Marilyn Take

Marilyn Take took up figure skating at the age of nine and won her first medal, bronze in the singles, at the Canadian junior natural championships in 1941. She followed that up with a silver medal in 1943, just missing the podium in fourth in 1942. Competing at the same time as Canada’s greatest all-time female skater, Barbara Ann Scott, Take was held to second place at the senior national championships from 1944 through 1946. In 1947, however, Scott did not compete in the Canadian championships, allowing Take to capture the title and making her part of the Canadian delegation to the 1948 St. Moritz Olympics and World Championships. In the former, she experienced a fall and finished 12th overall, and then had the same placement at the Worlds.

Take turned professional after the Games and spent several years in the United States with the Ice Follies. After retiring in 1952, she returned to Canada, married Roy Wittstock and later raised three children. She returned to figure skating in the 1970s as a coach at the Port Perry Figure Skating Club, and later at several Toronto area clubs including the Granite Club in North York and the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club.