Diane SCHÖLER the Oldest Living Table Tennis World Champion has passed away at the age of 90. The ETTU sends its most sincere condolences to her family and loved ones.
Diane SCHÖLER passed away on June 19. Known as “Lady Table Tennis ” she won 20 medals at World Championships between 1951 and 1971 including gold medals in the doubles event in 1951 and 1954 alongside her twin sister Rosalind CORNETT. She held the distinction of being the oldest living table tennis world champion.
“Hans Wilhelm GÄB Honorary President of the German Table Tennis Association a close friend and companion of the Schöler family describes Diane as someone who fought alongside her sister Rosalind as an athlete and world champion with self-control and composure even in defeat. He says that she approached her serious illness with the same attitude. Eberhard her husband and their children Cindy and Christian were by her side when she lost her final battle ” says GÄB. “She will be remembered as a graceful and elegant master of our sport and as a personality who brought honor to our cause in the DTTB uniform.”
DTTB President Claudia HERWEG also had a special connection with Diane Schöler. “Diane led my first youth training camp in the West German Table Tennis Association and from then on for decades I always considered her as a role model as a woman as a person and as a lover of table tennis. My condolences go out to her husband Eberhard and her children Cindy and Christian!”
Diane and Rosalind ROWE the twins’ maiden name were considered pioneers for women in sports and represented the younger generation with progressive views and the courage to express their opinions. Their success in the doubles event alone reaching the finals five times in a row between 1951 and 1955 is a record that still stands today.
Diane WEBB the archivist of the English Table Tennis Association recalls the early days of the twins: “Two excited 14-year-old twins woke up on Christmas morning in 1947 hoping to receive bicycles as gifts and were somewhat disappointed when they received table tennis rackets ‘only.’ The disappointment didn’t last long because soon the two teenagers Ros the right-hander and Di the left-hander were hitting a ball back and forth across the dining table ” says WEBB. “On that Christmas morning it would have been unimaginable that less than three years later they would become world champions for the first time and on April 14 1954 on their 21st birthday the day they reached adulthood they would win their second title.” And they achieved this in 1954 at the Wembley Arena where the “ROWE twins ” as they were called everywhere had a true home advantage. After all they were born in the Marylebone neighborhood of London just a half-hour drive from Wembley. The twins had captured the hearts of the spectators who enthusiastically supported them in the only all-English final in the history of the Women’s Doubles event at the Table Tennis World Championships against Kathy BEST and Ann Haydon-jones in a thrilling match that ended 19-21 21-10 21-19 and 22-20. The “Wembley fairy tale” was born as historians describe their triumph in 1954.
