Hump Day History

 

On this day in 1953, Tenley Albright became the first female US figure skater to win a world title.

All seven judges gave her the first place vote.

Tenley had contracted polio as a young child, so her accomplishment was all the much greater.

She landed a double axel, double loop, double rittberger and double salchow - "Such combinations never have been seen performed before by a woman," the Associated Press reported.

Three years later, Tenley became America's first female skating gold medalist.  After the Olympics, she attended Harvard Medical School and was a noted surgeon for 23 years.  In 1976, she was chief physician for the Winter Olympics team, and she is currently the director of the MIT Collaborative Initiatives.  

In 1983 she was inducted into the International Women's Sport Hall of Fame. 

*****

Also in the world of figure skating, remember 2002 in Salt Lake City?  It was on this day that the IOC confirmed fraud by a French judge.  As part of a vote-trading scheme, the judge was pressured by her federation to award high scores to the Russian pair, even though a jump was missed.

Silver went to the Canadians, who then received the gold.