American figure skating legend, now 90, returns to Winter Olympics 70 years after gold medal win

Tenley was in Milan at an event held in her honor, celebrating 70 years since her win at the 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics in the Ladies’ Single Skate category, taking home a gold for Team U.S.A.

Other gold medalists Dorothy Hamill, Sara Hughes and Brian Boitano were also in attendance, plus current Olympian Ilia Malinin. Tenley then wore her very own Team U.S.A. sweater from her own Olympics year to watch Alysa Liu compete.

Showing off her sweater in a conversation with the arena announcers, she explained that she didn’t actually have the chance to wear it at the time. “I wasn’t able to wear it because I had injured my ankle and wasn’t able to parade in the opening ceremony.”

Tenley began skating at the age of eight, but when she was 11 years old, she contracted polio, which was deemed pre-paralytic at the time. Despite the challenges, she found joy and a form of physical therapy in skating. She began training at the Skating Club of Boston as rehabilitation.

She won her very first medal, a bronze, at the 1951 North American Championships, following that up with a silver at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. She claimed her very first title at the World Championships in 1953.

By 1956, Tenley was already a pre-med student at Radcliffe College. However, while training for the Olympics, she slipped due to a rut in the ice and her skate cut through her right ankle joint right to the bone.

Her father, a surgeon, stitched up her foot. Despite the stress on her foot, however, Tenley was able to soar and win gold at the Games, becoming the first American female figure skater to do so. She retired soon after.

Tenley continued with her studies at Radcliffe before obtaining her medical degree from Harvard Medical School at age 25, becoming a surgeon. She practiced until she was almost 50, then becoming a resident faculty member at Harvard.

The Olympian married Tudor Gardiner in 1962, welcoming three children before their divorce. In 1981, she married Ritz-Carlton hotel owner Gerald Blakely, remaining with him until his death in 2021.

She has remained connected to the world of figure skating, though, having made appearances at various figure skating events over the years. In 1976, she was also the chief physician for the US Winter Olympics Team.