Margot Moles

Prior to the Spanish Civil War sportswoman Margot Moles was one of the best all-round athletes in the country. Moles competed in track and field athletics, notably the hammer and discus throws, played field hockey, and was a good swimmer and skier. In 1929 she set a Spanish record in the discus throw, before improving her own mark four more times by 1934, with her last record standing until 1964. She had similar success in the hammer throw, setting a world record in 1932 that stood for more than 40 years, and stood as a Spanish record until 1988.

Moles was an excellent swimmer and was one of the co-founders of the Real Canoe Natación Club in Madrid in 1930. In 1934 and 1935 she captained the Atlético de Madrid field hockey team, which won the Spanish championship in both years. The following year she had also become the first Spanish ski champion in an official event, earning herself a place on the Olympic Alpine skiing team for the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games. At the Olympics, however, she only managed to place 35th in the downhill before failing to finish in the slalom element of the competition. The Civil War ended her sporting career, with Moles then working as a teacher and becoming a champion for women’s equality.