Two To Tango: The Louise Bertram And Stewart Reburn Story

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

"They didn't really have the lifts for pairs, but they were the forerunners of free dance and took New York by storm in the thirties." - Debbi Wilkes, "Ice Time"

The daughter of manufacturer Robert Mckenzie Bertram and Louisa Hope Hodgins, Frances Louise Bertram was born May 30, 1907. She was raised in prosperous circumstances on Spadina Road in Toronto with two live-in servants and two brothers, Robert and William. She was the middle child. 

When Louise was five on August 11, 1912, over on Forest Hill Road another middle child was born. His name was Stewart Dudley Dagge Reburn. He was the son of auditor William George Reburn and his Irish born wife Evelyn Sarah Stuart. When The Great War broke out, Stewart's father enlisted and the Reburn family was sent to live in England. In May 1919, William Reburn repatriated from Europe and that October, seven year old Stewart arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax with his mother, older sister Elizabeth and one and a half year old brother Dudley.

Louise Bertram and Betty Wily in the Toronto Skating Club carnival

The following year, Stewart met young Louise at the Toronto Skating Club. Though they struck up a friendship and skated together every week, their partnership took many years to form. In his youth while attending Upper Canada College, hockey had actually been his main sport for some time. 

Louise and Stewart both made their debuts at the Canadian Championships in 1928, but with different partners. Stewart and Veronica Clarke were third in the pairs; Louise and Errol Morson fourth. Both pairs were coached by Gustave Lussi.

Louise Bertram and Stewart Reburn skating singles

Louise made her singles debut at the Canadian Championships the following year, competing in 'novice ladies singles' against Cecil Smith's sister Maude, which essentially would have been a junior event as there was no junior category. Stewart finished second in the senior men's event behind Montgomery Wilson and won the fours event with partner Veronica, Margaret Henry and John Machado.

Top: Jack Eastwood, Maude Smith, Cecil Smith and Stewart Reburn. Bottom: Stewart Reburn, Margaret Henry, Louise Bertram and Hubert Sprott.

In 1931, Stewart repeated as silver medallist behind Montgomery Wilson in senior men and placed third in the pairs event with Cecil Smith and second in fours with Cecil and Maude Smith and Jack Eastwood. Louise's senior debut came the following year at the Canadian Championships in Toronto. She teamed up in pairs with Jack Hose and missed the podium but won the fours event with Stewart and Veronica and John Machado, actually defeating the fours team her pairs partner was on. It was after that competition that Louise and Stewart finally decided to form a pairs partnership. It was the right decision.

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

The following year at the Canadian Championships, Louise and Stewart finished right behind Constance and Montgomery Wilson in the pairs event and second in fours with Margaret Henry and Hupert Sprott. After that event, they debuted a tango-themed program set to a piece from the film "Flying Down To Rio" called "Orchids In The Moonlight" by Vincent Youmans. It was a huge hit at the Toronto Skating Club's carnival. They were invited to perform the number at a carnival in Montreal, where a sold-out crowd of ten thousand marvelled at their musicality and flair. Soon, clubs throughout Canada and the U.S. were flooding the Toronto Skating Club with letters requesting that this untested, unheralded pair come perform "their tango" in their carnivals. Writing of their number in "Skating" magazine in May 1934, A.E. Kirkpatrick rejoiced, "Music of Spain, a handsome youth, a maid of blithesome beauty, mistress of the blade; In perfect harmony, combine to seize our fixed regard, and every sense to please." British judge and journalist Captain T.D. Richardson raved, "It is the dance programme par excellence. It is performed with an exquisite perfection of timing and in an unexaggerated purity of style that is a delight to watch. Its very nature, however, tends to make it appear perhaps a trifle slow after the fireworks of some of the other pairs, but of its kind, it is as near perfection as can be."

Stewart Reburn. Photos courtesy the City Of Toronto Archives. Series 1957, Used with permission.

At the 1935 Canadian Championships, Louise and Stewart finished second in the fours event with Mrs. Spencer Merry and Hupert Sprott and won an unofficial Tenstep contest. "Orchids In The Moonlight" won them their first and only Canadian title, bumping five time Canadian pairs champions Constance and Montgomery Wilson down to third. In her book "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On The Ice", Lynn Copley-Graves summed up the significance of their victory and winning program:  "This pair dance, devoid of 'tours de force' and 'highlights', may actually have been the first true 'free dance' before the term was conceptualized. With utmost simplicity, fluidity and timing, this early tango free had mesmerized carnival audiences everywhere and apparently had the same effect on the judges at the Minto Club. Described as 'poetry in motion', this pair dance united music with movement, emphasizing the oneness of partner skating... Years later, Joel Liberman recalled that, even without the content in their pair skating, Louise and Stewart could 'rouse an audience in their tango or waltz variation routine like no other skater, amateur or professional.'"

The international judges were never as accepting. When five thousand spectators gathered to watch the North American Championships in Montreal in 1935, Louise and Stewart were only judged the third best of the seven pairs teams who participated, though they easily won an unofficial Waltzing competition held during the computation of marks. At the 1936 Winter Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Swedish and Norwegian judges placed them third and fourth... and the Austrian and German judges had them well down in thirteenth and fourteenth. They ended up sixth. Louise was competing with an injured knee at the Olympics, which required an X-ray. She attended the Games with a chaperone, Elizabeth Pitt Barron. In her diary, Pitt Barron recalled, "We were getting ready for the main performance that we had come so far to see and... we found that when we started out, I had no ticket to get in and after coming so long I just had to see our people skate. So I decided I would get between Louise and Stewart and I would carry her skates. I was wearing a culottes skirt, a divided one, which is so popular right now - that everyone is wearing - and I had put a bank note showing in my pocket with also an identification card. The blue bank note looked like an official card for entrance and so as I was line and the Nazi officer stopped me those behind me kept yelling 'hurry, hurry' and the first thing I knew I was pushed in and of course I had no place to go. I had no ticket so I just couldn't do anything else but leave our couple, wish them luck and wander up all the stairs to the top back of the stadium. I then realized I could look down and see those who were arriving and so later on I was able to see the big Mercedes arrive and there was the man himself, Hitler, the little man."

