Denmark's Lis Hartel became the first woman in the equestrian sports to win an Olympic medal when she earned a silver in the individual dressage at Helsinki 1952. Four years later, she again won silver at the Melbourne Games in which the equestrian events were held in Stockholm because of Australian quarantine laws. She achieved her success despite suffering from polio when she was 23. She gradually reactivated most of her muscles, although she remained paralysed below the knees and her arms and hands also were affected, meaning she needed help to get on and off her horse.