Mariya Princess Nizharadze

Mariya Princess Nizharadze (in the catalog and other Western sources as Marie Nigeradze) was listed as Russian in the entry lists of the 1924 Paris Olympics, but probably had French citizenship as she lived and worked in France, having been forced to leave her homeland after the Revolution. She was actually from a noble Georgian family. Under the pseudonym Maria Vega, she was a Russian poet and translator for the first generation of immigrants, including the works of German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Several of her novels, plays, and poetry collections were published in France including The Bronze Watch and The Restless Angel.

Although by then a French citizen, her ties to the Communist government became closer and she returned to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1975. The best-known song based on her verses was Black Moth, also known as Schoolgirl. The name of the submitted work was missing in the Official Report and appeared only in an early edition of the catalog as Tennis Macabre. Vega/Nizharadze was not known as a painter, although she was engaged in fine arts throughout her life.