Update, 5/28
Our winner had checked in! He posted under The Magic Guys, but somehow, his full message did not come through. His answers was:
Latvian aerialist Lena Jourdan, of the Flying Jordans
Congrats, Magic Guys!
End of update.
Still ignored by writers and historians who should know better: Lena Jordan, not Ernest Clarke, was the first flyer to turn a triple somersault on the trapeze. Most sources place the feat on Jordan Bros. Circus in Australia, 1897. But according to the Guinness Book of Records, Jordan actually turned the first triple in New York city with the Flying Jordans, an American troupe, in 1896, at Koster & Bial's Theatre
Not so fast, says Wikipedia, claiming that the New York record has not been officially recognized. Rather, In May 1897, Jordan, aged 16, "became the first recorded person to perform a triple somersault during a routine in Sydney, Australia."
The Circus Ring of Fame in Sarasota propounded the myth by ignoring Jordan altogether, in order to give Antoinette Concello credit for first female to turn the triple.
How does the Circus Historical Society check in on this? I once followed a thread on their history message board, all the way to a contributor who confirmed that, indeed, the honor goes to Jordan.
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