Marilyn Ruth Wittstock ( Take; March 11, 1928 – April 14, 2023) was a Canadian figure skater who competed in ladies singles, under the name of Marilyn Ruth Take. She won the gold medal at the

Canadian Figure Skating Championships The Canadian National Skating Championships () are an annual figure skating competition organized by Skate Canada to crown the List of national championships in figure skating, national champions of Canada. While the first official Canadian Champ ...

in 1947 and competed at the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (; ; ; ) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948 (; ), were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the ...

, finishing in 12th position.

Results

Biography

Marilyn Ruth Take was born in Toronto on March 11, 1928. She studied ballet at age 5, and danced in the opera

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

at age 17. She also learned the violin and was a springboard diver. She was inspired to take up figure skating after seeing a performance by Norwegian figure skater

Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norway, Norwegian figure skating, figure skater and film star. She was a three-time List of Olympic medalists in figure skating, Olympic champion (Figure skating at the 1928 Winter Olympics, ...

. Sponsored by Toronto Skating Club, she skated at

Maple Leaf Gardens Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church and Wellesley, Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was originally constructed in 1931 as an indoor arena to host ice hoc ...

in 1937. In 1945 and 1946, Take came in second place after

Barbara Ann Scott Barbara Ann Scott (May 9, 1928 – September 30, 2012) was a Canadian figure skater. She was the 1948 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1947–1948), and a four-time Canadian national champion (1944–46, 48) in ladies' singles. K ...

in the Canadian Figure Skating Championships. In the 1947 championships, Take came in first place while Scott was competing abroad at the time of the event. Take finished twelfth in the 1948 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland; she had a fall on a slushy outdoor rink that had ruts from hockey games. Despite that, her performance did receive praise from Mildred Richardson of The Observer and T.D. Richardson of the Times of London, a former Olympic skater. She also competed in the world championships at Davos finishing 13th. Scott won both these competitions. After her return from Europe, Take joined the Shipstads and Johnson Ice Follies being billed as a professional solo skater. In 1953, she married Roy Codrington Wittstock and stayed home to raise their three children. Later, the marriage would end in divorce. In the 1970s, she worked as a figure skating coach at several Ontario skating clubs. Take died on April 14, 2023, at the age of 95 of

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

References

1928 births 2023 deaths Canadian female single skaters Figure skaters at the 1948 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for Canada Figure skaters from Toronto 20th-century Canadian sportswomen {{Canada-figure-skating-bio-stub