Photo courtesy City Of Toronto Archives

After the 1936 Olympics ended, Louise and Stewart travelled to Brussels, where they gave two exhibitions. The next day, they travelled to Paris, checked in to the Majestic Hotel and did some sightseeing and shopping in Versailles between practices at the Palais des Sports for the World Championships. Though they recovered quickly, a fall cost them a medal at the event. They finished  fourth behind Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier, Ilse and Erich Pausin and Violet and Leslie Cliff. American judge Charlie Morgan Rotch had them in third - ahead of both American pairs - but a bloc of European judges kept them off the podium. 

Upon their return to Canada, Louise and Stewart they won their final competition together, an invitational Fourteenstep competition held in conjunction with the Granite Club's annual carnival in 1936. Twenty teams from both Canada and the U.S. participated... but it was an ice dancing competition, not a pairs one. This victory certainly supports Copley-Graves' argument that their skating was more in the vein of free dancing in an era when highlights like lifts, jumps and spins were becoming a more and more prevalent necessity in pairs skating.

Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine

After that Olympic season, Stewart worked as a clerk in the insurance field briefly. Louise placed third at the 1937 Canadian Championships in the Tenstep with Osborne Colson. Louise and Stewart continued skating together in an endless stream of club carnivals and were dubbed as the 'Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of the ice'.

Eleanor O'Meara, Virginia Wilson, Cecil Smith, Maude Smith, Louise Bertram and Eleanor Wilson. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

Louise and Stewart were also regulars at Madison Square Garden in the Skating Club Of New York's annual carnivals in the thirties, holding their own alongside skaters like Henie, Karl Schäfer, Maxi Herber and Ernst Baier, Maribel Vinson and Vivi-Anne Hultén. , The February 15, 1938 issue of "The Ottawa Citizen" reported on their appearance in that years Minto Follies thusly: "Not only is this matchless duo internationally noted for perfect rhythm and flawless coordination, it also is considered by many to be the foremost pair of interpretive skaters in the world today. Their programs typify the true poetry of motion and everywhere they have appeared they have received tumultuous acclaim. Only last week in Philadelphia they had to respond to numerous encores." A waltz to Hans Otten's "Du kannst nicht treu sein" soon became a popular sequel to Louise and Stewart's tango but "Orchids In The Moonlight" was by far their signature number. In the heyday of their post-Olympic career they never lost their amateur status, performing in carnival after carnival for the love of the sport instead of the love of money. Yes, people actually did that back then.

Everything changed in August 1938, when Stewart received a letter from the office of Arthur M. Wirtz advising him that he had been chosen to skate with Sonja Henie in the Hollywood Ice Revue. "That was the greatest surprise of my life and it developed into the greatest thrill of my life when I actually began skating with Miss Henie. Who wouldn't be proud to skate with the finest skater in the world?" said a 25 year old Reburn in a January 21, 1939 interview in "The New York Sun". Sonja praised him by saying, "I don't think I have found a more expert partner anywhhere. Stewart is very good." On the surface, their partnership was a hit. On January 17, 1939, "The New York Sun" reported, "Miss Henie and her new partner, Stewart Reburn, danced a tango together, drew applause requiring five encores to quell." That's right - a tango. Sonja Henie liked Stewart and Louise's "Orchids In The Moonlight" tango program enough that she hired Stewart and worked her way into the pair's signature program. What did Louise think about all of it? In a 1938 interview, she said, "He went one way and I another. He's a professional." She never was and as it turned out, Stewart wasn't for long.

Stewart Reburn and Sonja Henie

Sonja Henie had a long string of partners as a professional. In the period between 1936 and 1944 alone, the list included Stewart Reburn, Harrison Thomson, Jack Dunn, Marshall Beard, Eugene Turner, Geary Steffen, Jr. and Buford McCusker. After appearing together in her 1939 film "Second Fiddle", there were even rumblings that Stewart and Sonja weren't just partners on the ice. However, when he announced to her that he planned to join the military at the outbreak of World War II, she practically moved on to the next man (Harrison Thomson) before he even had his skates off.

Stewart Reburn and Sonja Henie. Photo courtesy Toronto Public Library, from Toronto Star Photographic Archive. Reproduced for educational purposes under license permission.

In August 1941, Louise married Montreal born Sidney Melvin Hulbig. Soon came her only child, a son named Frank. Meanwhile in Europe, Stewart worked as a Staff Officer M.D.. and then served as a Lieutenant with the 48th Highlanders in the First Canadian Division. He was wounded in action in Sicily, Italy in January 1944. When Canadian men's, pairs, ice dancing and fours champion Captain Ralph McCreath went to go visit a friend at a hospital in England that year, he looked over and Stewart was is in the next bed. After recovering from his first injury, he'd been injured again in the Battle of Ortona. Stewart's chance meeting with Ralph McCreath wasn't his first such encounter during the War. When he was first hospitalized in Sicily, Canadian skater Prudence Holbrook Craig was on duty with the Red Cross.

Stewart eventually recovered to some degree and married Bette Ellsworth Balmer, the daughter of Albert Leroy Ellsworth, President of British American Oil Co. Ltd. He worked for many years with Shelly Films Ltd., a commercial and industrial motion picture company. He passed away at the age of sixty-three on June 6, 1976 in Toronto, right after both of his parents.

