritus at the University of Florida, unearthed Abbott’s milestone decades later. It was a revelation that even surprised Abbott’s son, Philip Dunne.

“It’s not every day that you learn your mother was an Olympic champion, 80-odd years after the fact,” Dunne wrote in a 1984 Golf Digest article.

There will be no mistaking such epic moments for female competitors at the 2024 Paris Games. If Simone Biles, the most decorated gymnast in history, triumphs again, if charismatic sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson breaks away from the pack, if world-record holder Katie Ledecky adds to her collection of seven swimming golds, they’ll relaunch as international media sensations by daybreak.

The transformation underscores just how much women have reshaped the Olympics since the fledgling 1900 competition, when only 22 of the 997 athletes were female. The Winter and Summer Games of long ago have emerged into platforms where the women are household names just as much as the men. The 2024 Paris Games are set to be the first to feature as many female athletes as male.

For most of the 1980s and ’90s, few female athletes in the United States were as famous as Jackie Joyner-Kersee. The stylish, personable star of USA Track & Field set numerous world records and won six Olympic medals, including three golds.

She understands the power of this juncture in women’s sports history. And in grand Olympic style, she’s ready to pass the torch.

“What I love is the respect that I see from this generation,” Joyner-Kersee, 62, told The Athletic. “But you also want them to have their moments. I think that’s very important. My era was my era. I did what I did, but what can I pass on to you that can help you?

“With (the) Olympics around the corner, with what Sha’Carri Richardson was able to do becoming world champion, and Sydney (McLaughlin-Levrone) running under 51 seconds in the 400 hurdles, the excitement around women’s athletics (is growing).”

Biles, who has 37 Olympic and World Championship gymnastics medals, headlines an impressive group of U.S. female athletes headed to Paris. There also is Richardson, Ledecky and gymnastics star Suni Lee, as well as the U.S. women’s basketball, water polo and soccer teams.

Joyner-Kersee knows just how life-changing Olympic glory can be.

“Every time I was on the podium,” she said, “I always thought about my community of East St. Louis (Ill.), and then also about the coaches who believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

Her gratitude extends to an even earlier Olympic sensation. Wilma Rudolph was the breakout star of the 1960 Summer Games in Rome, where she became the first American woman to win three track and field gold medals (100 meters, 200 meters and the 400-meter relay) at a single Olympics. She became a household name in Italy, along with other male U.S. Olympic standouts such as boxer Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), basketball star Oscar Robertson and decathlete Rafer Johnson.

Rudolph made numerous TV appearances and earned a slew of honors, including the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year Award in 1960 and 1961. She retired from competition in 1962 and went on to teach, coach and run a community center, among other endeavors, though her Olympic accomplishments on the track remained her best known.

Her fame put her in a position years later to offer advice to Joyner-Kersee. That conversation took place after the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, after Joyner-Kersee left with a silver medal in the heptathlon and a whiff of disappointment. She narrowly missed out on the gold with which she later would be synonymous.

Rudolph, a broadcaster during those 1984 Games, took Joyner-Kersee under her wing, and the two became close in the ensuing years. Joyner-Kersee said Rudolph’s advice on how to handle opportunities outside athletics helped her grow into a leader on and off the track — though she didn’t fully understand it at the moment.

“I’m hearing this (advice), and in my mind, it’s like, ‘What is she going on about?’” Joyner-Kersee said. “But now that you live it? I realized she was someone who was preparing me for what she knows is going to happen.”

Nearly 30 years later, Joyner-Kersee was able to fill that mentor role for an up-and-coming Olympic athlete. Since falling short of qualifying for the U.S. team in the heptathlon after a fall in the Olympic Trials before the 2020 games, Anna Hall has received regular encouraging calls from Joyner-Kersee while preparing for the 2024 Games. Hall recently qualified for the Paris Games and is considered a favorite to win gold in Joyner-Kersee’s signature event.

Joyner-Kersee is among the seminal figures profiled in a recently published book by Bonnie-Jill Laflin about the trendsetters who paved the way for this watershed era in women’s athletics. “In a League of Her Own: Celebrating Female Firsts in Sports” features chapters based on interviews with tennis star Billie Jean King, basketball groundbreaker Nancy Lieberman, gymnast Mary Lou Retton, race car driver Danica Patrick, former Oakland Raiders CEO Amy Trask and others who broke barriers for women in athletics. Several of the stars look back to their inspirations, citing the impact of women such as Rudolph and multisport athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

For Retton, who in 1984 became the first American gymnast in history to win an Olympic individual all-around gold, her inspiration was Nadia Comăneci. Retton praised the 1976 gold medalist, the first to earn a perfect 10.0 in Olympic history.

