Cortina d'Ampezzo, Ice Stadium, January 1956: Tenley ALBRIGHT of the United States, 1st, during training for the women's individual figure skating event. Credit: IOC / Olympic Museum Collections

Other names: ALBRIGHT, Tenley Emma

Born: 18 July 1935

Birthplace: Newton Center, Massachusetts (United-States)

Nationality: United-States

Sport: Skating

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Oslo 1952

Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 1

Silver: 1

Details

Other results:

World Championships

Gold: 2 (53, 55)

Silver: 2 (54, 56)

Saved by Her Father

Tenley Albright, a surgeon's daughter, was stricken with nonparalytic polio at the age of 11. She made her first Olympic appearance in 1952, winning the silver medal behind Jeannette Altwegg. Less than two weeks before the 1956 Cortina Olympics, Albright was practising when she hit a rut. As she fell, her left skate hit her ankle joint, cut through three layers of her right boot, slashed a vein, and severely scraped the bone. Her father arrived two days later and patched her up. In the Olympic competition she skated well enough to earn the first-place votes of ten of the 11 judges. Back in the United States she entered Harvard Medical School and eventually became a surgeon herself.