Louise passed away twenty years later on October 18, 1996, also in Toronto. In an interview shortly after her death, Louise's daughter-in-law recalled, "She never spoke about her own accomplishments but they were happy memories for her. She talked about the boat trip to the Olympics and how special that was." Both were inducted posthumously into the Skate Canada Hall Of Fame in 2015 but sadly, to this day, few realize just how important a role a Canadian pairs team who never won an Olympic or World medal played in popularizing ice dancing in North America in the thirties.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

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A Quick History of Team Figure Skating Competitions

Photo courtesy Hannah Busing

As teams from Canada, Japan, the United States, France, Korea and Italy battle for prize money and bragging rights at the 2023 ISU World Team Trophy in Tokyo, I thought it might be fun to take a quick look back at the history of team figure skating competitions.

The very definition of the word team is a group of people coming together to achieve a common goal. With that in mind, the earliest examples of a team skating together would be English Style and fours skating, disciplines whose roots trace back to the nineteenth century. Synchro skating is another obvious example. However, what we will be looking at today are competitions where a team comprised of skaters in multiple disciplines received cumulative scores.

One of the earliest examples of a prize being awarded to a group of skaters from multiple disciplines was perhaps the Earl Grey Challenge Trophy, "a handsome statuette in bronze", awarded to the skating club who earned the most points at the Canadian Championships at the turn of the century. The first winners of the Earl Grey Challenge Trophy were the Minto Skating Club. Somewhat confusing matters, Governor General Grey also generously donated cups and trophies for the winners of the singles and fours events during the Edwardian era.

Team-style trophies were pondered in the United States as early as the 1920's. In 1928, Richard L. Hapgood remarked, "Team competition stresses the club rather than the individual. Most figure skaters take the sport seriously enough to form definite opinions on questions of style, procedure and so forth. These opinions are often contrary and widely divergent. Conflicting schools of skating thought have developed not only among the different localities of the country but also within most skating clubs. Such differences of opinion, while well-intentioned and having the best good of skating at heart, often cause ill-will and rancor among club members. Team competition offers a way out of these difficulties, for individual differences, whether petty or fundamental, will be sunk in a common desire to unite and work for the good of the club and its team. Secondarily team competition offers a definite stimulus to the development of young skaters. The honor of making the club team could hold easily as much inducement as the somewhat more elusive goal of winning a national or national junior championship. Older and more experienced skaters in a club will be sure to take greater interest in improving the young promising material with a view to building strong club teams."

The Harned Trophy. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.

In 1938, Bedell H. Harned donated a trophy to the USFSA, to be awarded to the club whose skaters earned the most points each year at the U.S. Championships. The top four skaters in senior singles, pairs, fours and ice dancing were each awarded point totals - 15 for first place, 9 for second, 6 for third and 3 for fourth. A total of 33 points could be earned in senior disciplines, which were tallied with 22 from junior and 11 from novice to determine which team came out on top. The first winners of the Harned Trophy were the team from The Skating Club of New York in 1939. This trophy was continously awarded at the U.S. Championships until the mid-1970's.

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine

Similar trophies were awarded at several other amateur events in the years that followed - the World Junior Championships (British American Oil Co. Ltd. Trophy), Skate Canada International (Nova Trophy) and the Grand Prix International and Nebelhorn Trophy events in St. Gervais and Oberstdorf (Coupes des Alpes), as well as numerous national qualifying and interclub events. Ice dance leagues, popular in England from the 1940's to 1960's, also used a cumulative points total over a series of events.

Olympic Gold Medallist John Curry's performance at the 1981 World Professional Championships, which helped secure a victory for the All Stars team 

Though the team event concept was technically borne through trophies awarded at existing competitions, it was in the professional skating world that competitions specifically designed for teams had their roots. One of the first such events took place in Atlanta, Georgia in December of 1977 - the World Skate Challenge - Battle of the Ice Stars. Singles and pairs skaters from Toller Cranston's 'The Ice Show' were pitted against a team of skaters from America's Ice Shows, with Toller's team coming out out on top. A team format proved popular in the early years of the World Professional Championships in Landover, as some skaters were initially reluctant to participate if they were scored individually.

Competitors at the 1996 World Team Championships posing with Dick Button and a corporate sponsor - left to right: Katarina Witt, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (Team Europe), Natalia Bestemianova, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Andrei Bukin (Team Russia), Martin Smith and Michelle McDonald (Team Canada) and Scott Hamilton and Kristi Yamaguchi (Team USA)

In total, team scoring was used at over a dozen professional and pro-am competitions over the years:

World Skate Challenge - The Battle of The Ice Stars (1977)

World Professional Championships (1980-1985)

Pro-Skate International Professional Championships (1982-1984)

Ice Wars/World Ice Challenge (1994-2006)

World Team Championships/World Team Challenge (1994-2005)

Skates X 2 International Team Championship (1995)

U.S. Postal Service Pro-Am Challenge (1995-1996)

Hershey's Kisses Challenge (1996-2002)

Battle of the Sexes (1996-1998)

Masters Miko (1997-2002)

Nice 'n Easy Figure Skating Classic (1997)

Ice Wars: Four The World (1999-2000)

Grand Slam of Figure Skating (1999-2000)

USA .vs. World Figure Skating Challenge (1999)

International Figure Skating Challenge (2000)

Major League Figure Skating U.S. Invitational (2004)

Japan Open (2005-present)

Some of these events were team events the whole time, while others either previously (ie. Masters Miko) or later (World Professional Championships) used individual scoring exclusively.

The first World Team Trophy was held in Tokyo in 2009, with skaters from six countries - Canada, China, France, Japan, Russia and the United States participating. The winning team that year, representing the United States, consisted of Jeremy Abbott, Evan Lysacek, Rachael Flatt, Caroline Zhang, Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett and Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto. American skaters have dominated the event over the years, taking home the trophy four times.

