Val Winter

Along with her family, Walburga “Val” Winter was expelled from Czechoslovakia in 1946, first arriving in West Germany before eventually settling in Melbourne, Australia in 1951. When the Olympics were held in the city in 1956 Val and her two sisters Johanna and Riki were all inspired to take up fencing, joining a local club the following year. The Winter sisters soon became the best fencers in the country, with Johanna selected to compete at the 1960 Roma Olympics. All three of them then set their sights on the 1964 Games in Tokyo by spending the preceding summer at the Racing Club of Paris to gain invaluable experience.

Val and her two sisters were joined with Jan Redman and Janet Hopner on the Australian foil team for the Tokyo Games where they tied for seventh. Two years later Val and Johanna won silver in the team foil event at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. Val later spent time back in Paris before living in New Zealand.