Megan Olwen Devenish Taylor (later ''Mandeville'', later ''Ellis'', 25 October 1920 – 23 July 1993) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
figure skater
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
competitive in the 1930s. She won the
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in 1938 and 1939. Her father was Phil Taylor, a
speed skater
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...
.
A Straight Line Walk Across London
, accessed 21 July 2006.
Career
Megan and fellow Brit Cecilia Colledge
Magdalena Cecilia Colledge (28 November 1920 – 12 April 2008) was a British figure skater. She was the 1936 Olympic silver medalist, the 1937 World Champion, the 1937–1939 European Champion, and a six-time (1935–1939, 1946) British n ...
participated in the 1932 Winter Olympics
The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lake Placid 1932, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February ...
. They were virtually the same age—Colledge was 11 years and 68 days old, and Taylor was 11 years and 102 days. They are the youngest ever female competitors in any Olympic sport and the youngest ever competitors at the Winter Olympics.[, accessed 21 July 2006.][SKATING A BRIEF HISTORY OF ICE & The NATIONAL ICE SKATING ASSOCIATION of Great Britain, by Denis L. Bird](_blank)
accessed 21 July 2006. Taylor finished seventh, with Colledge following in eighth in the singles competition. Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norway, Norwegian figure skating, figure skater and film star. She was a three-time List of Olympic medalists in figure skating, Olympic champion (Figure skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics, ...
, the dominant figure in women’s figure skating at the time, won her second Olympic gold medal here.
Taylor finished second behind Henie at the World Championships in 1934 and 1936. After Henie retired in 1936, Taylor and Colledge competed for prominence. Colledge won the Worlds in 1937, while Taylor won in 1938 and 1939. Taylor placed second behind Colledge three times at the European Championships
The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...
(1937, 1938, and 1939).
After her retirement from amateur competition, Taylor toured with the Ice Capades
The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Winter Olympic Games, Olympic and United States Figure Skating Championships, US National Champion figure skating, figur ...
.
Competitive highlights
*Did not participate
Further reading
* E.R. Hall
Edward Ramsden Hall (17 July 1900 – 12 May 1982) was an English racing driver. He was born in Milnsbridge into a wealthy Yorkshire family in 1900, the heir to a successful textiles business which funded his motor racing and other sporting e ...
& T.D. Richardson – ''Champions all: camera studies by E.R. Hall'' (Frederick Muller, 1938)
* Richardson T.D – ''Modern Figure Skating'' (Methuen, 1938)
References
External links
*
European Figure Skating Championships results, 1930–1939
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Megan
1920 births
1993 deaths
British female single skaters
English female single skaters
Olympic figure skaters of Great Britain
Figure skaters at the 1932 Winter Olympics
Sportspeople from Rochdale
World Figure Skating Championships medalists
European Figure Skating Championships medalists
People educated at Rathdown School