Gender games

DORA RATJEN, ATHLETICS: Hermann Ratjen, to give him his real name, posed as a woman in order to bring glory to the Third Reich. He competed for Germany in the women's high jump at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but the plan did not entirely work - 'Dora' came fourth. Ratjen went on to compete at the European Championships in Vienna in 1938, and set a new world record of 5ft 5.75in. Unfortunately he was unmasked after two women spotted him on his way home, wearing a skirt but sporting heavy stubble. He remarked later: "For three years I lived the life of a girl. It was most dull."