Hélène de Pourtalès was born Helen Barbey, in New York in 1868. She married the Swiss count and former army officer Hermann de Pourtalès, and formed part of his crew in the 1900 Olympics – along with his nephew Bernard. Their boat Lérina won the gold medal in the first 1–2 ton race, and silver in the second race of the same class. They also competed in the open class, but failed to finish.
Hélène de Pourtalès is said to have been the first woman to compete in the Olympic Games. According to Wikipedia, she won her gold medal two months before Charlotte Cooper won hers.
Count Hermann de Pourtales was born in 1847 in the Swiss city of Neuchâtel. He came from a Huguenot family, and was an active officer in the Prussian army for twenty years, later returning to Switzerland. He had dual German and Swiss citizenship.
Hermann de Pourtalès died in Geneva in 1904, aged 57. Hélène de Pourtalès died in 1945, also in Geneva. She was 77.
© Haydn Thompson 2016