Ellen Preis

Ellen Müller-Preis (née Preis; 6 May 1912 – 18 November 2007) was a German-born Austrian Olympic-champion foil fencer.

In 1949, she was named Austrian female athlete of the year.

Fencing career Preis was born in Berlin, and was Jewish. She moved to Vienna at the age of 18 in 1930, and began receiving fencing instruction from her aunt. In under two years she came in third in the European Championships in Vienna. and numerous national Austrian titles (17). In the individual women's foil competition, all three medals were won by Jewish women who are counted among the greatest women fencers of the 20th century. Ilona Elek, known also as Ilona Elek-Schacherer, from Hungary won gold. Elek defeated a German with a Jewish father, Helene Mayer, gold medalist at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, one of only two Jews allowed to compete for Germany by the Nazis, who admitted her under threat of boycott by the US. Mayer caused controversy by giving the Nazi salute on the medal stand while accepting the silver medal.

In 1956, at the age of 44, Preis reached the final round at the Melbourne Olympics and came in seventh.

Ellen Müller-Preis died on 18 November 2007 in Vienna of kidney failure.