![Portrait of Hélène de Pourtalès, around 1878.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/helene-titel-300x225.jpg)
The first female Olympic champion
New York-born Hélène de Pourtalès (1868-1945) of Geneva won gold at the 1900 Olympic Games. Largely unknown today, this pioneering yachtswoman paved the way for other women to compete at the Olympics.
![Henry Isaac Barbey, painted by Wilhelm Heinrich Funk, 1904.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/portrat-isac-238x300.jpg)
![The Minnehaha on Lake Geneva in the late 19th century.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/minnehaha-see-300x165.jpg)
Future husband had to be a yachtsman
![Photograph of Hermann de Pourtalès, 1899.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ehemann-300x235.jpg)
![Poster that was subsequently recognized as the official poster of the 1900 Olympic Games.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/poster-olympiade-1900-208x300.jpg)
![The Lerina, photographed at a regatta in Cannes in spring 1900.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/lerina-300x286.jpg)
![Hélène de Pourtalès and her husband Hermann in Cannes, late 19th century.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Helene-de-Pourtales-und-ihr-Mann-in-Cannes-300x233.jpg)