Ada Lunardoni (later ''Cumiskey'', then ''Hutcheon''; March 8, 1911 – January 11, 2003) was an American artistic gymnast. She competed in the gymnastics competition at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

, the first time American women competed in the sport, and placed fifth with the team. She was born in 1911 in

West Hoboken, New Jersey West Hoboken was a municipality that existed in Hudson County, New Jersey, from 1861 to 1925. It merged with Union Hill to form Union City on June 1, 1925. The town is notable for being the first city in which Mallomars were sold.Barron, Jame ...

, which is now part of Union City.Ada Lunardoni

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC, is an American company which operates several sports-related websites, including Sports-Reference.com, Baseball-Reference.com for baseball, Basketball-Reference.com for basketball, Hockey-Reference.com for ice hockey, Pro- ...

. Accessed August 30, 2017. Lunardoni married fellow gymnast

Frank Cumiskey Frank Cumiskey (6 September 1912 – 22 July 2004) was an American gymnast who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics, in the 1936 Summer Olympics, and in the 1948 Summer Olympics. Cumiskey was a resident of North Bergen, New Jersey North ...

after the

and had three children with him while living in

Rockleigh, New Jersey Rockleigh (pronounced ROCK-lee) is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 531,"NJ women on first US gymnastics team in spotlight at Centenary"
'' Daily Record'', January 30, 2018. Accessed January 3, 2024. "Bosco provided details about Ada’s life. Soon after the 1936 games, she married another Olympic gymnast from New Jersey, Frank Cumiskey. He had previously medaled in the 1932 Olympics and would later go on to compete in the 1948 games. The Cumiskeys lived in Rockleigh, where Ada gave birth to twin girls and a son." She then re-married and lived the rest of her life in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. She married Gordon Hutcheon and was a resident of the Panther Valley section of

Allamuchy Township, New Jersey Allamuchy Township is a township in Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the towship's population was 5,335, an increase of 1,012 (+23.4%) from the 2010 census count of 4,323, which in turn reflec ...

. A play called ''Turning'' about Lunardoni and other members of the 1936 women's team was performed in 2018.

References

1911 births 2003 deaths Gymnasts at the 1936 Summer Olympics Gymnasts from New Jersey Olympic gymnasts for the United States American female artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Union City, New Jersey 20th-century American women 20th-century American people People from Allamuchy Township, New Jersey People from Rockleigh, New Jersey 21st-century American women {{US-artistic-gymnastics-bio-stub