Promotional material for the 2015 World Team Trophy featuring Olympic Gold Medallist Yuzuru Hanyu

Team competitions were first included in the Winter Olympic Games in 2014. Canada struck gold in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. Medals from the team event at last year's Games in Beijing still haven't been awarded, owing to ongoing bureaucratic delays in addressing the Russian doping scandal.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html. 

Skating In New York During The Civil War

"Central Park, Winter - The Skating Pond. After a painting by Charles Parsons. Lithographed by Lyman Wetmore Atwater. Published and printed by Currier & Ives, 1862". Photograph courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Adele S. Colgate, 1962.

The editing process for my next book, a biography of American figure skating pioneer Jackson Haines, is well underway. Jackson got his start in figure skating in New York City and lived there during most of The Civil War. At the time, there was a huge skating boom in the City, with thousands flocking to ponds to 'cut on edge' when The Red Ball was up. 

In order to give you a flavour of the time and place, I put together a new board on Skate Guard's Pinterest account full of articles and pictures highlighting what the skating scene was like in New York from 1861 to 1865. Take a browse - I guarantee you will find it interesting!

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

A British American Champion: The Rosemary Beresford Story

Theresa Weld Blanchard and Rosemary Beresford at the 1918 U.S. Championships

When you look back through lists of past women's U.S. Figure Skating Champions, you see some pretty fabulous names - Ashley Wagner, Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill among them. If you look at the very top of the list, you will see a name you probably aren't familiar with at all - Rosemary Beresford. 

Joan Rosemary Graves-Sawle was born in July of 1890 in London, England. She was the daughter of Dame Constance Mary (Daniel), the daughter of an Army general, and Sir Charles John Graves-Sawle, a retired Rear-Admiral and Baronet from Cornwall who was invested as a member of the Royal Victorian Order. 

Rosemary was raised with a silver spoon in her mouth in 'the best kind' of Victorian family. Her family were direct descendants of King Edward III and considered part of the Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal. They owned Penrice House, a three hundred year old Cornish estate in Porthpean, but spent much of their time in a mansion at Queen's Gate, South Kensington during Rosemary's youth. The family of five employed no less than ten servants. If you're a fan of "Keeping Up Appearances", you'll get a kick out of the names of Rosemary's very proper English siblings - Hyacinth and Richard.

When you have more money than you know what to do with and nothing but time on your hands, you need a hobby. Rosemary's diversion of choice was skating at Prince's Skating Club in Knightsbridge, a members-only skating club regularly frequented by no less of a role model for any aspiring young skater than Madge Syers. After taking a few pointers from her accomplished training mate, young Rosemary travelled to St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1914, where she won an international competition for junior skaters held in conjunction with that year's World Figure Skating Championships. That same winter, she won also won an international junior event at Prince's Skating Club.

The Great War began in July of 1914. That same month, Rosemary's brother Richard was married and sent off to the front lines in Europe. Just three months later, he was killed by a sniper's bullet in Ypres. In 1915, Rosemary married the Honourable Seton Robert 'Bobby' de la Poer Horseley Beresford, a shipper with business interests on Wall Street who was twenty-three years her senior. The couple took up residence on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Bobby was an interesting character. He had been involved in an irrigation scheme in Peru, fought in the Boer War and won the world trap-shooting title from 1901 to 1904. He also excelled at boxing, ice hockey, cricket and steeplechase. Rosemary was Bobby's second wife. 

Bobby Beresford and Dowager Lady Decies

With the International Skating Union opting to cancel international competitions due to the War, Rosemary would not have had many opportunities to pursue skating had she stayed in Europe. New York City, on the other hand, experienced a skating boom during the War - largely due to the popularity of visiting German skater Charlotte Oelschlägel. Rosemary joined the prestigious Skating Club Of New York and entered the 1917 Hippodrome Challenge Cup, losing to Theresa Weld Blanchard, Nathaniel Niles and S.M. Lynes. Thus began a short-lived and very healthy rivalry between two talented young women. Theresa Weld Blanchard was from Boston; Rosemary from England.

In 1918, Rosemary returned to challenge Theresa Weld Blanchard for the Hippodrome Challenge Cup once again but withdrew early in the event due to illness. Reporters, eager for a story, spread the rumour that her withdrawal was due to her husband's dissatisfaction with the result. Her husband issued the following statement which was printed in the February 10, 1918 issue of the "New York Sun": "There is not one particle of truth in Mr. James Cruikshank's statement that I had notified him that I withdrew Mrs. Beresford's entry from the Hippodrome Skating Cup contest on Friday because I was dissatisfied with the judges' decision in Wednesday's figure skating contest. I in no way or manner joined in the comment on Cruikshank that I understand was aroused by certain irregularities in the progress of the competition. Mrs. Beresford was unable to leave her bed on Friday, and Mr. Cruikshank is very well aware of her illness. She sent a most courteous message of deep regret at being unable to be present, at the same time stating her great pleasure in looking forward to her next meeting with Miss Weld in the championship next month."

Rosemary and Theresa Weld Blanchard had their rematch at the St. Nicholas Rink the following month at a competition in the International Style of figure skating later recognized as the 1918 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The March 7, 1918 issue of the "New York Tribune" reported, "There was a freedom about her execution of the intricate figures and a certain dash in all her movements on the ice that impressed the spectators greatly... Mrs. Beresford's execution seemed more clean-cut [than Weld Blanchard's] to the layman, at least." Theresa Weld Blanchard won the free skating, but Rosemary's strong lead in the school figures was enough to carry her to the title... the first and only time a non-American woman won a U.S. women's title. The only other woman to have claimed a U.S. title in figure skating that wasn't a U.S. citizen was Canada's Jeanne Chevalier, who won the 1914 U.S. pairs title with partner Norman Mackie Scott. In 1920, Rosemary returned to win the Tenstep title at the U.S. Championships with Irving Brokaw.

