Olga May Jekyll (née MacPherson, 8 October 1918 – 11 February 2014) was a New Zealand fencer, who represented her country at the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games were the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. A documentary fil ...

Fencing

Born Olga May MacPherson on 8 October 1918, Jekyll competed in her first fencing tournament in 1938. She went on to win 18

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

championships, and five New Zealand national titles: in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1959. At the

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, Jekyll represented New Zealand in the individual women's

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

, recording three wins to finish in fifth place. Jekyll retired from competitive fencing in 1972, but continued her involvement in the sport as an administrator and coach, including at

Avonside Girls' High School Avonside Girls' High School (), is a large urban high school in Christchurch, New Zealand, with more than 1,000 girls from Year 9 to Year 13. It was formerly in the suburb of Avonside but moved in 2019, along with Shirley Boys' High School, to ...

. She was a founding member of the United Fencing Club in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

in 1956.

Personal life

After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Jekyll married Allan Joseph Jekyll, but was widowed by his death in 1948. The couple did not have children, and she never remarried.

Honours and recognition

In the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours, Jekyll was awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The King's Service Medal (created as the Queen's Service Medal in 1975 and renamed in 2024) is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or app ...

for community service. She was also a life member of the New Zealand Amateur Fencing Association. Fencing Midsouth awards the Olga Jekyll Trophy annually, and organises an Olga Jekyll mixed teams event.

Later life and death

As a result of the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

, Jekyll was forced to move from her home. She died in Christchurch on 11 February 2014.

References

1918 births 2014 deaths Sportspeople from Christchurch New Zealand female foil fencers Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand Fencers at the 1950 British Empire Games Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal 20th-century New Zealand sportswomen {{NewZealand-fencing-bio-stub