Martina Bergman-Österberg

Martina Sofia Helena Bergman Österberg was a Swedish-born physical education instructor and women's suffrage advocate who spent most of her working life in Britain. After studying gymnastics in Stockholm she moved to London, where she founded the first physical education instructors' college in England, to which she admitted women only. Bergman Österberg pioneered teaching physical education as a full subject within the English school curriculum, with Swedish-style gymnastics at its core. She also advocated the wearing of gymslips by women playing sports, and played a pivotal role in the early development of netball. Bergman Österberg was an advocate of women's emancipation, directly encouraging women to be active in sport and education, and also donating money to women's emancipation organisations in her native Sweden. Several of her students, including Rhoda Anstey, founded the Ling Association, which later became the Physical Education Association of the United Kingdom.