Gretchen Merrill

Gretchen Van Zandt Merrill ( born November 2, 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts, † April 22, 1965 in Windsor, Connecticut ) was an American figure skater who started in a single run.

Gretchen Merrill was from 1943 to 1948 six times. Consecutive U.S. Figure Skating Champion in the women's She had the misfortune to be at one time the dominant American figure skater, in which there was almost no international tournaments because of the World War II break. It was not until 1947, she was able to provide at the first World Championships and European Championships after the Second World War, the international competition. It remained their only participation in these tournaments. Both times she was able to win a medal. At the European Championship 1947 in Davos, she was Vice - European Champion behind the Canadian Barbara Ann Scott and before the British woman Daphne Walker. Until 1948, non-Europeans were allowed to participate at the European Championships. So Merrill was the last U.S. American who won a medal at the European Championships. At the World Championships in Stockholm in 1947, she won the bronze medal behind Scott and Walker. Your single Olympics she finished in 1948 in St. Moritz in eighth place was disappointing for them. Then she ended her career.

Gretchen Merrill launched for the Skating Club of Boston, and was trained by the example of her childhood, Maribel Vinson. It was considered one of the best dressed and the most glamorous female athletes of her time. Soldiers gave her the nickname Queenie. She died at age 39, after struggling with mental health problems.

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