Shortly thereafter, Rosemary returned to England and took up residence in the village of Walton-on-the-Hill. After Bobby's death on the French Riveria in 1928, she remarried the following year to Colonel Ralph Patterson Cobbold, a major from the Cobbold brewing family who served in the Boer War and with the King's Royal Rifle Corps in India. She took over the Sawle estate when her father passed away in 1932.

Rosemary and Bobby Beresford 

During World War II, Rosemary drove an ambulance, volunteered with the Red Cross and organized holiday parties for evacuated children, ensuring each children received a little gift from Father Christmas. Her mother refused to leave her home during the worst of the air raids in London, devoting her time as a needlewoman in "the service of men in the fighting forces." 

Rosemary was a deeply religious woman and was involved in dozens of philanthropic causes. She raised thousands of pounds for the National Lifeboat Institution. She was resident of the District Nursing Association until the National Health Service was founded and delivered gifts and food to seniors at Christmas. She donated a spire to the Charlestown church and was known as one of St. Austell Hospital's most generous benefactors. She worked as founder and President of the League Of Friends and was the President of the women's section of the Royal British Legion, organizing poppy collections for many years. She also captained the Cornwall Ladies golf team and was President of the County Ladies' Association. 

When Rosemary passed away on December 14, 1971 without an heir, Penrice House was left to "provide elderly people with a home for the rest of their lives in pleasant surroundings". She also left land to establish a rugby ground, to the Roman Catholic church and Penrice Hospital. At her funeral, a local MP named Piers Dixon said, "The numerous local causes which had her patronage know now that there is a void which no other person or institution can fill. Above all she was a person of joy. She would have been the first to dismiss sombre obituaries with gay laughter, insisting always with a look of almost girlish innocence that she had done nothing out of the ordinary to help other people. If humility was personified in this world, it was Rosemary Cobbold-Sawle." 

Photo courtesy Parish of Charlestown

A testament of Rosemary's humility is the fact that her obituary didn't even mention that she won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships - let alone the fact she was the only British woman in history to claim the title. 

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The St. Ivel Saga

Skating vest with St. Ivel logo, circa 1980

First held in 1973, Skate Canada International holds the distinction of being the oldest of the events that comprise the Grand Prix circuit today. Just five years after the first Skate Canada in Calgary, another international event cropped up that quickly became one of the most prestigious autumn invitational competitions of its day. Today we'll explore the story of the glittering rise and fall of the St. Ivel competition in England.

Rising out of the ashes of World War II, The Richmond Trophy was first held at London's Richmond Ice Rink in 1949. Sponsored by the National Skating Association, the event was a women's only affair that lasted for three decades. In its early years, many of the competitors were the international pupils of famed instructor Arnold Gerschwiler but in time, a who's who of women's figure skating from around the globe came to Richmond to compete. Olympic Medallists Dorothy Hamill, Sjoukje Dijkstra, Christine Errath, Dianne de Leeuw and Nicole Hassler were among the winners. It sparked a spin-off (pardon the pun) in the Edinburgh Trophy, an international women's event held in Scotland from 1966 to 1971, first won by Trixi Schuba.

Kay Barsdell and Ken Foster, Ruth Lindsey and Alan Beckwith, Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell and Robin Cousins in a promotional picture for the first Rotary Watches Ice International, 1978. Photo courtesy "Robin Cousins: Skating For Gold", Howard Bass.

During the 1977/1978 season, the Swiss company Rotary Watches Ltd. sponsored the British Primary and Junior Championships. It later announced its interest in sponsoring an international figure skating competition in England, which was their biggest market at the time. Rotary Watches had provided timepieces to the British military during World War II, and they were still a major household name in the UK decades later. An important player behind the scenes in making this event happen was Arnold Gerschwiler, Richmond Ice Rink's head instructor.

The first Rotary Watches Ice International was slated for October 11 and 12, 1978, less than a month before The Richmond Trophy. Some opposed the idea of holding a new international competition weeks before the already well-established event, believing the skating calendar was already too full. Despite their protestations, the event went off... but not as planned.

The idea the organizers had envisioned was a team competition for singles skaters and ice dancers. A series of unfortunate events caused things to unravel quickly. In a report in "Skating" magazine, skating historian Dennis Bird recalled, "The original intention was to invite one man, one lady and one couple from seven countries - Canada, USA, Japan, Czechoslovakia, West Germany, USSR and Britain. The Canadian's felt the event was too close to Skate Canada and did not compete. The German's, Czech's and Japanese sent their current champions. The USA sent its Lady Champion and a strong contender for the men's event but no couple. A French couple was invited instead, abandoning the team concept. This was the first international men's event organized in Great Britain since the 1950 World Championships. Good results for the hosts were eroded, however, as one misfortune after another befell the British team. World bronze medallist Robin Cousins withdrew with a stress fracture, British Lady Champion Karena Richardson developed bronchitis, the second and third placed girls were unavailable so the fourth ranked girl competed and became ill during the free skating and withdrew. Finally, British Dance Champion Janet Thompson pulled an Achilles tendon. The organizers were faced with further problems when the Russian team arrived. Their lady skater, Tatiana Mikhailova, signed in with a different name, and proved to be a substitute - Inna Tcherkasova. The Russian male skater did not come at all. Michel Lotz of France was quickly invited and competed in his place." Sandra Stevenson recalled the incident with the Soviet woman a little differently five years later in "Tracings" magazine. She wrote, "It was discovered near the end [after she'd skated] that a Russian woman was not the listed competitor at all, but a different skater. Frustrated, the... sponsors insisted on making it clear that they would not pay for unapproved substitutions. Unfortunately, the Britons sent this forcibly-worded warning to every country with the result that the U.S. became upset and refused to send a team." Amidst this backdrop of chaos, America's Linda Fratianne, Japan's Fumio Igarashi and Great Britain's Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell made history as the first champions of the event. Sonia Bianchetti Garbato, Jane Vaughn Sullivan, Lawrence Demmy, Sally Ann Stapleford, Junko Hiramatsu and Pauline Borrajo were among the officials.

