Unknown gold

Margaret Abbott plays during the golf event of the World Fair Games in 1900. Unbeknownst to Abbott, winning the tournament made her the first female Olympic champion representing the United States. USGA Museum Margaret Abbott was America’s first female Olympic champion. She went to her death, 55 years later, unaware of the singular distinction. Abbott, a 22-year-old art student from Chicago, won the women’s golf championship in the 1900 Paris Olympics. She thought she and her mother, Mary, were entering a local nine-hole tournament at Compiègne, some 50 miles north of Paris. The tournament was announced as part of the Paris World’s Fair. Olympic golf has returned to France for the 2024 Paris Games, with the August 7-10 women’s tournament at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, the site of the 2018 Ryder Cup, following last week’s men’s event at the course. The 1900 tournament was played Wednesday, October 3. The Abbotts had attended the Olympic opening ceremony in May, little knowing the rag-tag scheduling of Olympic competitions went on f...