A Historic Olympic Victory Unknown to the ChampionT
She finished first in a women’s golf tournament in Paris, France, in 1900, but never knew she had won much more than the city championship. In fact, Margaret Abbott would live her entire life unaware that she competed in the 1900 Olympic Games, let alone became the first American woman to win an Olympic title.
t was not until well after her death in 1955 that the incredible truth of her accomplishment came to light. And even then, the news came out only because a college professor, who also served as a representative for what is now known as the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, became curious about her story.
Abbott did not return home from France with a gold medal or a victory parade. In 1900, many Olympic winners received historical artifacts instead of medals. In recognition of her triumph, Abbott was given a porcelain bowl.
A Name on a Plaque Sparks Curiosity
Abbott’s name was etched on a plaque in the MacArthur Room at the previous headquarters of the U.S. Olympic Committee in New York City, honoring the nation’s Olympic gold medalists. Paula Welch, a professor at the University of Florida with a strong interest in Olympic history and a U.S. delegate to an upcoming International Olympic Academy meeting, saw Abbott’s name on the plaque (misspelled Abbot). Welch wondered who Margaret Abbott was and why she had never heard of her before.
“I just felt like this was such an interesting story,” said Welch, whose doctoral dissertation was written on American women in the Olympic Games. “I wanted to find out as much as I could.”
Researching Margaret Abbott’s Story
Welch’s research continued on and off for a decade. She learned that Abbott was born in India, raised in Boston, and then moved to Chicago, where she learned to play golf. Her mother, Mary Ives Abbott, had taken Margaret to Paris to study art, and the two entered the golf tournament in Compiegne, apparently unaware that it was an Olympic competition.
Welch’s research led to repeated trips to the library, where she learned about Abbott’s golf career in old Chicago Tribune newspaper stories. “A lot of the research that I found appeared in society columns because there was not very much written on women in sports sections,” Welch said.
Welch was able to piece together Abbott’s golf career. She learned that Abbott remained in Paris for another year before returning to the United States, where she married writer Finley Peter Dunne. The couple had four children, who were also unaware their mother was an Olympic champion until Welch tracked them down.
“It’s not every day that you learn your mother was an Olympic champion, 80-odd years after the fact,” Philip Dunne wrote in Golf Digest in 1984. “The champion herself had told us only that she had won the golf championship of Paris.”
What Made the Paris 1900 Olympic Games Unique
The Paris 1900 Olympic Games were the first to include women, but their participation was limited to five sports: croquet, equestrian, golf, sailing, and tennis. The tennis competition took place in July, with American Marion Jones winning the bronze medal in women’s singles and teaming with Laurence Doherty of Great Britain to win bronze in mixed doubles.
Held in conjunction with the Paris Exposition, also known as the World’s Fair, the Olympics were spread out over several months. A wide variety of events were staged, and it was sometimes left in the air as to what was an Olympic competition (including tug of war) and what was not (kite flying, firefighting, and pigeon racing, among others). There was no Opening Ceremony, nor a Closing Ceremony.
The golf tournament was held in October; while the men played two 18-hole rounds, the women’s event consisted of just nine holes. Abbott shot 47 to lead an American sweep, with Pauline Whittier winning the silver and Daria Huger Pratt the bronze. Mary Ives Abbott placed seventh, making them the first and still only mother and daughter to compete in the same event at the same Olympic Games.
“They may have called her competition the Exposition Championship because apparently she never heard the word ‘Olympic,’ ” Welch said. “Surely if she had heard the word ‘Olympic,’ she would have told her family.”
How Abbott’s Legacy Was Rediscovered
Welch suspects that the only reason Abbott’s name was placed on a plaque at Olympic House is that another Chicagoan – A.G. Spalding – was the U.S. Director of Sports to the International Exposition and included Abbott’s result in his official government report.
“No one at Olympic House knew anything about her until I began my research,” said Welch, who served on the USOC Board of Directors from 1985 to 2002 and remains involved with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation.
Now, Abbott is etched in the record books.
