Margriet Prajoux-Bouma

Margriet "Grietje" Prajoux-Bouma (also Marguerite; born 19 June 1912) was a Dutch alpine skier living in France. She competed for the Netherlands in the women's giant slalom at the 1952 Winter Olympics.[2]

Allegedly hailing from Franeker,[note 1] she moved to France, where between 1936 (in Megève) and 1951 she participated in French skiing competitions.[1] In May 1938, as a Dutch citizen and aged 25, she took a trip to the United States, accompanied by the 51-year-old hotel manager (Eugène Vincent) Emile Prajoux.[3] The couple married 12 April 1940 in Paris.[4][note 2] Emile Prajoux died before 1951 and Bouma became a Dutch citizenship again, though she remained in Paris.[1] She won the 1951 and 1952 Dutch combined skiing competition[5], the latter apparently as sole competitor,[1] and was selected as the female Dutch skiing participant in the 1952 Winter Olympics.[1] At nearly 40 years old she has been the oldest Dutch Winter Olympics competitor.[6]

On February 14, 1952, she competed in the women's giant slalom. She finished 40th and last in 3:31 minutes, 33 seconds behind the next competitor and 84 seconds behind the winner.[7] She then withdrew from participation in the slalom and downhill races.[8] Partially because of her poor results, the Dutch Olympic committee decided to tighten selection criteria for participation.[9]