102. Today in 1920s Turkey: 9 August 1928 (Female Swimmers in 1928 Summer Olympics)

(Cover page, Resimli Perşembe or “Illustrated Thursday,” 9 August 1928, no. 168, page 1.)

Türkçe:
(Üstte)
Başka Milletlerde Olimpiyatlar İçin Spor Hazırlığı
(Altta)
Beynelmilel Olimpiyatlara iştirak eden yüzücü kızlar

English:
(Above)
Sports Preparations for the Olympics in Other Nations
(Below)
Women swimmers participating in the international Olympics

Comments
The 1928 Summer Olympics were held between July 28 and August 12 in Amsterdam. 2,606 male and 277 female athletes participated from 46 countries. Although this was not the first iteration of the Olympics to include women, there is still a visible discrepancy between the amount of men who competed and women. Regardless of the numbers it is a group of female athletes that has made the cover of the weekly journal, “Illustrated Thursday” or Resimli Perşembe. Their inclusion on the cover of the magazine may be a gesture of support and enthusiasm for female athletes or just a response to the continued novelty of women in sports.

It is also quite likely that this was more of a marketing choice. It was common for magazines at this time in Turkey to use the summer months as an excuse to publish women in bathing suits on their covers to attract the attention of a largely male readership—This rather cynical hypothesis is supported by the fact that this issue of the magazine did not even include an article about the Olympics let alone one about the female athletes gracing the cover page. The closest “discussion” that includes mention of female swimmers is on page 7 next to a picture of a woman diving. The text—part of the “Sweet Mother’s Page” or Cici Anne Sayfası— states how swimming is good for women and women are beautiful when they swim and how it’s an activity that “suits women.” Moreover, page 9, which was dedicated fully to sports stories neither mentions the women on the cover nor does it even discuss the Olympics. Thus, it seems that the magazine’s content never actually get around to “diving” into the subject of the ongoing Olympics.

If this issue of “Illustrated Thursday” is not about the Olympics, then what is it about? A column to the right of the photograph advertises the content of this issue. The subjects included are “Machine Man” (Makineden Adam), “Crazy Dancers” (Dans Delileri), “Two Major Enemies” (İki Büyük Düşman), “Sweet Mother’s Page” (Cici Anne Sayfası), “Sports Page” (Spor Sayfası), and “Satire Page” (Mizah Sayfası).