Rosetta GAGLIARDI

Rosetta Gagliardi played singles and mixed at the 1920 Olympics, and singles and doubles at the 1924 Paris Games. Gagliardi was Italian singles champion in 1920-22 and 1924. As late as 1930-31 she made the quarter-finals of the Italian Championships. Gagliardi was also a top roller skater and won six national titles in that sport. Married to New Zealand tennis player George S. Prouse, a prominent manufacturer of tennis rackets, she retired from tennis in 1932 after the birth of her son, Johnny, who became British junior tennis champion in 1950.

At the 1920 Olympics Opening Ceremony, the Italian flag was carried by fencer Nedo Nadi. However, because the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) considered Gagliardi their first female Olympian, she walked just behind Nadi, carrying a smaller version of the flag. It should be noted, however, that in 1900 Italian Elvira Guerra, a female equestrian, had actually competed in the Olympics, but that fact was obscure and not unearthed until much later.