A History of Less

Road Cycling was added to the Olympic program in 1896.
The first running of the modern marathon event took place at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Nordic skiing was in the very first Winter Olympiad in 1924.

Women entered the Nordic program in 1952.
The AAU permitted women to enter all sanctioned marathons in 1972, six years after Bobbi Gibb snuck her way in to Boston.
Connie Carpenter and Joan Benoit won the first ever women's Olympic Road Cycling and Olympic Marathon events in 1984.

A place on the line

Throughout the history of sport, female athletes have always been fighting to have their spot on the team. For years they have heard that they don't deserve one because they don't work as hard, or that they aren't big or strong enough for sport. For endurance athletes, though, it especially hits home. The biggest and strongest isn't always the best at Nordic Skiing or Running, and much of the time it is the one who figures out how to do the least amount of work in a cycling race who wins. 
They are presented with smaller competitions, almost as a consolation prize for wanting to compete, and it takes an effort to get onto the global stage.

Proving their worth

In order for change to happen, someone needs to be the spark. Kathryn Bertine documented her challenges trying to qualify as a female cyclist for an Olympic Games in her book "The Road Less Taken," and followed it up with a documentary "Half the Road: The Passions, Pitfalls, and Power of Women's Professional Cycling."

Bobbi Gibb and Kathy Switzer proved that women could run the marathon by defiantly running in Boston in 1966 and 67.

And as of the last few years, Kikkan Randall and Kristin Armstrong of Team USA, and Marit Bjorgen of Team Norway, are proving that you can still be a top athlete while being a mom.  

Towards the future

All there is to do is go forward from here.
Prove that women's sports are worth the broadcast hours and sponsorship dollars. 
The vicious cycle of the media not covering women's sports because the competition is too soft because nobody's getting paid because the sponsors aren't here because there isn't any media coverage will eventually break. We just need to break it.