“Of course it was Nadia,” Retton said in the book. “That’s when it clicked for me. I was glued to the television set watching this little girl named Nadia from this different country, Romania. She was doing these amazing things with her body, and I’m like, ‘That’s it. That’s what I want to do, and there’s a name for it — it’s called gymnastics.’”

Mary Lou Retton became the first American gymnast to win an Olympic individual all-around gold in Los Angeles in 1984. (Jerry Cooke / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

Laflin, a San Francisco native, wrote the book to ensure future generations understood that today’s magazine covers and boffo TV ratings were a long time coming. “I wish I’d had a book like this to understand that it’s not going to be easy,” she told The Athletic. “There are going to be struggles, and you’re not going to be accepted. I think those are the things that women are now able to see and have a little bit of guidance to try to navigate through it.”

Because of Joyner-Kersee’s unique blend of talents, there is arguably no one better positioned to appreciate the current boom of interest in women’s sports, with college basketball dominating the national narrative more than it ever has, the WNBA increasing in popularity, college volleyball matches setting attendance records and Team USA preparing for what might be the most watched Olympics in a decade after the 2020 Games were heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

GO DEEPER

Exposure, popularity and stars. Is college softball on the brink of a breakthrough?

Melissa Stockwell grew up wanting to be an Olympic gymnast after being inspired by the biggest star of her era, Retton. She told The Athletic that at youth gymnastics meets, she would envision standing on the floor listening to the national anthem after scoring a perfect 10.0.

Stockwell, who also got a chapter in Laflin’s book, had the chance to represent her country on the podium, but her triumph came as a Paralympic triathlete after she, a former U.S. Army officer, became the first female American soldier to lose a limb in active combat. Stockwell’s vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2004.

Six months into her stint at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland, she noticed a flyer on the wall promoting an informational session about the Paralympic Games. She attended the session led by Persian Gulf War veteran John Register, a two-time U.S. Paralympian who reinvented himself as a competitive athlete after becoming a leg amputee in 1994.

“There were a few of us in the room, but it felt like he was talking directly at me,” Stockwell said. “I left that room and somehow, some way, knew I wanted to be a Paralympian and represent our country.”

Stockwell eventually became the first Iraq War veteran to qualify for the Paralympic Games, in swimming, in 2008. She later captured a bronze medal as a triathlete at the 2016 Games and stood on the podium with two other Americans — on the profound date of Sept. 11.

“It will go down as one of the greatest moments of my life,” Stockwell said. “Obviously, it’s Sept. 11 and I’m wearing that Team USA uniform. … Being on that podium is a moment that I will never, never forget.”

Joyner-Kersee’s thoughts of her times on the medalists podium centered on those who supported her journey to Olympic glory. Since her retirement from competitive athletics, she has tried to pay back those who helped her reach her dreams, dedicating her life to training the next generation of athletes and leaders through her Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation. She also supports athletes trained by her husband, legendary track and field coach Bob Kersee.

“Through sports, you learn a lot about leadership, the teamwork and how all these skills are transferable beyond the playing field,” she said. “You learn to appreciate one another, but you also learn a lot about what it is you want to do. You learn about your own self-confidence, but also, how can I get someone else to feel that same way?”

The 2012 Summer Games in London were the first in which women competed in all the sports on the program. Since 1991, any new sport seeking to join the Olympic program must have women’s competitions.

Many Olympic champions feel compelled to keep the momentum going. Joyner-Kersee believes the growth of women in sports has made an impact well beyond the playing field.

“You look at women in athletics from the standpoint that you look at the leadership role — they aren’t just players now,” she said. “You are looking at them as leaders of universities — athletic directors — and being at the table to brainstorm.

“You bring other people in to really understand that someone might not be the best athlete, but they bring something that’s very tangible, that is going to make a company a huge success.”

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; photos: Jamie Squire and David Madison / Getty Images)

It took three years to resolve, but finally the country’s most famous trainer can once again run in the world’s most famous race.

The standoff that gave a lot of attorneys a lot of billable hours ended Friday when Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert accepted responsibility for Medina Spirit‘s positive test after winning the 2021 Kentucky Derby, and Churchill Downs rescinded his suspension. The six-time Derby winner will be eligible to return to the race next year.

“I accept responsibility for Medina Spirit’s positive test in the 2021 Kentucky Derby,” Baffert said in a statement on social media. “I am responsible for any substance found in the horses that I train, and I have paid a very steep price with a three-year suspension and the disqualification of Medina Spirit’s performance.

