Fast Girls: The 1936 Women’s Olympic Team, by Elise Hooper (2020)
This is a novel that focuses on the lives of four young women athletes who competed to make the 1936 United States Olympic track team. The novel is based on the lives of Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens, Louise Stokes, and Tidye Pickett. Each woman came from very different backgrounds and the author takes the reader back to their origin stories.
Running, and athletics in general, were not considered “suitable” for women at the time, and the Olympics Committee threatened to cancel future women’s events. A strong lobby, however, kept women’s sports in the Olympics.
Betty Robinson was from the Chicago area and had competed in the 1928 Olympics at age 16. While in high school, she caught the eye of the men’s track coach and was allowed to join the men’s track team. From there, she ultimately qualified for the 1928 Olympic trials. She had hoped to be able to compete in future Olympics, but a small plane accident in 1931 (although the story has the incident occurring in 1932), left her seriously injured. She was not expected to live, but sheer will-power got her walking again. Once she was walking again, her brother-in-law urged her to try running.
Helen Stephenson was from a small farming town in Missouri. She was tall and gangly, and always felt like a misfit. Her father was a poor farmer who wanted her to work and earn money for the family. Her mother, however, had gone to college and wanted her daughter to gain an education. Helen loved to run, and running was a way for her to be herself.
Louise Stokes was from a working-class Black family in Malden, Massachusetts. She loved running but knew that she needed to help with her family’s finances. Her church and her town, however, supported her ambition to run and provided her with the funds to join the Olympic team. She faced discrimination but did become one of the earliest Black professional runners.
Tidye Pickett is the least developed character in this novel. She, too, was a Black runner who made it to the 1936 Olympic team while fighting racism.
The novel also briefly delves into the politics of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The United States Olympic committee had debated whether or not to allow athletes to compete in the Games that were being held in Nazi Germany. The decision to compete was close. Some of the team members themselves, questioned whether or not they should participate in the games.
This is an interesting novel and the author tried to tackle such topics as feminism, racism and sexual identity. The novel takes place when women’s sports is in its infancy and all of the women initially face obstacles intended to halt their competing for fears that it is unlady-like and will impair their ability to have children in the future.
I would classify this book as a Young Adult novel. It is a book I would have really enjoyed as a junior high student. It was an interesting look at the beginning of women’s track competitions.
Read: October 16, 2021
3.5 Stars
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