Ignoring taboos: Maria Lenk, Latin American inspirationalist

Abstract

Maria Lenk is widely recognized as an exceptional athlete who participated in women's sport from around 1930 until 1950. In 1932, at the age of seventeen, she was the first woman to be included in a Latin American delegation to the Olympic Games. As a swimmer, she still sets world records at the age of eighty-six. This super-champion's sporting achievements and her persistent dedication to the advancement of sport still impress and surprise todays professional swimmers and researchers. Contextualised in the male-dominated society of Brazil during the first half of the twentieth century, this chapter traces the achievement, and rise to international fame, of Maria Lenk. It examines the factors that enabled her to emerge not only as an important figure in sport but also as an icon of female emancipation in Brazilian and Latin American society. The focus is on Lenk's influence on the issues which affected the development of women's sport in Latin America. It also highlights the significance of Lenk's contribution to the changing place of women in Brazilian and South American society.