Karena Richardson performing her bronze medal winning skate at Rotary Watches International in 1979

The second Rotary Watches Ice International was held in early October of 1979. Japan's Emi Watanabe won the women's competition, defeating West Germany's Dagmar Lurz, who would soon win the Olympic bronze medal. Future Olympic Medallists Robin Cousins and Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay snactched the gold medals in men's and ice dance. Cousins' win over Igor Bobrin and Brian Pockar was a testament to his grit - he was suffering from a case of food poisoning and barely slept the night before the short program. He rallied in the free skate and landed four triples, debuting his new Olympic program. The next year, the St. Ivel dairy company - famous for their Golden Meadow butter and Lactic cheese - took over the title sponsorship of the event and added a pairs event.

Elizabeth Manley, Jill Trenary and Inga Gauter on the St. Ivel podium in 1986. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

Despite the proliferation of many new international competitions in the same period that St. Ivel International emerged, the competition proved to be a huge success year after year, consistently drawing some of the best skaters in the world to England to give their new programs a 'test run' early every season.

Left: Brian Pockar. Right: Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini. Photos courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

Among the winners from 1980 to 1987 were future Olympic medallists Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Brian Boitano, Brian Orser, Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall, Paul Wylie, Debi Thomas, Maya Usova and Alexander Zhulin and Elizabeth Manley. World Champions Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini and Elaine Zayak were also St. Ivel Champions. 

Over the years, St. Ivel International played host to many dramatic moments, both on and off the ice. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean received perfect 6.0's for their "Mack and Mabel" free dance in 1981, including one from the Soviet judge. Brian Orser submitted his music on cassette the same year and was informed it was almost a minute too short. With a hastily re-edited program, he won anyway. When Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin were no-show's at the event in 1984, a rumour circulated that Bestemianova was pregnant. Lyudmila Pakhomova set the record straight. She was the Soviet ice dancing queen that was expecting, not Bestemianova. In 1987, Bestemianova and Bukin finally made the trek to perform exhibitions for the appreciative St. Ivel audience. Perhaps most famously, ice dancers Anna Pisánská and Jiří Musil refused to return home to Czechoslovakia after the 1980 event and were granted political asylum.

Kurt Browning at Skate Electric. Photo courtesy Elaine Hooper, BIS Archive.

In the autumn of 1988, St. Ivel International was reincarnated as Skate Electric. Kurt Browning won the inaugural men's competition at the event, despite missing his bus to the practice the day of the free skate.

Charlene Wong after winning Skate Electric

Canadian skaters Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler, Charlene Wong, Norm Proft and Christine Hough and Doug Ladret also scored Skate Electric victories in the event's final years. At the 1988 event, Michelle McDonald and Mark Mitchell finished sixth in the compulsory dances but second in the Charleston OSP - an extremely rare instance of drastic 'movement' in ice dance during that era. 

Perhaps most interesting is the fact that during the 1989/1990 season, Skate Electric was the only major autumn international competition to include school figures. Knowing that their elimination was imminent at the 1990 World Championships, many federations took advantage of an ISU rule that allowed organizers to cut the unpopular three's and eight's in hopes of attracting more skaters.

How did it all end? Well, Skate Electric's sponsor was the Electricity Council, which oversaw the electricity supply industry in England and Wales at the time. As part of a commitment to sponsor figure skating events in the UK, the Council not only sponsored the Skate Electric competition, but also the Welsh Open, a Sport Aid Ice Gala in Birmingham, the British Ice and Roller Skating Championships and speed skating champion Wilf O'Reilly. In late July of 1989, the Electricity Act was signed, privatizing the industry in England and putting an end to sponsorship dollars. 

The final Skate Electric was held in the autumn of 1990, with a planned 1991 competition quietly cancelled. The last event in 1990 bore witness to a defining moment in figure skating history. When the competition began, there were representatives from both East and West Germany. An ISU meeting held during the event ratified a proposal from both the East and West German federations that there be only one German federation within the ISU. Ronny Winkler made history in the men's event as the first skater in decades to win a medal in international competition representing a unified Germany. The fact that a peace-defining moment for German skaters was made on British ice did not go unnoticed.

MEDALLISTS AT ROTARY WATCHES/ST.IVEL/SKATE ELECTRIC

MEN

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1978	Fumio Igarashi	David Santee	Miroslav Šoška
1979	Robin Cousins	Igor Bobrin	Brian Pockar
1980	Brian Pockar	Scott Hamilton	Fumio Igarashi
1981	Brian Orser	David Santee	Rudi Cerne
1982	Brian Orser	Norbert Schramm	Tom Dickson
1983	Heiko Fischer	Gary Beacom	Falko Kirsten
1984	Brian Boitano	Viktor Petrenko	Grzegorz Filipowski
1985	Brian Orser	Grzegorz Filipowski	Christopher Bowman
1986	Daniel Doran	Oliver Höner	Richard Zander
1987	Paul Wylie	Kurt Browning	Heiko Fischer
1988	Kurt Browning	Christopher Bowman	Ronny Winkler
1989	Todd Eldredge	Grzegorz Filipowski	Vladimir Petrenko
1990	Norm Proft	Ronny Winkler	Erik Larson

