Canada & The Olympic Winter Games „Quick Reference‟ Introduction On the 12th of February 2010 the host city of Vancouver will welcome the world and its own Canadian athletes to the XXI Olympic Winter Games. The celebration will mark the latest in what has been a long and rich history of active involvement by Canada in the Winter Games. The Canadian Olympic Committee has sent athletes to every edition of the Olympic Winter Games and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) member to Canada, James Merrick, was an impassioned supporter of the idea to establish a separate set of Winter Games. When the “Winter Sports Week”, later to be retroactively recognized by the IOC as the I Olympic Winter Games, took place in Chamonix, France from the 25th of January to the 5th of February in 1924 it was a small group of Canadians that were there to begin making history. The Sports and Disciplines Canadians Play At At the I Olympic Winter Games Canadian men participated in three of the nine sports and disciplines on the programme - speed skating, ice hockey and figure skating. The Canadian speed skating „team‟ consisted of one athlete – Charles Gorman. The entire women‟s team was equally sparse, consisting of just Cecil Eustace. Eustace competed in the pairs (with Melville Rogers) and women‟s individual figure skating events. Both the Olympic programme and Canada‟s team have greatly expanded over the twenty editions of the Winter Games that have been celebrated to date. At the XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006, Canadian athletes competed in all 15 men‟s sports and disciplines and all 13 women‟s. Whether male, female or both, there have been Canadian athletes competing in figure skating, speed skating, Alpine skiing, luge, freestyle skiing, short track speed skating and snowboard from the time each were introduced into the programme through to 2006. It is certain sports or disciplines, however, which are thought of as being an integral to Canada‟s Olympic Winter history. Ice Hockey Although it was not until 1994 that ice hockey was officially recognized as Canada‟s national winter sport that fact has not stopped it from being one of the sports that Canadians have most often (but not always) competed in at the Olympic Winter Games. Who‟s who – Due to the fact that the first Canadian teams were usually largely made up of players from one club they are often also referred to by their club name – the Toronto Granites, the University of Toronto Grads, the Winnipegs – rather than as „Team Canada‟. A force to be reckoned with – The 1928 Canadian men‟s ice hockey team was recognized as being so superior to the other teams in the tournament that officials gave them a bye straight to the medal round of the tournament. The 1924 team was equally imposing, winning the tournament by scoring 122 goals, with only three scored against them. Early results - between 1924 and 1956 the men‟s ice hockey teams brought home 5 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal. Since the introduction of Olympic women‟s ice hockey in 1998 in Nagano, Canadian women have also proven themselves a force to be reckoned with. In just three editions of the Winter Games the women‟s teams have brought home 1 silver and 2 gold medals. © 2009 – INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE Olympic Studies Centre Quai d‟Ouchy 1, 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland, [email protected] / Fax +41 21 621 6718 / www.olympic.org Canada & The Olympic Winter Games „Quick Reference‟ Figure Skating The roots of skating in Canada extend back into the 1800s so it is no surprise that figure skating has an ardent fan base in Canada and that its athletes have competed in every edition of the Games. Medal in all events – in twenty editions of the Winter Games Canada‟s figure skaters have won at least one medal in each event category of figure skating, amassing an overall total of 3 golds, 7 silvers and 10 bronze medals. The list of famous Canadians figure skaters is a long one that includes Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko, Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler, Debbie Wilkes and Guy Revell to name but a few. It even includes a future Canadian Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport – Otto Jelinek. 1972 Sapporo – XI Olympic Winter Games – Women‟s individual figure skater and British Columbian, Karen Magnussen, was the sole Canadian in Sapporo to win a medal, a silver. Speed Skating In addition to being one of the disciplines Canada has always competed at the Winter Games, speed skating has often been in the sporting spotlight during the Olympic celebrations due to the „By The Numbers‟ and „Notable Firsts‟ achieved by some of its athletes. 