Amélie Le Gall

Amélie Le Gall, known as Mademoiselle Lisette or Lisette Marton, was a French competitive cyclist. She was considered the women's world champion in the sport in 1896.

Lisette Marton on a Gladiator bicycle in 1896

Early life

Amélie Le Gall was the daughter of a carpenter.[1] She was reportedly working as a shepherdess in Brittany when she was wooed by a male cyclist who married her and trained her in the sport.[2]

Career

Amélie Le Gall began competing in France, at exhibition contests to promote the new sport.[3] In 1895, Marton competed in a race at the Royal Aquarium in London.[4] She defeated Scottish cyclist Clara Grace for the women's world championship in 1896,[5] and sometimes raced male riders,[6][7] as when she defeated Albert Champion.[8] She trained with controversial English coach Choppy Warburton[9][10] and was sponsored by Simpson Chain, a British manufacturer of an innovative-design bicycle chain. She raced in Chicago in 1898[1] and in Winnipeg in 1900.[11]

Her clothing was often described in detail, as the question of what women should wear on a bicycle was a topic of discussion at the time.[12] "In France, Lisette never wears a dress," reported one Chicago newspaper in 1898, continuing that "Lisette dislikes corsets. To her they seem the culminating point in feminine attire of ugliness, unsuitability, and anti-hygienic stupidity."[1]


References
  1. "Lisette to Ride in Chicago" Inter Ocean (November 20, 1898): 32. via Newspapers.com
  2. "What a Gall She Had!" Sporting Life (April 6, 1895): 23. via LA84 Foundation
  3. Richard Holt, "Women, Men and Sport in France, c. 1870-1914: An Introductory Survey" Journal of Sport History 18(1)(1991): 126. via LA84 Foundation
  4. Sheila Hanlon, "Ladies’ Cycle Races at The Royal Aquarium: A Late Victorian Sporting Spectacle" SheilaHanlon.com (January 26, 2015).
  5. "Champion Woman Cyclist of the World" The Journal (May 24, 1896): 24. via Library of Congress
  6. "Michael v Mdlle Lisette; A Sporting Match in Paris" Evening Express (February 11, 1896): 2. via Welsh Newspapers Online
  7. Aaron Cripps, "James ‘Jimmy’ Michael, Welsh Cycling Champion: Part 2 – Successes and Scandals, January-July 1896" Europeenses (October 11, 2014).
  8. Allen Guttmann, Women's Sports: A History (Columbia University Press 1991): 102. ISBN 9780231069571
  9. Feargal McKay, "The Little Black Bottle, by Gerry Moore" Podium Cafe (August 9, 2011).
  10. William Fotheringham, Cyclopedia: It's All About the Bike (Chicago Review Press 2015). ISBN 9781613734155
  11. "Bicycling" Winnipeg Tribune (June 11, 1900): 3. via Newspapers.com
  12. Katrina Jungnickel, "'One needs to be very brave to stand all that': Cycling, rational dress and the struggle for citizenship in late nineteenth century Britain" Geoforum 64(August 2015): 362-371.
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