Aviva Trivia

* Women have been showing their athletic ability on ice for over 4000 years.

* Saint Ludwina is the patron saint of ice skaters. In 1396, she fell and broke her ribs when she was knocked down by her companion.

* In the book Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, the heroine’s name was Kaitlin.

* In the US during the 1860’s, a pair of ice skates could be purchased for $1.00 and women were encouraged to skate with men.

* Women skated at the Prince’s Skating Club in London, England. They were required to wear long skirts and a hat.

* A crowd of 6000 people came to the Hippodrome in New York City in 1915. They were there to see a seventeen year old girl named Charlotte who was skating in Flirting in Moritz. Charlotte hailed from Germany.

* Madge Syira won a silver medal in Olympic ice skating in 1902. She was taken out of the gold by a male skater named Ulrich Salcow.

* Madge won the gold medal in the 1906 Olympics for women’s ice skating. This opened the door for couple skaters to compete in the Olympics.

* The next female to make it big in ice skating was from Norway. Her name was Sonya Henie.

* Sonya Henie was a pioneer in women’s ice skating. At age 59, she died of leukemia.

* The 1950s gave the US its first female Olympic Champion. Her name was Tenley Albright. She had suffered from polio at age 11, but was determined that she wouldn’t let the affects of her illness stop her from competing. Hats off to Tenley.