1934 Women's World Games



The 1934 Women's World Games (4è Jeux Féminins Mondiaux) were the fourth edition of the international games for women. The tournament was held between 9–11 August at the White City Stadium in London, United Kingdom. These were the last athletic games exclusively for women, a planned fifth tournament for 1938 in Vienna was cancelled as women were allowed to compete in all regular athletics events at the Olympic Games and other international events. The first major tournament were the 1938 European Athletics Championships even though the tournament was split up into two separate events. The 3rd European Athletics Championships in 1946 were the first combined championships for both men and women.

Events
The games were organized by the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale under Alice Milliat  as a response to the IOC decision to include only a few women's events (100 metres, 800 metres, 4 × 100 m relay, high jump and discus  ) in the 1928 Olympic Games.

The games were attended by 200 participants from 19 nations (including now dissolved nations): Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Palestine, Poland, Rhodesia, South Africa, Sweden, United States, and Yugoslavia.

The athletes competed in 12 events:  running (60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres, 800 metres, 4 x 100 metres relay and hurdling 80 metres), high jump, long jump, discus throw, javelin, shot put and pentathlon (100 metres, high jump, long jump, javelin and shot put). The tournament also held exhibition events in basketball, handball and football.

The tournament was opened with an olympic style ceremony. The Canadian flag bearer was Lillian Palmer as captain of the Canadian team. The games attended an audience of 15,000 spectators and several world records were set.

The games were the first to include a women's pentathlon.

A special commemorative medal was issued for the participants and the games were closed with a formal banquet.

Medal summary
Another source names Jadwiga Wajs as J Wajsowna, and lists the High Jump winner as M Clark of South Africa. This source also gives the winning 800 metres time as 2:12.4; and the field event measurements in imperial measures (one of which gives rise to a discrepancy), respectively 5'1"; 19'0½", 44'2" (13.46m), 143'8¼", and 139'2¾". It further notes that: World records were set in the 800m, 80m hurdles, shot, discus, and pentathlon; British records in the 100m, 200m, and javelin; Krauß [as 'Krauss'] was 2nd (not 3rd) in the discus; that the pentathlon consisted of the 100m, high and long jumps, shot put and javelin; and the home competitors' comparatively poor performances were attributable to them all having competed in the Empire Games earlier that same week.

Also from this same source, it was stated that the Women's World Games incorporated two further championship competitions:

Hazena a fast-moving variant of handball, popular in central Europe, in which Yugoslavia beat Czecho-Slovakia (sic) by 6 goals to 4. (This would appear to be the second World Cup in this sport, in which only these two nations participated).

Basketball France v United States 34-23 points.

The absence of the USA and Yugoslavia from the points table supports the assertion that these (and the untraced football competition) were demonstration events only.

Points table
No other competing nation scored any points.