Hilde Walterová

Hilde Walterová was born in what is now the Czech Republic, but was then Bohemia, and became athletically active in numerous sports after moving to Wien (Vienna) in 1922. From the 1930s she was involved primarily in alpine skiing and represented Czechoslovakia at the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she competed in the Combined event, but failed to place after being disqualified in the slalom (she was ranked 17th after the downhill). After the Games she began competing for Austria and then Germany, following the latter’s annexation of the former in 1938.

Walterová, known after 1939 by her married name Doleschell, continued to find success at the national level in skiing, but World War II gradually eroded her ability to train and compete and she therefore made the switch to tennis. In this sport she became German Champion in 1943 and was Austrian Champion from 1946 through 1948. She moved to Canada in 1950 and continued to compete in tennis, becoming number one in her new nation in 1953 and winning the national doubles championship in 1957 alongside Louise Brown. Internationally, she participated in the Wimbledon Championships from 1947 through 1949 and at the French Open in 1948. She also attempted to qualify for the 1948 Winter Olympics in alpine skiing, but without success. She retired from active competition in any sport in the 1960s, when her husband’s bakery began to expand into a lucrative chain. Beginning in the 1980s she and her husband became involved in the breeding of horses.