The Ancient Greeks

...There were no fitness clubs then, moreover, a woman caught trying to copy athletes, could be betrayed to ostracism as a ruthless girl (from the sport shape then there was only a tunic without underwear, well or the costume of Eve)

Women in many ancient Greek cities-states engaged in physical exercises and even competed in running at specially held games. In Athens, during their peak (at the time of Pericles), women's sports were limited to a minimum, while another patriarchal society, Sparta, encouraged women's sports.