Source: Encyclopedia Britannica On-line
MADGE CAVE SYERS
FLORENCE MADELEINE CAVE SYERS (b. 1881, Eng. --
d. September 1917), British ice skater who was the first woman
to compete at the highest level of international figure skating.
At the 1908 Olympic Games in London she won the first Olympic
gold medal ever awarded in women's figure skating, as well as
the bronze medal for pairs with her husband and coach Edgar Syers.
Madge Cave was an accomplished figure skater, as well as a
talented swimmer and equestrienne, when she was introduced
to a freer, less-rigid international skating style by a new coach,
Edgar Syers. The couple married and competed, both individually
and together, from 1899. In 1902, having discerned that the annual
world figure skating championship did not actually bar women,
Syers became the first woman ever to enter the competition.
She finished second to Ulrich Salchow, a feat that induced the
officials to ban female athletes and later to establish a separate
event for women. Syers confirmed her supremacy in the sport by
winning the newly-created women's world championship in 1906
and again in 1907. Ill health forced her to retire from skating soon
after the 1908 Olympics.