| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's golf | ||
| Competitor for the United States | ||
| Gold | 1900 Paris | Individual |
Margaret Ives Abbott (June 15, 1876 – June 10, 1955) 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. 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.[1] Abbott had traveled to Paris to study art under Edgar Degas and Auguste Rodin. Her mother, Mary Perkins Ives Abbot (a novelist and Chicago Tribune book reviewer), also competed in the event, finishing tied for seventh, making it the first (and still only) Olympic event in which a mother and daughter competed at the same time.[2]
Born in Calcutta, India in 1876, in 1902, Abbott married writer Finley Peter Dunne.