Alice Joséphine Marie Milliat née Million (5 May 1884 – 19 May 1957) was a pioneer of women's sport. Her lobbying on behalf of female athletes led to the accelerated inclusion of more women's events in the Olympic Games. A member of , a club founded in 1911, Milliat helped form the Fédération Française Sportive Féminine in 1917, becoming treasurer and, in March 1919, its president. In 1921 she helped organise the 1921 Women's World Games, and then the Women's World Games, which ran for four editions from 1922 until 1934. She also managed a French women's association football team that toured the United Kingdom in 1920. On 8 March 2021, a commemorative statue of Milliat was unveiled at the French Olympic Committee's headquarters in Paris. Early life Alice Joséphine Marie Million was born on 5 May 1884 in Nantes, the eldest of five children. Her parents were grocers. Her mother later worked as a seamstress and her father was employed in an office. In 1904, Milliat went to England. There she married Joseph Milliat, who was also from Nantes. They had no children, and he died in 1908. Whilst in England, Milliat took up rowing. After her husband's death, she travelled widely, developing language skills that enabled her to become a translator when, following the outbreak of the First World War, she returned to France. She also participated in swimming and field hockey. Formation of the Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale Pierre de Coubertin is credited with reviving the Olympic Games and founding the International Olympics Committee (IOC) in 1894. 1900 was the first Olympics to allow women athletes, but only in golf and tennis. Eventually, the Olympics integrated women's swimming and other events into the games. However, track and field events for women remained absent from the Olympics. A member of , a club founded in 1911, Milliat helped form the Fédération Française Sportive Féminine in 1917, becoming treasurer and, in March 1919, its president. In 1919, Milliat asked the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to include women's track and field athletics events in the 1924 Olympic Games, but they refused. She then became involved in organising the 1921 Women's Olympiad in Monte Carlo, an event regarded as a response to the refusal include women's events in the Olympics. Sport historian Florence Carpentier noted in 2018 that Milliat did not attend the 1921 event, and believes that Milliat