Jeannette Altwegg
| Jeannette Altwegg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Jeannette Eleanor Altwegg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |
 United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
8 September 1930 Bombay, India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former coach | Jacques Gerschwiler | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skating club | Queens Ice Dance Club, London | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1952 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jeannette Altwegg, CBE (married name: Wirz; born 8 September 1930) is a British former figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She is the 1952 Olympic champion, the 1948 Olympic bronze medalist, the 1951 World champion, and a two-time (1951 & 1952) European champion.
Life and career
Early life
Altwegg was born on 8 September 1930 in Bombay, India.[1][2] She was raised in Lancashire, the daughter of a British mother and Swiss father.[3] She was a competitive tennis player, reaching the junior finals at Wimbledon in 1947 before giving up the sport to focus on skating.
Skating career
Altwegg was coached by Jacques Gerschwiler and was known for her strong compulsory figures.[3] She won bronze at the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, finishing third behind Barbara Ann Scott of Canada and Eva Pawlik of Austria. In 1951, she stood atop the podium at the European Championships in Zurich and at the World Championships in Milan.
Altwegg successfully defended her continental title at the 1952 European Championships in Vienna. She was awarded gold at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, Norway, ahead of Tenley Albright of the United States and Jacqueline du Bief of France.[2] She became the first British woman to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics. Her achievement was not matched until the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver when Amy Williams won gold in skeleton.[4] Altwegg remains the only British woman to have won two individual medals (gold and bronze) at the Winter Olympics.
After her Olympic victory, Altwegg bypassed a lucrative professional career due to a knee injury.[3] In 1953, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire. She was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1993.[5]
Later life
After retiring from skating, Altwegg worked at Pestalozzi Children's Village in Switzerland.[6] She married Marc Wirz, the brother of Swiss skater Susi Wirz. They had four children before divorcing in 1973.[3] Their daughter Christina Wirz was a member of Switzerland's 1983 World champion curling team.[7]
Results
| International | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 |
| Winter Olympics | 3rd | 1st | ||||
| World Championships | 5th | 4th | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | |
| European Championships | 4th | 5th | 3rd | 2nd | 1st | 1st |
| National | ||||||
| British Championships | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||
References
- ↑ "Jeannette Altwegg". Olympic.org.
- 1 2 "Jeannette Altwegg". Sports Reference.
- 1 2 3 4 Russell, Susan D. (August 1, 2011). "Jeannette Altwegg: Recollections from the Past". IFS Magazine.
- ↑ "Amy Williams wins historic gold medal at Winter Olympics". Bath Chronicle. 20 February 2010. Archived from the original on March 28, 2010.
- ↑ "World Figure Skating Hall of Fame".
- ↑ Goodbody, John (21 February 2010). "Jeannette Altwegg: the tennis player who skated her way to gold". Sunday Times. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011.
- ↑ "European Curling Federation: ECC Winners".
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