Hélène de Pourtalès

Hélène de Pourtalès, born Helen Barbey in New York City in 1868, was an American-born sailor who represented Switzerland and became the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal. At the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris she crewed the Swiss yacht Lérina alongside her husband Hermann, the helmsman, and his nephew Bernard. The boat won the first race of the 1 to 2 ton class and took silver in the second, and she also entered the open class without finishing. Her gold came about two months before tennis player Charlotte Cooper won hers, and she was the first woman to represent Switzerland at the Olympic Games. She died in Geneva in 1945.