20 Facts About Tenley Albright

Tenley Emma Albright was born on July 18,1935 and is an American former figure skater and surgeon.

Tenley Albright's father Hollis was a prominent surgeon and her mother Elin was an artist.

Tenley Albright began skating at age 8, on a homemade rink in the backyard of her family home.

In 1946, Albright contracted polio, which was deemed to be pre-paralytic.

Tenley Albright had two coaches in her career: Willie Frick and Maribel Vinson.

Tenley Albright won the silver medal at the 1952 Olympics.

Tenley Albright won her first World title in 1953, silver in 1954, a second gold medal in 1955, and her fourth medal, another silver, in 1956.

Tenley Albright was the first American female skater to win a world title.

Tenley Albright managed to do this while enrolled as a full-time pre-med student at Radcliffe College.

Tenley Albright won the US Nationals Novice Championships at the age of 13 and the US Junior Championships at the age of 14, and then won five consecutive national titles starting at age 16.

In 1956, while training for the Olympics, Tenley Albright fell due to a rut in the ice and cut her right ankle joint to the bone with her left skate.

Tenley Albright retired from competitive skating after 1956 but remained attached to figure skating as a sports functionary.

In 1982, Tenley Albright became a vice president of the US Olympic Committee.

Tenley Albright graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1961 at the age of 25, went on to become a surgeon.

Tenley Albright practiced for 23 years, continuing as a faculty member and lecturer at Harvard Medical School.

Tenley Albright chaired the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.

Tenley Albright has served as director for non-profits such as the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and companies such as West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.

Tenley Albright's accomplishments earned her an induction into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.

Tenley Albright married to Tudor Gardiner, a lawyer and son of William Tudor Gardiner, in 1962.

Tenley Albright shared her association with Woods Hole and was chair of the Morehouse School of Medicine.