Dora d’Istria
Romanian author, translator feminist, painter, scholar and mountaineer
Category Archives: Sports
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Gisela Taglicht
Taglicht’s ideas on the importance of relaxation were advanced for the time. When the Wellington Parents’ Centre was formed in the early 1950s, she was employed to teach pregnant women relaxation and breathing exercises, which many found invaluable during the rigours of childbirth. She tutored aspiring actors in movement and relaxation, working with the New Zealand Drama Council’s annual summer schools over many years and the New Zealand Players during the 1950s. The New Zealand Opera Company also employed her. Her work has been continued and expanded by her followers.
Cath Vautier
New Zealander Cath Vautier was active in all aspects of netball, serving as coach, manager, umpire, selector (including national selector in 1948), announcer, publicist, delegate to national meetings, and fund-raiser, as well as being responsible for the weekly draw.
Kathleen Mary Nunneley
Possessed of a powerful forehand drive and a keenly competitive spirit, Kate Nunneley did much to improve the standard of women’s tennis in New Zealand.
Sarah Heap
By 1912 Sarah Heap was regarded as New Zealand’s leading authority on the physical training of girls.
Constance Alice Barnicoat
When she died, the Christchurch Press commented that her ‘grip of facts added to an intimate knowledge of European politics and statesmen…had placed her in the front rank of women journalists’. She also excelled as a woman mountaineer.
Lena Matewai Ruru
After her father’s death in 1943 Lena and her brother Eru continued his work, dealing with numerous issues affecting Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Te Whānau-a-Taupara land and the Mangatū blocks. She became one of the first women to chair a Māori block committee (Whaitiri No 2), and served on the East Coast Māori Trust Council.
Candace Cable
In 1992, Candace Cable became the first woman to medal at the summer and winter Paralympic Games. During her career, she competed at nine Paralympics and won 12 medals in track and field, alpine skiing, and Nordic skiing. Cable also won 84 marathons, including six Boston Marathon victories.
Margaret Ives Abbott
In 1900, Abbott won the women’s Olympic golf tournament, but she never knew what she had achieved.
Annette Kellerman
In a 1915 press interview Annette Kellerman described the principal motivation at the heart of her successful career as performer, movie star, athlete and role model for the emerging 20th century modern woman: ‘Swimming for women is more than physical, it can engender self-confidence, and in the art and science of swimming, a kind of equality, even superiority to that of men. My chief pride and pleasure has been the knowledge that my work has stimulated an interest in swimming as a woman’s sport’.