AN INTERVIEW 
WITH 
MLLE. MARIE 
MARVINGT. 
MT/LE. MARIK MARVINGT. 
Is she the finest all- 
round athlete of her 
sex ? or can we find 
hermatchm thiscountry? 
From « 1 'holograph by H ranger. 
[In the following interview Mile. Marvingt, whom the French people call " The Bride of Danger," and 
whom they claim to be the greatest lady athlete in the world, gives, in modest and most interesting fashion, 
her own account of the feats which have obtained her that title. Her record in so many and such various 
branches of athletics is one of which any nation may be proud indeed. But is it true that among the girls 
of thiscountry she need fear no rival? Surely there must be many such. Can any reader send us news of one?] 
REN Cli WOMEN have the 
honour of counting among 
their number one who, they 
say, has the right to claim 
the title of “ the finest sports- 
woman in the world," Mile. 
Marie Marvingt. 
Indeed, the sporting life of Mile. Marvingt 
is of a most extraordinary kind. Swimming, 
cycling, mountain-climbing, ballooning, flying, 
riding, gymnastics, athletics, fencing — there 
is not a single sport in which she does not 
shine. Where coolness, courage, and skill 
are required, in the aerodrome, on the 
mountains, in the sea, in the fencing-school, 
she is always to be seen in the front rank. 
Not only is she expert with the foils and 
with the sword, but she is a first-rate shot. 
In 1907, at the International Shooting Com- 
petition, she carried off the first prize at 
VoL xlvi.— 24. 
a range of three hundred metres. On the 
same occasion she also won the first prize 
for shooting with the Flobert carbine. 
Three years ago, on March 15th, 1910, the 
Academy of Sport honoured her by decreeing 
her, as a singular and most exceptional 
mark of esteem, the Large Gold Medal for 
distinguished skill. 
Mile. Marvingt lives at Nancy, and it was 
there that the following interview took place, 
“ What led me to take up sport as I have 
done ? ” said she, smiling. “ Well, many 
things — education, circumstances, personal 
tastes, a great fancy which \ have always 
had for strife and struggle and for a spice 
of danger. When I was quite a little girl 
my father used to take me about with him 
during his vacation, and made me the con- 
stant companion of his mountain climbs and 
of his excursions into the country. Nothing 
