When Margaret Abbott left Chicago to study art in Paris, France in 1899, little did she know that she was destined to become the first American female to win an Olympic gold medal.
As a matter of fact, she never knew that she was an Olympic Champion; that information only came to light some 40 years after her death in 1955. In 1995, Paula Welch, a professor at the University of Florida, pulled together the records that proved that Margaret Abbott had been an Olympic champion.
The second modern-day Olympic Games were held alongside the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1900 and, for the first and only time, women’s golf was included as an Olympic event. When Abbott, along with 12 other golfers, entered the nine-hole women’s competition, she assumed that it was part of the exhibition.
Margaret Abbott finished the tournament with a winning score of 47, taking the gold medal by two strokes over fellow American Polly Whittier, who took the Silver medal. Interestingly, Margaret’s mother also competed and finished in seventh place.
Unbeknownst to her, Margaret Abbott would go down in history books as the first American female Olympic gold medalist.
