Theresa Weld Blanchard (August 21, 1893 – March 12, 1978) was an American
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 ...
who competed in the disciplines of
single skating
Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport contested ...
and
pair skating
Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...
. Her pairs partner was
Nathaniel Niles.
As a singles skater, she won the gold medal at the
U.S. Figure Skating Championships
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships is a figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is ofte ...
six times and competed three times in the
Olympics
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, capturing a bronze medal in 1920. With Niles, she won the national pairs title nine times and also participated in the Olympics three times.
Blanchard was also the long-time volunteer editor of the
United States Figure Skating Association
U.S. Figure Skating is the national governing body for the sport of figure skating in the United States. It is recognized as such by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee "USOPC" under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act an ...
's official publication, ''Skating'' magazine; first jointly with Niles from the magazine's founding in 1923, and then as sole editor after his death in 1931, until 1963. The magazine was originally published out of her home. Her long competitive career gave her many contacts throughout the skating world. She also served as the first chair of the association's Professionals Committee from 1937 to 1947.
Results
Singles career
Pairs career
(with Niles)
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weld, Theresa
1893 births
1978 deaths
Sportspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts
American female single skaters
American female pair skaters
Figure skaters at the 1920 Summer Olympics
Figure skaters at the 1924 Winter Olympics
Figure skaters at the 1928 Winter Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in figure skating
Olympic medalists in figure skating
Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics
20th-century American women