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When the first Olympic medals for figure skating were awarded in 1908, Great Britain's Madge Syers brought home the gold as a singles skater and the bronze for her pairs performance with her husband, Edgar. She remains the only figure skater to receive two medals at a single Olympiad.
Perhaps her most groundbreaking ice skating performance, however, came years earlier. In 1902, Syers showed up to compete at the World Championships—something no woman had ever done before. The rulebook did not prohibit women from competing; it had never occurred to the International Skating Union (ISU) that a female would ever even try.
In her ankle-length skirt, Syers took the ice and finished second. Many people thought she should have won, including gold-medalist Ulrich Salchow, who reportedly took off his medal and gave it to her. Afterward, the organizers passed a rule prohibiting female ice skaters from competing against men. A separate world-level figure skating competition for women was created in 1906.
—Beth Braccio Hering
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