Ellen Preis - Biography

Ellen Müller-Preis, née Preis, (May 6, 1912 – November 18, 2007) was an Austrian foil fencer. She was born in Berlin, Germany.

In 1949, she was named Austrian female athlete of the year.

Fencing career

Preis, Jewish and born in Berlin, moved to Vienna at the age of 18, and began receiving fencing instruction from her aunt. In under two years she came in third in the European Championships in Vienna. She later married Dr. Müller and had two sons and a daughter, who died from whooping cough.

World and National Championships

She won three world championships (1947, 1949, and 1950) and numerous national Austrian titles (17). In 1949 Müller-Preis was named the first ever "Austrian Female Athlete of the Year."

At one point, Prof. Müller-Preis was credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the female with the longest Olympic span of any woman, competing from 1932 until 1956. The record has since been broken. Two Olympic Games were cancelled at that time due to World War II, 1940 and 1944.

Olympics

As a German/Austrian dual citizen, she wanted to fence for Germany in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics but was rejected by the German Federation. She then fenced in those Olympics for Austria, beating Heather "Judy" Guinness of England for the gold medal. At both the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the 1948 London Olympics, she won bronze medals. She was one of a number of Jewish athletes who won medals at the Nazi Olympics in Berlin in 1936.

In 1956, 44 years old, she made it to the final round at the Melbourne Olympics, and came in seventh.

Later life

Preis became involved in music, and developed a breathing and movement technique that maximizes energy, frees the body of tensions, and lets the voice float freely.

After retiring she remained active as Professor Emeritus of the Universität für Musik and darstellende Kunst (University for Music and Performing Arts) in Vienna, and coaching the Openstudio of the Vienna Staatsoper and the Burgtheater, working together with directors, singers, and actors, and helping ensure that fencing performed in plays was properly done.

Ellen Müller-Preis died on November 18, 2007, in Vienna of kidney failure.

See also

• List of select Jewish fencers

External links

• Olympic results
• photo
• photo
• Magic Flutes bio
• Austrian newspaper about her death