Male athletes have dominated much of 's history as a competing country in the Summer . But things are changing, as the number of female athletes rises and the number of male athletes falls. Sources: Sports-reference.com, , Olympic.ca, Olympic.org, The Canadian Encyclopedia

The history of Canada’s male and The men and women of Team Canada female athletes competing at the 1976 1996 George Orton Canada hosted the For the rst time, Canada Orton was the rst Canadian to Summer Games in had an equal number of , which saw male and female athletes, win a at the Olympic a large increase in the with 152 each. Games. He competed in 1900, number of male and winning a in the 2500 m female athletes. steeplechase and a in the 2004 1900 400 m hurdles. 250 Female athletes on Team Canada outnumbered male athletes for the rst 1928 time, 133 to 130. 200 Women made up part of George Hodgson 1900 the Canadian team for the Hodgson was Canada’s rst Canada competed in its rst time; seven female double gold Olympic medalist. He rst Olympic Games, athletes competed and 150 with four male athletes won four of Canada’s earned two in swimming winning two . 15 medals. (400 m and 1500 m) and set world records in both events. 1912 100

50 Ethel Catherwood Catherwood was one of the rst women to compete for Canada Number of Athletes 0 in the Olympics. She captured gold in high jump in 1928. 1912 2012 1976 2016 1924 1972 1920 1928 1932 1952 1992 1936 1956 1996 1980 1908 1960 1988 1968 1900 1904 1984 1964 1948 2008 2000 2004 1928 Note: Canada was among the 65 countries that boycotted the in to protest the Soviet war in Afghanistan.

Fanny Rosenfeld, Ethel Smith, Jane Bell and Myrtle Cook A closer look (1976–2016) Male athletes: medals YEAR Female athletes: medals Male athlete (no medals) Rosenfeld, Smith (left), Bell and Cook were amongst the rst After peaking in 1976 with 261, the Female athlete (no medals) women to compete for Canada in number of male athletes participating in 144 15 62 the Summer Olympics. They won the Summer Olympics has fallen over medal HOST CITY 1928 gold in the 4x100 m relay in 1928. the past 11 Games. Meanwhile, the Connected dots Each dot represents number of female athletes has risen, indicate winning teams one athlete with at least 187 female athletes repre- Number of men’s events Number of women’s events senting Canada in 2016. In part this has in that Olympic year in that Olympic year to do with the growing number of Number of mixed events events for female athletes. in that Olympic year After winning his fth medal in 1936, Edwards became Canada’s most medalled Olympian, a 261 male athletes: 4 silver medals 124 female athletes: 1 silver and 6 bronze medals record he held for 70 years. His 1976 nal appearance in 1936 was perhaps the most remarkable, as 1928, 1932, 1936 he captained the Canadian team 130 19 49 MONTREAL just after graduating from McGill University’s medical school. 1980 MOSCOW

255 male athletes: 6 gold, 10 silver and 12 bronze medals 151 female athletes: 4 gold, 8 silver and 4 bronze medals 1984 Clara Hughes Hughes is the rst and only 144 15 62 Olympian to win multiple medals at both the Winter and Summer Games. She holds two Summer 223 male athletes: 1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals 1988 105 female athletes: 2 gold and 2 bronze medals medals for cycling and six Winter 1996, 2000, 2002, medals for . 2006, 2010, 2012 151 14 72

179 male athletes: 3 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze medals 116 female athletes: 4 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals 1992 Millar holds the Olympic record

159 12 86 for being the rst athlete to compete in ten Olympic Games. In 2008, he won a in 152 male athletes: 2 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze medals 152 female athletes: 1 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze medals equestrian for team jumping. 1996 1972, 1976, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 163 11 97 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 150 male athletes: 3 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals 2000 144 female athletes: 2 silver and 5 bronze medals Images (top to bottom): George Orton photo courtesy of Penn University Archives & 168 12 120 Records Center George Hodgson photo courtesy of IOC Ethel Catherwood photo courtesy of Agence de presse Meurisse 130 male athletes: 2 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal 133 female athletes: 1 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze medals Ethel Smith (unknown author) 2004 Phil Edwards (unknown author) Clara Hughes photo by Derek Markham, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic 166 10 125 Ian Millar photo by Thivierr, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported 186 male athletes: 2 gold, 6 silver* and 4 bronze medals 2008 146 female athletes: 1 gold, 4 silver* and 3 bronze medals

165 10 127 * The silver medal-winning equestrian team consisted of three men and one woman 119 male athletes: 3 silver and 6 bronze medals 2012 154 female athletes: 1 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze medals

162 8 132 LONDON 127 male athletes* 2016 187 female athletes* Designed and conceived by Jessica Yao, a Graphic Design student at OCAD University, under the supervision of Faculty of Design 161 9 136 professor Isabel Meirelles. * As of July 14, 2016