French Speed Skaters - Marie Marvingt, Hans Van Helden, Tristan Loy, Alexis Contin, Cedric Michaud, Pascal Briand, Emmanuel Michon (Paperback)

Chapters: Marie Marvingt, Hans Van Helden, Tristan Loy, Alexis Contin, Cedric Michaud, Pascal Briand, Emmanuel Michon, Jean-Noel Fagot, Thierry Lamberton. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 32. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Marie Marvingt (20 February 1875 14 December 1963) was a French athlete, mountaineer, and aviator, and the most decorated woman in the history of France. She won numerous prizes for her sporting achievements and was the first woman to climb many of the peaks in the French and Swiss Alps. She was a record-breaking balloonist, a pioneering aviator and during World War I became the first woman to fly combat missions as a bomber pilot. She was also a qualified nurse, specializing in aviation medicine, and worked for the establishment of air ambulance services throughout the world. Marie Marvingt was born on 20 February 1875 in Aurillac in the Cantal departement of France but spent most of her childhood near Nancy in the Meurthe-et-Moselle departement although her family moved to Metz, at that time part of Germany, from 1880-1889. She was encouraged to participate in sports by her father, Felix, and at the age of 5 she could already swim 4000m. She enjoyed many other sports including water polo, horse riding, athletics, boxing, martial arts, fencing, shooting, tennis, golf, hockey, football, winter sports, and mountaineering, and also practiced circus skills. In 1890, at the age of 15, she canoed over 400 kilometers from Nancy to Koblenz, Germany. In 1899 she earned her driving licence. Marvingt became a world-class athlete who won numerous prizes in swimming, fencing, shooting, ski jumping, speed skating, luge and bobsledding. She was also a skilled mountaineer and between 1903 and 1910 she became the first woman to climb most of the peaks in the French and Swiss A...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=29785