WOMEN

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1978	Linda Fratianne	Emi Watanabe	Dagmar Lurz
1979	Emi Watanabe	Dagmar Lurz	Karena Richardson
1980	Sandy Lenz	Tracey Wainman	Sanda Dubravčić
1981	Tracey Wainman	Jackie Farrell	Karen Wood
1982	Elaine Zayak	Tracey Wainman	Cornelia Tesch
1983	Tiffany Chin	Manuela Ruben	Karen Wood
1984	Kathryn Adams	Cynthia Coull	Claudia Villiger
1985	Debi Thomas	Susan Jackson	Joanne Conway
1986	Elizabeth Manley	Jill Trenary	Inga Gauter
1987	Caryn Kadavy	Patricia Neske	Joanne Conway
1988	Charlene Wong	Joanne Conway	Beatrice Gelmini
1989	Tonia Kwiatkowski	Simone Koch	Patricia Neske
1990	Holly Cook	Lisa Sargeant	Surya Bonaly

PAIRS

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1979	Nellie Cherkvotina and Victor Teslia	Christina Riegel and Andreas Nischwitz	Susan Garland and Robert Daw
1980	Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini	Inna Volyanskaya and Valery Spiridonov	Susan Garland and Robert Daw
1981	Lorri Baier and Lloyd Eisler	Vicki Heasley and Peter Oppehard	Susan Garland and Ian Jenkins
1982	Lyudmila Koblova and Andrei Kalitin	Melinda Kunhegyi and Lyndon Johnston	Susan Garland and Ian Jenkins
1983	Birgit Lorenz and Knut Schubert	Cynthia Coull and Mark Rowsom	Lea Ann Miller and Bill Fauver
1984	Inna Bekker and Sergei Likhanski	Katy Keeley and Joseph Mero	Laureen Collin and David Howe
1985	Natalie and Wayne Seybold	Christine Hough and Doug Ladret	Yulia Bystrova and Alexander Tarasov
1986	Christine Hough and Doug Ladret	Michelle Menzies and Kevin Wheeler	Gillian Wachsman and Todd Waggoner
1987	Denise Benning and Lyndon Johnston	Peggy Schwarz and Alexander König	Gillian Wachsman and Todd Waggoner
1988	Peggy Schwarz and Alexander König	Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov	Cheryl Peake and Andrew Naylor
1989	Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler	Kellie Creel and Bob Pellaton	Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný
1990	Christine Hough and Doug Ladret	Elena Nikonova and Nikolai Apter	Radka Kovaříková and René Novotný

ICE DANCE

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1978	Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell	Liliana Řeháková and Stanislav Drastich	Natalia Karamysheva and Rostislav Sinitsyn
1979	Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean	Natalia Karamysheva and Rostislav Sinitsyn
1980	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean	Elena Garanina and Igor Zavozin	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater
1981	Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater	Wendy Sessions and Stephen Williams
1982	Judy Blumberg and Michael Seibert	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater	Elena Batanova and Alexei Soloviev
1983	Karen Barber and Nicky Slater	Carol Fox and Richard Dalley	Wendy Sessions and Stephen Williams
1984	Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall	Natalia Annenko and Genrikh Sretenski	Susie Wynne and Joseph Druar
1985	Natalia Annenko and Genrikh Sretenski	Suzanne Semanick and Scott Gregory	Klára Engi and Attila Tóth
1986	Kathrin and Christoff Beck	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham	Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay
1987	Maya Usova and Alexandr Zhulin	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham	Lia Trovati and Roberto Pelizzola
1988	Maya Usova and Alexandr Zhulin	Sharon Jones and Paul Askham	Suzanne Semanick and Ron Kravette
1989	Angelika Krylova and Vladimir Leliukh	Jeanne Miley and Michael Verlich	Isabelle Sarech and Xavier Debernis
1990	Stefania Calegari and Pasquale Camerlengo	Sophie Moniotte and Pascal Lavanchy	Lisa Bradby and Alan Towers

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

Remembering The Richmond Trophy

Advertisement for the Richmond Trophy in 1972. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

In the aftermath of World War II, daily life in England wasn't exactly sunshine and roses. Both food and petrol were strictly rationed, women were forced to give up their wartime jobs as shell-shocked and injured soldiers returned to civilian life and a strike of dockyard workers forced the government to use military troops to unload goods. This gloomy period was the backdrop for the birth of a historic figure skating competition called The Richmond Trophy.

At the time, a who's who of international skating, including the reigning World Champion Ája Vrzáňová, trained at the historic Richmond Sports-Drome in Twickenham under the watchful eye of senior instructor Arnold Gerschwiler. Henry Rule, the Sports-Drome's chairman, came to Captain T.D. Richardson with the idea of holding an annual international event for the women who trained at the rink. Rule offered to furnish the prize - a massive silver cup. Richardson struggled to convince the powers-that-be at the National Skating Association to permit the Richmond Amateur Ice Skating Club to hold the event. Even though the R.A.I.S.C. was affiliated with the N.S.A., the idea of a club hosting its own competition was unprecedented at the time. Richardson's persistence paid off when the event "open to any amateur in the world with the exception of those who have actually won a World, Olympic or European Championship" was finally approved... through the backing of Arnold Gerschwiler. In "Skating World" magazine, Richardson remarked, "One must remember... that there is no... 'qualification for entry.' In actual fact, the chief merit of this competition is that it gives national champions and their nearest rivals a trial run, whilst at the same time providing an assessment of progress for the teachers as well as an opportunity for those with ambition to gain experience, and see how they fare in senior events, with a view to championships in the future." Originally, the event was supposed to have been a junior event, but an ISU rule change stating that skaters who had taken part in the Olympics, Worlds or Europeans were ineligible for junior events forced the organizers to make the event for seniors only.

The first Richmond Trophy, then referred to as the Open International Figure Skating Competition at Richmond, was held on November 7 and 8, 1949, with skaters from five countries participating. Competitors skated six figures and a four-minute free skating performances. Liverpool's Jeannette Altwegg was the winner by over forty points. 

Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

When Jeannette Altwegg defended her title the following year, seventeen women from four countries (The United Kingdom, Switzerland, Holland and Finland) competed. When Barbara Wyatt won in 1951, history was made by Nancy Hallam of Australia - the first skater from one of the Commonwealth countries to participate. The event gained considerable traction in 1952, when British Champion Valda Osborn withdrew due to a sprained ligament in her foot and thirteen year old Kensington schoolgirl Yvonne Sugden was the victor. There were only nine competitors from four countries that year, but the event was televised nationally on the BBC, with commentary by World Champion Cecilia Colledge. The addition of an annual open ice dance event, The Tomlinson Trophy, increased to the event's profile and popularity.

Left: Henry A.V. Hopkins presenting Sjoukje Dijkstra with the Richmond Trophy in 1957. Joan Haanappel, Carolyn Krau and Diana Clifton-Peach on the podium at the Richmond Trophy in 1959. Photos courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

The record for the most wins at the Richmond Trophy is actually a four-way tie, with four women from four different each winning three times. Yvonne Sugden won in 1952, 1953 and 1955; Sjoukje Dijkstra won 1956, 1957 and 1958; Nicole Hassler won in 1960, 1961 and 1962 and Zsuzsa Almássy won in 1964, 1966 and 1967. 

Yvonne Sugden, Sjoukje Dijkstra and Joan Haanappel on the podium at the Richmond Trophy in 1955. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Five skaters who went on to win the World Championships won the event over the years: Sjoukje Dijkstra, Jeannette Altwegg, Dorothy Hamill, Christine Errath and Dianne de Leeuw.

Sandra Brugnera of Italy broke the streak of skaters from Great Britain, Holland and France dominating the Richmond Trophy when she won in 1963. Photo courtesy "Skating World" magazine.

Over the years, The Richmond Trophy played host to many memorable moments. In 1965, Alison Smith, Carol Windebank and Lesley Norfolk demonstrated several new compulsory figures which Captain T.D. Richardson was lobbying to include in the ISU schedule - among them three-rocker-three's and double loops. These were skated on Richmond's smaller Arosa rink. Each year, the Sports-Drome's Arosa Room played host to a dance where competitors were presented with souvenir plaques for participating.

1965 winner Uschi Keszler (left) and 1967 winner Zsuzsa Almássy. Photos courtesy "Winter Sports" magazine.

A plucky eleven year old Sonja Morgenstern made her international debut at the Richmond Trophy in 1967, placing only eighteenth but capturing the attention of the international judges 'as a skater to watch'. She went on to win a medal at the European Championships in 1972. There were sadder memories too, like when Joan Haanappel had to withdraw after finishing second in figures in 1957 due to an abscessed tooth. In 1965, Vanessa Simons withdrew after figures when she caught her leg in a car door, requiring three stitches. That same year, one judge had Hana Mašková of Czechoslovakia an unlucky thirteenth. Mašková went on to win the Olympic bronze medal in 1968, but was killed in a car crash when she was only twenty-two.

When Karen Wood won the final event in 1980, there were only eleven entries - down from a record thirty-one from eleven countries in 1966. The Richmond Trophy's demise was directly related to the success of the Rotary Watches International, which evolved into St. Ivel and Skate Electric. As these events included women's events, you might say that the Richmond Trophy wasn't really cancelled, but instead absorbed.

MEDALLISTS AT THE RICHMOND TROPHY

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd
1949	Jeannette Altwegg	Barbara Wyatt	Jiřina Nekolová
1950	Jeannette Altwegg	Barbara Wyatt	Valda Osborn
1951	Barbara Wyatt	Valda Osborn	Helga Dudzinski
1952	Yvonne Sugden	Lidy Stoppelman	Doreen Spowart
1953	Yvonne Sugden	Anne Robinson	Lidy Stoppelman
1954	Patricia Pauley	Sjoukje Dijkstra	Clema 'Winkie' Cowley
1955	Yvonne Sugden	Joan Haanappel	Sjoukje Dijkstra
1956	Sjoukje Dijkstra	Joan Haanappel	Karin Borner
1957	Sjoukje Dijkstra	Patricia Pauley	Diana Clifton-Peach
1958	Sjoukje Dijkstra	Carolyn Krau	Diana Clifton-Peach
1959	Joan Haanappel	Carolyn Krau	Nicole Hassler
1960	Nicole Hassler	Carolyn Krau	Barbara Conniff
1961	Nicole Hassler	Barbara Conniff	Heather Muir
1962	Nicole Hassler	Carol S. Noir	Anne Lenton
1963	Sandra Brugnera	Uschi Keszler	Christine van de Putte
1964	Zsuzsa Almássy	Uschi Keszler	Patricia Dodd
1965	Uschi Keszler	Zsuzsa Almássy	Beate Richter
1966	Zsuzsa Almássy	Petra Ruhrmann	Trixi Schuba
1967	Zsuzsa Almássy	Trixi Schuba	Patricia Dodd
1968	Elisabeth Nestler	Patricia Dodd	Eleonora Baricka
1969	Elisabeth Nestler	Patricia Dodd	Rita Trapanese
1970	Rita Trapanese	Patricia Dodd	Dawn Glab
1971	Christine Errath	Cathy Lee Irwin	Kazumi Yamashita
1972	Dorothy Hamill	Karin Iten	Jean Scott
1973	Dianne de Leeuw	Maria McLean	Karin Iten
1974	Marion Weber	Isabel de Navarre	Kath Malmberg
1975	Lynn Nightingale	Barbie Smith	Linda Fratianne
1976	Barbie Smith	Susanna Driano	Heather Kemkaran
1977	Priscilla Hill	Kristiina Wegelius	Denise Biellmann
1978	Susanna Driano	Carrie Rugh	Karena Richardson
1979	Alicia Risberg	Carola Weißenberg	Simone Grigorescu
1980	Karen Wood	Janina Wirth	Carola Paul

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.