1924
Summer Games: Paris, France; Winter Games: Chamonix, France
During the summer games, fourteen-year-old Aileen Riggin becomes the first woman in Olympic history to win medals in both diving and swimming in the same Olympic Games. Tennis player Helen Willis becomes the first woman to win a gold medal for singles and doubles. Women’s fencing is contested for the first time, with one event: the individual foil. Figure skating is the only Winter sport open to women. This Olympics marks the first time more than 100 women competed in the games.
1928
Summer Games: Amsterdam, Netherlands; Winter Games: St. Moritz, Switzerland
Women are allowed to compete in track and field events for the first time, and American Elizabeth Robinson becomes the first female gold medalist in a track and field event in Olympic history, winning the 100-meter dash. Women also compete in gymnastics for the first time, and the Netherlands team wins the gold.
1932
Summer Games: Los Angeles, California, United States; Winter Games: Lake Placid, New York, United States
Track stars Louise Stokes and Tydia Pickett become the first black female competitors in the Olympics Games.
1936
Summer Games: Berlin, Germany; Winter Games: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Dorothy Poynton becomes the first woman to win the high dive event in successive Olympic Games, winning the gold medal in 1932 and 1936. Thirteen-year-old diver Marjorie Gestering becomes the youngest Olympic gold medalist ever when she wins the springboard event.
1948
Summer Games: London, England; Winter Games: St. Moritz, Switzerland
Vicki Draves is the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal, and also the first woman to win both the springboard and high-dive in the same Olympic Games. Alice Coachman wins the high-jump, becoming the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Her teammate Audrey (Mickey) Patterson becomes the first black woman to win a medal, finishing third in the 200-meter run; she was awarded her bronze medal just before her teammate Coachman won the gold. In the Winter Games, Gretchen Fraser wins the slalom and becomes the first U.S. skier to win an Olympic gold medal.
1952
Summer Games: Helsinki, Finland; Winter Games: Oslo, Norway
Women and men compete together for the first time in Olympic equestrian events. Women gymnasts compete in individual apparatus events for the first time, and Soviet Maria Gorokhovskaya wins the first all-around gold for the USSR in its first Olympics ever. She also is the first woman to win seven medals in a single Olympics.
1960
Summer Games: Rome, Italy; Winter Games: Squaw Valley, California, United States
Ingrid Kramer becomes the first non-American in Olympic history to win all the women’s diving events. Wilma Rudolph is the first American woman to win three gold medals at one Olympiad, winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the 400-meter relay.
1964
Summer Games: Tokyo, Japan; Winter Games: Innsbruck, Austria
Swimmer Dawn Fraser wins her third consecutive 100-meter Olympic gold medal. Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina completes her Olympic career with a total of eighteen medals—more than any other athlete in Olympic history at the time.
1968
Summer Games: Mexico City, Mexico; Winter Games: Grenoble, France
Wyomia Tyus wins the gold for the 100-meter and becomes the first winner of back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the event, which she also won in 1964. Deborah Meyer is the first swimmer to win three individual gold medals at one Olympic Games.
1972
Summer Games: Munich, West Germany; Winter Games: Sapporo, Japan
Dianne Holum is the first American woman to earn an Olympic gold medal in speed skating.
1976
Summer Games: Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Winter Games: Innsbruck, Austria
Swimmer Kornelia Ender is the first woman to win four gold medals at one Olympics, all in world-record time. Basketball is an Olympic event for women for the first time. Nadia Comaneci becomes the first gymnast ever—male or female—to score a perfect 10 in an Olympic event; she is also the first Romanian gymnast to win the all-around title at the Olympics and the youngest Olympic gymnastics all-around champion ever.
1984
Summer Games: Los Angeles, California, US; Winter Games: Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
Candy Costie and Tracie Ruiz win the first gold medal awarded for duet synchronized swimming. Ruiz also wins gold in solo. Mary Lou Retton becomes the first American woman gymnast to win the all-around title for the Olympic gold medal, and the first American to earn a perfect score. Joan Benoit Samuelson wins the first Olympic women’s marathon. Connie Carpenter-Phinney wins the first Olympic gold medal ever awarded for cycling and becomes the first woman to compete in both the Winter and Summer Olympics (she competed in 1972 in speed skating).
1988
Summer Games: Seoul, South Korea; Winter Games: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Swimmer Kristin Otto, of the German Democratic Republic, wins six gold medals, the most medals ever won at one Games by a female swimmer. In the Winter Games, figure skater Debi Thomas becomes the first African American to win an Olympic medal in ice skating. Track and field Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee becomes the first woman to win The Sporting News Man of the Year Award.
1992
Summer Games: Barcelona, Spain
At thirteen, Fu Mingxia of China becomes the second-youngest person to win an individual gold medal when she wins the platform diving event.
