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After 32 years on the sidelines, women competed for the first time in the show piece of the Games -- track and field. Opposition to the inclusion of women was great. Protestors included the founder of the Olympic movement, Baron de Coubertin and Pope Pius XI who issued a condemnation from the Vatican. After a successful start disaster struck: most of the 800 meter runners collapsed after the race, which had been he ld in scorchingly hot weather. Many male athletes also collapsed from the heat but nevertheless a special committee, headed by Olympic movement president, Count Henri Baillet-Latour decided that women did not have stamina for more than a 200 meter race. The ban was lifted only in 1960.
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