Thérèse Bertone

Thérèse Bertone
Monnet's portrait in 1923
Personal information
NicknameMonnet
Born(1900-03-18)18 March 1900
Died17 March 1984(1984-03-17) (aged 83)
Sport
SportAthletics, Field hockey
Event(s)250m, 4x100m, 4x175m relay
Medal record
Representing  France
1923 Women's Olympiad
Bronze medal – third place 1923 Monte Carlo 250 m
Silver medal – second place 1923 Monte Carlo 4x100 m
Silver medal – second place 1923 Monte Carlo 4x175 m

Thérèse Bertone (Turin, Italy, 1900 – Montfermeil, Paris, 1984) was a French athlete who won three medals at the 1923 Women's Olympiad under the nickname Monnet due to social pressures faced by women at the time and was part of the Lyon Olympic University field hockey team.

Life

Bertone was born in Turin and arrived in France at the end of 1901 with her parents and older sister Marguerite. Around 1900, her family sold their market garden lands in Valdocco (now part of the municipality of Turin, Italy) for a modest sum to the Salesian community headed by Don Rua. She passed the Certificat d'Études in Lyon and learned the profession of seamstress. She became actively involved in sports and was trained by her brother-in-law, Pierre Stenghel. Hiring a professional trainer would have been financially burdensome given her limited weekly earnings. Her mother refused to let her daughter practice sports under her true name, so she took the name of her trainer's half-brother, Monnet.[1]

Women's field hockey team

The women's field hockey section of the LOU was created in 1906. The first matches often took place on 'cow fields' and the equipment of the time had nothing in common with today's equipment. According to the 1 January 1921 edition of Le Sportif, she was known as Monnet and is one of the five forwards on the L.O.U hockey team, distinguished by red and black blouses and black berets.

1923 Women's Olympiad (Monte Carlo)

At the time, a part of public opinion still claimed that only 'street girls' practiced sports.[2][3][4] Thérèse Bertone's license card from the Fédération Féminine Française de Sports Athlétiques (F.F.F.S.A) is in the name of Thérèse Monnet. Under her nickname 'Monnet', she won the bronze medal on 7 April at the 1923 Women's Olympiad of Monaco.[5] Numerous newspapers chronicled her athletic achievements.[6][7][8]

End of the athletic career

Thérèse Bertone married Claude Eugène Murigneux (1893–1966) in June 1923 and definitively ended her athletic career in order to take care of her family.

  • The women's field hockey team of LOU in 1921. Monnet is in the top right of the last row.
    The women's field hockey team of LOU in 1921. Monnet is in the top right of the last row.
  • Thérèse Monnet's Licence FFFSA in 1921
    Thérèse Monnet's Licence FFFSA in 1921
  • Monnet in third position at the 1923 Women's Olympiad
    Monnet in third position at the 1923 Women's Olympiad
  • Monnet's bronze medal, 1923 (front side)
    Monnet's bronze medal, 1923 (front side)
  • Monnet's bronze medal, 1923 (rear side)
    Monnet's bronze medal, 1923 (rear side)

References

  1. ^ "Thérèse, Bertone". athleticspodium.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Après les jeux féminins de Monaco". L'Éclaireur de Nice. 8 April 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. ^ Nathalie Rosol (2004). "«Le sport vers le féminisme». L'engagement du milieu athlétique féminin français au temps de la FSFSF (1917–1936)". Staps. 66 (4): 63–77. doi:10.3917/sta.066.0063. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  4. ^ Nathalie Rosol (2005). L'athlétisme féminin en France : (1912-fin des années 1970) : des athlètes en quête d'identité (Thesis). Université Lyon 1. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  5. ^ Bernard Maccario (2023). Les Olympiades féminines de Monte-Carlo. Gilletta Nice-Matin Éditions. ISBN 978-2-35956-179-1.
  6. ^ Alexia Bauville (4 July 2024). "Des Jeux pour les femmes: Monaco, 1921-1923". Gallica. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Les jeux athlétiques féminins de Monaco". Le Petit Parisien. 7 April 1923. p. 4. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Les jeux féminins de Monaco : Le Meeting se termine sous la pluie, une belle leçon d'énergie". L'Écho des Sports. 7 April 1923. p. 1. Retrieved 8 August 2024.