1994
Winter Games: Lillehammer, Norway
In the Winter Olympics, speed skater Bonnie Blair becomes the first American woman to win five gold medals.
1996
Summer Games: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Softball debuts; Dot Richardson hits the first home run in Olympic softball history and the American women win the first-ever softball gold. The U.S. women gymnasts take their first Olympic team gold. Nova Peris-Kneebone becomes the first Aboriginal woman to win Olympic gold, as part of the field hockey team. Women’s soccer also debuts, and the U.S. wins the gold medal.
1998
Winter Games: Nagano, Japan
Fifteen-year-old Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest athlete to win a gold medal at the Winter Games. Women’s ice hockey is introduced for the first time.
2000
Summer Games: Sydney, Australia
Marion Jones earns more Olympic medals (three gold and two bronze) than any other female track athlete in a single Olympics. Cathy Freeman becomes the first Aboriginal woman to win an individual Olympic medal and the first Aboriginal woman to win a gold medal, in the 400 meter. Fu Mingxia wins the three-meter springboard title to become the first female diver to win gold medals in three different Olympic Games. The modern pentathlon for women is contested for the first time.
2002
Winter Games: Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Short track speedskater Yang Yang is the first Chinese athlete, male or female, to win a gold medal at the Winter Games. Vonetta Flowers and Jill Bakkan become the first ever winners of an Olympic gold medal in two-woman bobsled, and Flowers becomes the first black athlete to earn Winter gold. Ice skater Naomi Lang is the first Native American female athlete to participate in the Olympic Winter Games.
2004
Summer Games: Athens, Greece
Women’s wrestling is introduced, with twenty-one nations qualifying to send wrestlers to the games. Nineteen-year-old Mariel Zagunis becomes the first U.S. fencer (of either gender) to win a gold medal in one hundred years.
2006
Winter Games: Turin, Italy
Claudia Pechstein becomes the first female Winter Olympian to win medals in five consecutive Olympics (1992-2006), and is the most successful German Winter Olympian of all time, with five gold medals, two silver, and two bronze. Croatia’s Janica Kostelic becomes the first woman to win four golds in alpine skiing (the ot
her three she won in 2002). Tanith Belbin, along with her partner Benjamin Agosto, wins the silver medal for ice dancing—the first medal for the United States in ice dancing in 30 years. Tanja Poutiainen earns the first medal in alpine skiing for Finland when she wins silver in the giant slalom. The Swedish team wins women’s curling and become the first curling team to ever hold Olympic, World, and European titles at the same time.
How to Negotiate a Salary
for dog-walking, errand-running, babysitting—or anything!
Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.
—John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961.
THE WORD “negotiate” comes from the Latin word negotiari, meaning “to trade.” When you negotiate something, you are essentially asking for someone to trade you something, and making a case for why that would be a good idea. There are several steps to a successful negotiation: preparation, presentation, contemplation, and sealing the deal.
Preparation
Define your goals. Do you want a higher salary? Do you want more hours? Do you want to be paid extra for overtime? Narrowing down what it is you want will help you approach the task of asking for it.
Do your research. Find out what the going rate is in your neighborhood for the work you do—how much do your friends get paid for the same work? Does the amount they get depend on the level of responsibility they have? Once you know the answers to these questions, you’ll know the facts about what other people are paid, and you’ll be better prepared to ask for what you want.
Presentation
Plan what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it.
Begin with lower-priority requests, if possible, and work your way up to the big ones. (When you get to the big request, you can trade off some of the lower-priority requests if necessary.)
Accentuate the positive. This is not the time for modesty—emphasize your accomplishments and abilities and point out why it is you deserve what you are asking for. Smile, be confident, and be friendly.
Contemplation
Listen. Sometimes the most important part of a conversation is the part when you’re not talking. When it’s time for the other person to respond, listen carefully to what he or she has to say.
Think. You may be presented with a counteroffer—an offer made in response to your offer. You don’t have to respond to a counteroffer right away. You can take your time and think about it, even if that means not giving your answer for a few days.
Sealing the Deal
Sign on the dotted line. Once both parties have reached an agreement, it’s a good idea to put that final offer in writing, and have both of you sign the document. This will prevent any future misunderstandings or miscommunications about what was actually agreed upon during your negotiation. Still, sometimes a good old-fashioned handshake will do.
Common Mistakes
Not preparing. Make sure you have done your research and know what you are talking about. If you’re not sure, postpone the negotiation until you’ve had time to get ready.
Trying to win at all costs. Arguing or using intimidating behavior is going to hinder rather than help the negotiation process. Remember, the central process of negotiation is discussion with others to reach an agreement or compromise. It’s a dialogue, not a monologue.
Talking too much. Listen carefully to what the other person has to say, and when it’s your turn to speak, be direct and to the point.
Trying to be someone you’re not. The key in negotiation is to be comfortable. If you are trying to act “tough” because you think it will make the discussion go your way, you may be sadly disappointed. Being the most confident version of yourself is better than trying to be the kind of person you think you should be in order to win.