“I understand and appreciate that Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission took steps to enforce the rules that they believed were necessary to protect the safety and integrity of horse racing and the reputation of the Kentucky Derby. My family and I want to put this behind us and get back to doing what we love to do without anymore distraction or negativity. I very much look forward to returning to Churchill Downs and getting back to the Winner’s Circle.”

Churchill Downs followed minutes later with its own statement.

“We are satisfied that Mr. Baffert has taken responsibility for his actions, completed a substantial penalty and is committed to running in full compliance with the rules and regulations going forward,” chief executive Bill Carstanjen said. “All parties agree that it is time to bring this chapter to a close and focus on the future. Mr. Baffert is welcome to return to any of CDI’s racetracks, including our flagship Churchill Downs Racetrack, and we wish him and his connections good luck in their future competitive endeavors.”

Medina Spirit was among the more lightly regarded of Baffert’s 3-year-olds when he won the Derby. Baffert was tipped off about a week later that there was a positive medication test for betamethasone, a drug that is legal but not on race day, and flew to Louisville. He held a fiery impromptu news conference in which he said that he did not give the colt betamethasone. But a few days later it was discovered that the medication was given to the colt in ointment for a rash on his hind quarters. Baffert then went on a public relations tour proclaiming his innocence.

The colt subsequently was disqualified and Baffert was suspended for 90 days by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Three weeks later, Churchill Downs rocked the racing world by saying it was suspending Baffert for two years from all its tracks, which made him ineligible to run in the Kentucky Derby, and then tacked on another year because it didn’t feel he was contrite enough.

Lawsuits were filed, with Baffert unsuccessful in trying to overturn the suspension or the disqualification.

He accepted his KHRC suspension the next year and had to move all his horses to other trainers as the signage was taken down from his barn at Santa Anita. He returned in July 2022 still proclaiming his innocence.

The first two years of the Churchill suspension he moved his Kentucky Derby horses to other trainers, most notably Tim Yakteen, a former assistant. This year, however, his loyal group of owners decided not to move any of the horses and sat out the Derby.

Among those was Tom Ryan, who heads a consortium of high-value owners. Ryan, in the midst of a double-digit delay at Detroit Airport on the way to Del Mar for Saturday’s opening day, said he did not know the news was coming.

“I was hoping it was coming but did not know,” Ryan said. “We’ve all been waiting for this outcome and I’m excited to arrive at Del Mar and get our 2-year-olds underway and racing. I’m glad it has been resolved, which gives us plenty to look forward to. I’m really looking forward to this season and this will help all of our partners get invested so we can target the Classic races.”

Ryan’s ownership group will send unraced Getaway Car, named for a Taylor Swift song, in a maiden special race at Del Mar on Saturday. The group paid $700,000 for the colt, who is trained by Baffert.

While it seemed as if Baffert suffered all the damage in the three-year standoff, Churchill Downs also had to make concessions. It took itself out of contention for next year’s Breeders’ Cup because it could not guarantee that it would allow Baffert to race. Del Mar will get the Breeders’ Cup two years in a row.

Follow our Olympics coverage in the lead-up to the Paris Games.

The shimmer of Caeleb Dressel’s seven gold medals may suggest otherwise, but he knows swimming can be a brutal and suffocating sport.

He is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best in the world at what he does, sprinting from one end of the pool to the other (and sometimes back). He holds the world record in the men’s 100-meter butterfly, having first snatched that historical distinction away from Michael Phelps in 2019. Then, Dressel lowered his world record in the event at the Tokyo Olympics — where he won five gold medals in five events.

Despite it all, Dressel was miserable.

He was fixated on where he felt he’d failed. In one race, it was the turn. Another, the finish. His head position. It didn’t matter that he’d touched the wall first over and over again. It didn’t matter that he was bringing gold home and helping Team USA finish atop the medal count. He chased perfection. He chased times and chased stretch goals. He hadn’t met them.

“I created a monster in myself — just so caught up in perfectionism,” he told former Olympians Missy Franklin and Katie Hoff on their “Unfiltered Waters” podcast. “So caught up in, ‘If I don’t see these times, it means I’m a bad person, or it means I did not train hard enough. If I don’t go a world record, it means … I didn’t obsess enough.’”

The sport he’d been drawn to as a kid because it was so delightfully fun was quite the opposite. And it’d been that way for years. But Dressel kept pushing himself, listening to his internal critic ripping himself apart.

Until he “broke,” he puts it now. He withdrew abruptly in the middle of the 2022 world championship meet in Budapest and disappeared from the sport for eight months.

Dressel hasn’t gone into much detail about that period of his life in Gainesville, Fla., other than to say he spent a lot of time with his therapist. His wife, Meghan, was there for him, too, though she also realized there were a lot of conversations Dressel needed to have inside his own mind. Some days, he didn’t do much. Most days, he avoided routes that took him past the University of Florida pool. He didn’t want to smell the chlorine.

