Athletics in Australia athletics club was formed by Mrs Drennan, herself a sprinter, in 1913, and competitions, held under the auspices of the NSW men's association were conducted over the next five years. Professional races for women were also very popular during this time. From 1928, the Amateur Athletics Union of Australia, had responsibility for track and field in Australia, including women's athletics with women's events being held, for the first time, at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. The first joint National Championships were conducted in Melbourne in 1930. In 1932 an Australian Women's Amateur Athletics Union was formed which administered women's track and
Participation of women in the Olympics major upset, winning the gold, the nation's first ever Olympic medal. However, these Olympics were marred by the US-led boycott of the games due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The women's 20 kilometre cross-country skiing event was added to the programme for the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo. Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen of Finland dominated the cross-country events, winning gold in all three distances. Multiple new events for women were competed in at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Synchronized swimming made its debut, with only women competing in the competition. The host Americans won gold in both the solo