TIPS
Even though it might make you nervous to ask for something, whether it’s a higher salary or more responsibility, it’s important to try to maintain an open and confident attitude. You want to make the person you’re negotiating with want to say yes to you—and it’s very hard to say no to a smiling, friendly person. Some people call this technique to “disarm with charm.” But whether or not you’re good at being “charming,” try to smile, look people directly in the eye, and concentrate on not speaking too fast. Remember, this is just a conversation! You have those all the time. (Also, the people you’re negotiating with may expect you to be nervous or insecure about the negotiation process—so acting comfortable and confident may catch them off guard and make them even more likely to say yes to your request.)
Public Speaking
IF YOU WOULD RATHER DIE than speak in public, you’re in good company: glossophobia (fear of speaking in public, or “stage fright”) affects as much as 75 percent of the population. But speaking in front of a group doesn’t have to be nerve-racking, especially if you practice before you do it. Public speaking shares many of the principles of a good negotiation: Preparation, Practice, and Presenting—with the confidence to “seal the deal.”
PREPARE
Know what you’re going to say
Write out your speech, and practice saying it aloud. You don’t necessarily need to memorize it, but you should know it well enough so that if you had to talk without your notes, you could pull it off.
Know who you’re going to say it to
Knowing your audience is good advice no matter what you are performing. If you know you will be giving a speech in your history class, that’s going to inform your material much differently than if you were giving a toast at your dad’s 50th birthday party. You want to adapt your speech to fit the people you are speaking to. That way nobody gets bored, and what you say will be a good match for your audience.
Know where you’re going to say it
It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the place where you’ll be speaking, if you can. Is it a big room or a small one? Will you have to speak loud and project, or will there be a microphone that you will have to adjust? Is there a lectern or a chair, or will you be able to move around while you talk? When you have some information about where you’ll be, you’ll know what to expect before you get there, and that will help cut down on your nerves once it’s showtime.
PRACTICE
Visualize
Most of the fear we have around public speaking isn’t about talking in front of people, but about doing something potentially embarrassing in front of people. To combat this, practice imagining yourself giving your speech and doing a great job. Walk yourself through it in your head, from beginning to end, giving yourself a chance to visualize yourself doing well instead of living out your worst fears.
Realize
Make it real by practicing your speech ahead of time—by yourself, in front of your family, in front of your friends, the family pets, whoever you can get to be an audience for you. It’s a good idea to either write out your speech on notecards or print it out in a very big font so that you can quickly look down, see what you need to say, and look back up to say it. Practicing delivering your speech so that it becomes routine will stand you in good stead when you start to feel unnerved onstage or in front of the class. Practicing with an audience is also a chance to realize that your audience wants you to succeed. People want to hear what you have to say, and they want you to do well.
Exercise
If you are waiting around while others speak before you, it is helpful to step outside the room just before you speak to calm yourself down with deep-breathing exercises, breathing in slowly through your nose and breathing out through your mouth. If you’re too nervous to breathe, you might channel that energy into a quick set of jumping jacks, or shaking out your arms and legs. Then take some deep breaths to feel calm and centered. This is something you can do in practice and in performance.
PRESENT
It’s not about you
Remember as you begin your presentation, it’s about your speech, not about you. It’s helpful to concentrate on the message—not the medium. That way instead o
f thinking about all the different ways things could go wrong as you deliver your talk, you focus yourself on the content of your talk and about getting those points across.
It’s all about you
Whether or not you crumble out of nervousness or do fantastically well thanks to sheer nerve is completely up to you—in other words, it is in your control. When you’re incredibly nervous, you have the opportunity to harness that energy and transform it into vitality and enthusiasm. Take a deep breath and dive in!
QUICK TIPS
Keep it short and sweet.
Slow down: Don’t talk too fast.
Look up! If it’s too scary to look at the audience in the front row, look at the people in the back of the room.
Smile: Look confident, even if you don’t feel confident.
Pretend: Pull a “Brady Bunch,” where you imagine everyone in the audience is sitting there in their underwear. Find a friendly face in the audience and pretend you’re only talking to that person.
Practice: Join the debate team, dare yourself to speak up in class, give a speech in front of a mirror. The more opportunities you have to speak in public, the easier it gets.
Biggest asset: Self-confidence. Act as though you have a right to be there—because you do.
It’s all good
No matter how you do, it is always good in the sense that every time you speak in public, you gain experience. Use this to build your sense of self-confidence: if you’ve done well, you now have proof for the next time around that you can do well. And if nerves have gotten the best of you, you now have proof that the worst has happened and you’ve survived. Either way, you know that you’ve done it—you’ve spoken in public once, and you can do it again. This confidence-building is crucial, because having confidence is the key to speaking well.
The Daring Book for Girls Page 29