ALBRIGHT, TENLEY

born July 18, 1935, Newton Centre, Mass., U.S. in full Tenley Emma Albright first American woman to win the world amateur figure-skating championship (1953) and an Olympic Games gold medal in figure skating (1956). She was also the first to win the world, North American, and United States titles in a single year (1953). Albright began to skate seriously at the age of 11 in order to regain her strength following an attack of nonparalytic poliomyelitis. She won five straight U.S. senior women's championships (1952 through 1956) and two consecutive North American titles (1953 and 1955). In 1953 she won her first world championship and in 1955 won again. In the 1952 Olympic Winter Games she won a silver medal, and in 1956 she won the Olympic women's figure-skating competition. Educated at Radcliffe College and Harvard University (M.D., 1961), Albright entered medical practice in Boston, specializing in sports medicine.