Margaret Abbott

Who was Margaret Abbott?

Margaret Ives Abbott was the first American woman to take first place in an Olympic event; she won the women's golf tournament, consisting of nine holes, with a score of 47 at the 1900 Paris games. Abbott won a porcelain bowl for first place in golf. 1900 was the first year in which women were allowed to compete in the Olympics, and these games included 11 female athletes competing in "ladylike" sports: golf, tennis and yachting. These games were apparently so poorly organized that many competitors, including Abbott, did not realize that the events they entered were part of the Olympics. Historical research did not establish that the game was on the Olympic program until after her death, so she herself never knew it. Abbott had traveled to Paris to study art under Edgar Degas and Auguste Rodin. Her mother, Mary Perkins Ives Abbot, also competed in the event, finishing tied for seventh, making it the first Olympic event in which a mother and daughter competed at the same time.