Magda Julin (original) (raw)

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Swedish figure skater (1894–1990)

Magda Julin
Julin at the 1920 Olympics
Other names	Magda Mauroy
Born	(1894-07-24)24 July 1894France
Died	21 December 1990(1990-12-21) (aged 96)Stockholm, Sweden
Figure skating career
Country	Sweden
Medal record Representing Sweden Olympic Games 1920 Antwerp Singles

Magda Julin (née Mauroy, 24 July 1894 – 21 December 1990) was a Swedish figure skater who competed in ladies' singles.[1] She was the 1920 Olympic champion, a two-time Nordic champion, and a three-time Swedish national champion. She was four months pregnant at the 1920 Olympics.[2][3]

Julin was born in Vichy, where her father ran a physiotherapy institute, which influenced Julin to become interested in sport when she was young.[4] The family moved to Sweden when she was 7 years old.[3]

She married a sea captain, Per Johan Emil Julin, shortly before the 1920 Summer Olympics. She had a son with him. He died in 1922. She remarried his younger brother, Fredrik Emanuel Julin, in 1925 and had a second son with him.[4][5]

After her competitive career, she worked as a waitress. In 1955, she open her own cafe and later a restaurant.[2][5] She died in 1990 in Nacka.[2][3]

Julin joined the Stockholm skating club in 1908. She won her first Swedish title three years later in 1911.[3]

She would go on to win two more national titles (1916, 1918) and four national silver medals (1912, 1913, 1915, 1917). Three of those silver medals were won behind Svea Norén. The two of them were the two best Swedish women's skaters at the time, and they trained and often competed together.[6] Julin's strength was considered to be compulsory figures, with her free skating routines being simpler.[3][5]

Julin competed at her only World Championships in 1913, where she placed 6th.[2] In 1917, she won the women's figure skating event at the Nordic Games ahead of Norén.[4][6]

At the 1920 Olympics, Julin competed four months pregnant; at one point, she fell and was scared she had hurt her unborn child, but he was unharmed.[7] She won the Olympic title, again ahead of Norén. Unusually, none of the judges ranked her first overall, although three did in the compulsory figures segment of the competition.[3][4] She originally planned to skate her free skate to The Blue Danube, but she was forced to change it due to anti-German sentiment.[2]

Julin wished to continue competing and hoped to do so at the 1924 Winter Olympics. However, the Swedish Figure Skating Federation banned her from official competitions, something Julin was still bitter about when she first spoke publicly about it decades later in 1988.[5]

Julin remained active in skating after the end of her competitive career. In 1985, she skated a short time on a rink in Kungsträdgården in skates that had been donated by Ulrich Salchow.[4] She was a guest of honor at the 75th anniversary celebration of the Swedish Olympic Committee.[7] In 1990, at age 95, she was a guest at the opening of a rink in Östersund.[2]

1. ^ "Magda Julin". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
2. ^ a b c d e f Magda Julin. sports-reference.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Magda Julin. Swedish Olympic Committee
4. ^ a b c d e
5. ^ a b c d Wittich, Elke (24 October 2024). "Goldmedaille in der Schwangerschaft: Elke Wittich Erste Frauen" [Gold medal during pregnancy: Elke Wittich First women]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). p. 19. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
6. ^ a b "Svea Norén". Swedish Olympic Committee (in Swedish). Retrieved 21 April 2025.
7. ^ a b "Former Ice Queen, 93, Still Reigns;Julin Says Witt `Very Clever' but Not `Sexy'". The Washington Post. 11 May 1988. pp. b03. Retrieved 21 April 2025.

• Magda Julin at Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon