International Women’s Day sheds light on Canadian sport achievements
It should surprise absolutely no-one who pays attention to Canadian sport that the country’s female athletes are among the best in the world at what they do.
The contribution of women to the Canadian Olympic Team is vital to its standings on the medals table. On International Women’s Day, Olympic.ca looked at some of the numbers and found that in the last six Olympic Games, Canadian women have counted for a significant number of medals for Team Canada in various ways.
International Women’s Day
Women leading Canada has been of particular importance in the last three Olympic Games. Simply put, without female Olympians in recent years, Canada would have half the success and nowhere near as many gold medals, which – as all those millions who are glued to their televisions, tablets and smartphones during the Games know – would mean a lot less national pride and celebration.
At Sochi 2014, Canadian women were responsible for six of the 10 gold medals. One of the winners, Kaillie Humphries, was named Canada’s top athlete for 2014, winning the Lou Marsh Trophy.
In London 2012 Canada’s only gold medal was won by a woman.
When Canada last hosted an Olympic Games at Vancouver 2010, 54% of the medals out of a national record (26) were won by women.
In other recent Olympic Games – Turin 2006 (67%) and Athens 2004 (50%) – saw women bring home at least half of the hardware from the Olympic podium.
The two most decorated Canadian Olympians are women. Cindy Klassen (one gold, two silver and three bronze), and Clara Hughes (one gold, one silver, four bronze) each have six medals for the Canadian record.
One more bit of trivia; this year Canada celebrated the 50-year anniversary of its flag. The first person to ever carry the maple leaf in to an Olympic Games was Nancy Greene, a female alpine skier and fittingly, Olympic Champion.
Nancy Greene (left) was the first Olympian ever to carry the maple leaf into an Olympic Games. Abby Hoffman (middle) was the first to do it on Canadian soil. Hayley Wickenheiser (right) was the most recent Team Canada Opening Ceremony flag bearer. All were at Dylan Armstrong’s medal ceremony.
Research compiled by Paula Nichols
