Background
Altwegg was born in Bombay, India and raised in Lancashire, the daughter of a British mother and Swiss father.
Altwegg was born in Bombay, India and raised in Lancashire, the daughter of a British mother and Swiss father.
She was a competitive tennis player, reaching the junior finals at Wimbledon in 1947 before giving up the sport to focus on skating. Skating career
Altwegg was coached by Jacques Gerschwiler. She was known for her strong compulsory figures.
After her Olympic victory, Altwegg bypassed a lucrative professional career due to a knee injury.
In 1953, she was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1993. Later life
After retiring from skating, Altwegg worked at Pestalozzi Children"s Village in Switzerland.
They had four children before divorcing in 1973.
She is the 1952 Olympic champion in ladies" singles, the 1948 Olympic bronze medalist, the 1951 World champion, and the 1951 & 1952 European champion. Her win at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo was the first individual gold medal won by a British woman in the Winter Olympics. Her achievement as a British female individual Winter Olympics gold medalist was not matched until the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver when Amy Williams won gold in Skeleton. She remains the only British woman to have won two individual medals (gold and bronze) at the Winter Olympics. Their daughter Christina Wirz was a member of Switzerland"s 1983 World champion curling team
