Muriel Freeman started fencing under her maiden name Smalley until her marriage to Donald Freeman in March 1923. She was an outstanding prospect as a teenager, and as a 14-year-old competed in the 1912 Ladies’ Inter-Salle Challenge Cup. When she was just 16, she reached the final pool at the 1914 National Ladies’ Foil Championship. In 1922 Freeman finished second in the Alfred Hutton Memorial Cup, and at the Paris Olympics in 1924 just missed out on a medal when she finished fourth.
Freeman won the first of two British titles in 1927 and in 1928 was second to Peggy Butler after a barrage. Freeman then went to her second Olympics in Amsterdam and won a silver medal behind the German champion Helene Mayer. The pair met three times at those Games, with Mayer winning all three bouts. Freeman won her second and last British title in 1929.
Great Britain