Which athlete won Great Britain’s first gold medal at the 1960 Paralympic Games?

Margaret Maughan won Great Britain’s first gold medal at the 1960 Paralympic Games.

Maughan competed in archery at the Rome Games, the first official Paralympic Games. Her victory made her the first British athlete to win a Paralympic gold medal. She also competed in swimming and table tennis during her career.

Born in Lancashire in 1928, Maughan became disabled after contracting polio as a child. Sport played an important role in her rehabilitation, and she later became a prominent British para-athlete. Her Rome success helped demonstrate that the new Games were an international elite competition rather than simply a hospital rehabilitation activity.

The 1960 event is often called the first Paralympics, although the term “Paralympic” was adopted officially later. Maughan’s medal is also sometimes confused with Britain’s first Olympic gold medal or with the first gold of later British Paralympic stars; those are separate milestones.