1932 Lake Placid - III Olympic Winter Games – Alexander Hurd, Frank Stack and William Logan‟s used their familiarity with the „pack start‟ race format and strong skating skills to good advantage consistently finishing no lower than eight place and capturing 1 silver and 4 bronze medals between them. Thanks to the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada has the unique distinction of being the first place where Olympic speed skating was contested indoors. Famous for its fast ice conditions, the legacy of the Oval has endured in the years since the Games in Calgary in 1988. Today, it is both a training centre for Canadian and international athletes as well as a site of many speed skating competitions. Recent results – between 1994 and 2006 Canada‟s speed skaters have again come to the forefront, bringing home 4 golds, 7 silvers and 7 bronze Olympic medals. Alpine Skiing Over the years Canada has produced a number of notable Alpine skiers, but at the Winter Games it is the women who have had amazing stories to tell and shined the brightest, capturing a total of 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in comparison to the men‟s total of 2 bronze medals When Alpine skiing events were first added to the programme at the 1936 Winter Games it was guts and determination rather than medals that Canada‟s Diana Gordon came to be remembered for. Refusing to let injury stop her, Gordon competed with her arm in a cast and using only one ski pole. Inspiring Roommates – In 1956 Lucile Wheeler became the first Canadian to win an Olympic Alpine skiing medal. Her roommate was Anne Heggtveit. In 1960, Heggtveit won gold in the women‟s slalom. Ironically, her roommate was Nancy Greene, a future gold and silver medallist in 1968. Canada at the Olympic Winter Games 2 Olympic Studies Centre / November 2009 Canada & The Olympic Winter Games „Quick Reference‟ Short Track Speed Skating Despite being one of the most recent additions to the Olympic Winter programme Canadian skaters have already proven themselves to be amongst the top performers in a discipline where anything can happen and even the most gifted athlete can catch an edge, crash or fail to finish. Between 1992 and 2006 Canada‟s men and women short track speed skaters have amassed an impressive total of 5 golds, 8 silvers and 7 bronze medals. In the pages of Canadian Olympic history it is a total that equals the number of medals won by Canadian figure skaters over twenty editions of the Winter Games and it is an overall total that is second only to Canadian speed skaters‟ tally of 28 medals, also amassed over twenty years. Notable Firsts MEN Sport / Discipline Winter Games Athlete(s) Event Medal Alpine Skiing 1980 Lake Steve Podborski Downhill Placid Bobsleigh 1964 Innsbruck Canada 1 Four-Man (Douglas Anakin, John Emery, Victor Emery, Peter Kirby) Curling 1998 Nagano Mike Harris, Richard Hart, Curling George Karrys, Collin Mitchell, Paul Savage Figure Skating 1932 Lake Montgomery Wilson Individual Placid Freestyle Skiing 1994 Jean-Luc Brassard Moguls Lillehammer Ice Hockey 1924 Canada Ice Hockey Chamonix (Jack Cameron, Ernest Collett, Albert McCaffrey, Harold McMunn, Duncan Munro, W. Beattie Ramsay, Cyril Slater, Reginald Smith, Harry Watson) Short Track 1992 Albertville Frédérique Blackburn 1000m Speed Skating Skeleton 2006 Turin Duff Gibson Individual Jeff Pain Snowboard 1998 Nagano Ross Rebagliati Giant Slalom Speed Skating 1932 Lake Alexander Hurd 500m Placid Canada at the Olympic Winter Games 3 Olympic Studies Centre / November 2009 Canada & The Olympic Winter Games „Quick Reference‟ WOMEN Sport / Discipline Winter Games Athlete(s) Event Medal Alpine Skiing 1956 Cortina Lucile Wheeler Downhill d‟Ampezzo Biathlon 1992 Albertville Myriam Bédard 15km Cross Country 2002 Beckie Scott 5km Pursuit Skiing Salt Lake City Curling 1998 Nagano Janice Betker, Marcia Curling Gudereit, Atina Ford, Joan Elizabeth McCusker, Sandra Schmirler Figure Skating 1948 St. Moritz Barbara Ann Scott Individual Freestyle Skiing 2002 Veronica Brenner Aerials Salt Lake City Deidra Dionne Ice Hockey 1998 Nagano Canada Ice Hockey (Jennifer Botterill, Therese Brisson, Cassie Campbell, Judy Diduck, Nancy Drolet, Lori Dupuis, Danielle Goyette, Geraldine Heaney, Jayna Hefford, Becky Kellar, Kathy McCormack, Karen Nystrom, Lesley Reddon, Manon Rhéaume, Laura Schuler, Fiona Smith, France St-Louis, Vicky Sunohara, Hayley Wickeheiser, Stacy Wilson) Short Track 1992 Albertville Angela Cutrone, Sylvie 3000m Relay Speed Skating Daigle, Nathalie Lambert, Annie Perreault Skeleton 2006 Turin Mellisa Hollingsworth Individual Snowboard 2006 Turin Dominique Maltais Snowboard Cross Speed Skating 1976 Innsbruck Catherine Priestner 500m Canada at the Olympic Winter Games 4 Olympic Studies Centre / November 2009 Canada & The Olympic Winter Games „Quick Reference‟ MIXED Sport / Discipline Winter Games Athlete(s) Event Medal Figure Skating 1948 St. Moritz Wallace Diestelmeyer, Pairs Suzanne Morrow BUT DID YOU ALSO KNOW THAT… Men‟s Ice Hockey - the 1924 win by the Canadian team was a first in Olympic Winter Games history. It was not the first time that a Canadian ice hockey team had been crowned as Olympic champions.