Abbott, Margaret (1878–1955)
Abbott, Margaret (1878–1955)
American golfer and first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Name variations: Margaret Abbott Dunne. Born on June 15, 1878; died on June 10, 1955; grew up in Chicago; began playing golf at a private club in 1897; married Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936), in 1902; children: three sons and one daughter.
The sport of golf was represented in the Olympics only once: in 1900 in Paris, France. That year also marked the first Olympic games in which women were allowed as contestants. The winner of the nine-hole event was the unlikely Margaret Abbott, who was then an art student living in Paris; she was described as a "fierce competitor" with a "classy backswing." Beating out Switzerland's Polly Whittier by two strokes, Abbott became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal. The first female gold medalist from any country was Charlotte Cooper of Great Britain who won the lawn tennis singles and mixed doubles. Margaret Abbott accompanied her husband Finley Peter Dunne, the humorist and popular creator of Mr. Dooley, when he cut short his career in mid-course and retired to Long Island in 1911.