Valda Rosemary Foggin ( Osborn; 17 September 1934 – 28 December 2022) was a British

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. She was the 1953 European champion and World bronze medalist. Osborn represented her country at the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 6. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 19 ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway, where she placed 11th.

Early life

Osborn was born in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

on 17 September 1934. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, she moved to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

(then in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

), and lived close to Richmond Bridge, a short walk to

Richmond Ice Rink Richmond Ice Rink was an ice skating rink at Clevedon Road, Twickenham, formerly in Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. When it opened, in 1928, it had the longest ice surface in any indoor rink in the world and it ...

. She had private tutors for her schooling.

Career

Osborn started skating, aged 2½, at Wembley Ice Rink. She was taught by

Arnold Gerschwiler Arnold Gerschwiler OBE (28 May 1914 – 22 August 2003) was a Swiss (later, British) figure skating coach. Personal life Gerschwiler was born in Arbon, Switzerland. He was the half-brother of Jacques Gerschwiler and the uncle of Hans Gerschw ...

, who was her only coach during her entire amateur career. At age 5, Osborn won her first competition for "Under Sixes". During the

, the Wembley rink was closed to save electricity. She moved to the

, the only rink left open during the war. At 9½ years she passed the NSA gold medal at Richmond Ice Rink on 6 June 1944 (

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

). She was the youngest skater to pass her Gold and continues to hold the record. Osborn continued skating at Richmond during and after the war. She became the British national champion in 1952 and was selected for the

, where she finished 11th. In 1953, Osborn won her second national title and went on to win gold at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

. After her victory in Germany, she was awarded the Harry E. Radix skating pin. Osborn remains the last British skater to win the European title in ladies' singles. Later in 1953, she won the bronze medal at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alps, Alpine resort town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, muni ...

, Switzerland. During her amateur career, Osborn was featured in British magazines such as ''

Everybody's Weekly ''Everybody’s Weekly'' was weekly tabloid founded 1913 in London as ''The Competitors' Journal''. The publication was widely syndicated in the United States. ''Everybody's'', then owned and published by Everybody’s Publications Ltd., was acq ...

'' (20 December 1947) and '' Weekly Illustrated'' (26 January 1952). She was also interviewed on the BBC radio show ''

In Town Tonight ''In Town Tonight'' is a BBC radio programme that was broadcast on Saturday evening from 1933 to 1960 (except for a period of 26 weeks in 1937 when ''The BBC presents the ABC'' was broadcast instead). It was an early example of a chat show, ...

''. Osborn turned professional in 1953. She starred in

Tom Arnold Tom Arnold may refer to: * Tom Arnold (actor) (born 1959), American actor * Tom Arnold (economist) (born 1948), Irish CEO of Concern Worldwide * Tom Arnold (footballer) (1878–?), English footballer * Tom Arnold (literary scholar) (1823–1900), B ...

's ''Ice Circus'' in Brighton and Tom Arnold's ''Robinson Crusoe on Ice'' in the winter of 1953 at the

Grand Theatre, Leeds The Grand Theatre, also known as Leeds Grand Theatre and Leeds Grand Theatre and Opera House, is a theatre and opera house in Briggate, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It seats approximately 1,500 people. Building It was designed by James Ro ...

. Osborn then turned to coaching ice skaters in Manchester, Whitley Bay, Brighton and finally in Richmond. When Richmond Ice Rink closed down and the property was redeveloped, she retired.

Personal life

After turning professional in 1953, Osborn resided in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around e ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

and

Feltham Feltham () is a town in West London, England, from Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it became part of the London Borough of Hounslow in 1965. The parliamentary constituency of Feltham and Heston has been held by Labour Party ...

. Following the end of her performing career, she travelled around Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. She spent thirteen years in

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a '' de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. Rec ...

and then settled in Rustington,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, on the English south coast. Osborn died in

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

, West Sussex on 28 December 2022, at the age of 88.

Results

References

External links

Osborn's Olympics results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborn, Valda 1934 births 2022 deaths British female single skaters Bronze medalists at international sports competitions English female single skaters European Figure Skating Championships medalists Figure skaters at the 1952 Winter Olympics Figure skaters from London Sportspeople from Wembley Olympic figure skaters for Great Britain World Figure Skating Championships medalists