British Olympic skier who competed in slalom at Cortina dies

Feb 19, 2026 - 04:00

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British Olympic skier who competed in slalom at Cortina dies

Jocelyn Murray, a skier who represented Great Britain at the 1956 Winter Olympics, died Feb. 11. The death of Murray, who competed under the name Jocelyn Wardrop-Moore, was not reported in the British media until Wednesday.

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Born in Sevenoaks, England, Murray took up skiing in 1954 at age 22. She finished second to Switzerland’s Frieda Dänzer in an alpine combination event at St. Moritz.

In the 1956 Citizens Derby in Sestriere, Italy, Murray finished 18th, helping the five-woman British contingent win the team event.

That event was the precursor to the 1956 Olympics, which was held in Cortina d’Ampezzo. (Scheduled to host the Games in 1944, the small Italian city had to wait 12 years because of World War II; it would not host a Winter Olympics again until this year.)

In the women’s slalom, Murray finished 35th in 3:20; Renée Colliard of Switzerland won the event in 1:52. In the women’s giant slalom, Murray finished 42nd.

An accomplished clarinet player, Murray won a prize at the 1954 Munich Festival, when she was the only female clarinet player among entrants from all over the world.

According to her obituary in The Times of London, Murray is survived by her children, Cicely and Sam, and grandchildren Roan, Lula and Eamon. The obituary also described her as a teacher and gardener.