Benedicta Oliveira

The documentary Olympic Women, directed by Laís Bodanzky, shows that the history of women in sport is often entwined with the history of women as a whole. While so many Brazilian women were fighting for the right to vote, to divorce, and the right to free speech, some were fighting for the right to be present at one of the biggest events on the planet: the Olympics. And something that should have been simple and natural, was not. Some Olympic appearances were dramatic. Others, isolated and lonely. Just as in society, women in sport had to earn their rights by force.