Madge Syers

Madge Syers
Madge and Edgar Syers at the 1908 Olympics.
Personal information
Full name	Florence Madeline Cave Syers
Country represented	United Kingdom
Born	(1881-09-16)16 September 1881 Kensington, London
Died	9 September 1917(1917-09-09) (aged 35) Weybridge, Surrey
Skating club	Prince's Skating Club
Retired	1908
Medal record Representing  United Kingdom Ladies' Singles Figure skating Olympic Games 1908 London Ladies' singles World Championships 1906 Davos Ladies' singles 1907 Vienna Ladies' singles Open Singles Figure skating World Championships 1902 London Open singles Pairs Figure skating Olympic Games 1908 London Pairs

Florence Madeline "Madge" Syers (née Cave, 16 September 1881 – 9 September 1917) was a British figure skater. She became the first woman to compete at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1902 by entering what was previously an all-male event and won the silver medal, which prompted the International Skating Union (ISU) to create a separate ladies' championship. Syers was the winner of the first two ladies' events in 1906 and 1907, and went on to become the Olympic champion at the 1908 Summer Olympics, the first Olympic Games to include figure skating. She also competed as a pairs skater with her husband Edgar Syers, winning the bronze medal at the 1908 Olympics.

Florence Madeline Cave was born on 16 September 1881 in Kensington, London, one of 15 children of Edward Jarvis Cave, a builder, and his wife Elizabeth Ann. She was a proficient figure skater, as well as a gifted swimmer and equestrienne. Madge became a regular at the Prince's Skating Club in Knightsbridge, which had been formed in 1896 and was popular with aristocratic society in London.

In 1899 Madge met her future husband Edgar Syers, a figure skater and coach who was 18 years her senior. Edgar was an exponent of the international skating style, which was freer and less rigid than the traditional English style, and encouraged Madge to adopt this style. Madge and Edgar completed together in pairs skating events, and in 1900 finished second in one of the first international pairs events, staged in Berlin. They married in June of that year. The Syers co-authored The Book of Winter Sports in 1908.

The World Figure Skating Championships, first contested in 1896, was regarded as an all-male event since competitive skating was generally viewed as a male activity, but there was no regulation barring women, enabling Syers to enter and compete at the 1902 Championships in London. She won the silver medal behind Ulrich Salchow, who was reputedly so impressed with her challenge that he offered her his gold medal. T. D. Richardson later wrote: "Rumour, nay more than rumour – a good deal of expert opinion – thought she should have won."