He had to figure out who he was beyond his best times and what made him tick outside the pool. He had to reorient himself, how he believed others felt about him and why they loved him. He had to learn how to smile again.

The process wasn’t easy, and progress hasn’t always been a straight line. But it’s what makes Dressel, 27, who he is now as a swimmer and a person (and new dad). It’s also why he’s back in the pool and headed to Paris, one of the headliners of Team USA and arguably the most important piece of the puzzle for the U.S. swim team in its efforts to win the meet by bringing home more gold medals than its peers. There is outside pressure, yes. But inside his mind, Dressel’s biggest critic is quieter.

“It’s really tough,” Dressel told The Athletic last month. “It’s embedded in me — where you always want to look for ways to get better. I’m still doing that, but I’m not becoming obsessed and so fixated on it that I lose sight of what’s actually fun with the sport. It’s hard, and it’s not like I’ve all of a sudden gotten to figure it out this year. There are things that I’m really proud that I’ve done differently, like being able to enjoy parts of the sport without just crapping on myself for not being perfect.

“It is still very much a work in progress.”

Now, Dressel sounds like a person who’s figured out a lot about himself through therapy. One of the first things he will tell you is how helpful his regular appointments with his therapist have been.

“I’ve been trying to not be so fixated on results and just simply enjoying racing and training — those are the two parts of the sport that I really enjoy,” Dressel said. “There are parts of the sport that I really dislike, that I really hate. But it’s worth putting up with for the moments that I really do enjoy. It’s going to be a balance; I’m not expecting every part of the sport to just be the best thing ever for me. But I’ve really leaned into the parts of the sport that I do enjoy.

“That’s been the main difference for me. I’ve always loved training. I’ve always loved being around the team. The actual racing portion, I do really, really enjoy — as soon as the gun goes off, it’s just simply fun. So, I’ve just been trying to keep it just simply swimming. Simply swimming this year.”

Dressel will simply swim the 50-meter freestyle and the 100 fly as individual events at the Games, and he’ll likely be part of multiple relays. At the U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis, he finished third in the 100-free final, which cost him the opportunity to defend his gold medal in the event in Paris.

But he’s happy to be part of the Olympic team. He’s proud of what he accomplished at trials to qualify for it. He’s thrilled that his infant son, August, got to see it all, held in Meghan’s arms in the stands.

“No one can take that away,” Dressel said in Indianapolis. “He’s not going to remember it. I will tell him, trust me, I got photos so I can prove it. … That was a really special moment. Meghan knows what goes into this, not just the parenting side of things but she gets to see firsthand the struggles that come with the sport.

“The tears that come with it, the frustration and then also the high points, and getting to share that with them, because they go through that as well — that was really special, August getting to see that.”

Meghan shared a video of Dressel with baby August at the Olympic training camp in North Carolina this month, another moment captured and saved to commemorate a once-in-a-lifetime moment. They’ll be in Paris, too, alongside Dressel’s parents and family. Dressel said he wouldn’t be where he is today without their support. And he certainly wouldn’t be where he is without Meghan, whom he calls the “superhero” of their family.

Parenthood is wonderful for many reasons, but perhaps the greatest lesson it teaches is one of perspective — especially for someone who has spent most of his life chasing times and hunting perfection that does not and cannot exist.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever go a best time ever again, and that’s tough to say out loud. It really is,” Dressel said. “When you’re 19, 20, 21, you keep chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. I’m still working harder than ever, finding every path I can take to shave those couple of tenths. But I don’t know. I don’t know if I can do that. I’m really good at racing. You put me in a race, I will make it close, as close as I possibly can, even if I have to try to kill myself to get there. I will put myself in those situations.”

So, he doesn’t know exactly how Paris will go. But he knows he’s older, wiser and genuinely happier than before the last Olympic Games. Others see it, too, and not just when he’s straddling the lane line after a race or punching the water in celebration.

“He’s always had that smile,” seven-time gold medalist and University of Florida training partner Katie Ledecky said. “He took that time away, and when he came back, he’s had that smile every day. Just to see his progression over this past year, how he’s just gotten better and better each meet — he seems to just be loving the racing, and he loves the training probably more than the racing, and that makes everyone around him better.”

It will make one of the best swimmers in the world better, too. And that’s why that smile is as good as gold, no matter what medal hangs around Dressel’s neck.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever go a best time ever again, and that’s tough to say out loud,” Caeleb Dressel said. He’ll give it a shot in Paris starting later this month. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)