Dori Yeats

Biography

Dori Yeats is following in the footsteps of her five-time Olympian father Doug who won gold at the 1979 Pan American Games. She was able to match that latter accomplishment in 2015 when she won her own gold medal at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, coming back from an MCL tear earlier in the year. In her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Yeats made it through the repechage to a bronze medal match but came up just short of the podium, finishing fifth. Still young in the sport, she has already accumulated a wealth of international medals. She won gold at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010 before winning her first senior international tournament, the 2011 Commonwealth Championships. In 2012 she was victorious at the Austrian Open and Canada Cup before winning the first of her two consecutive Junior World titles. She also made her debut at the UWW Senior World Championships in 2012 where she captured a silver medal. In 2014 Yeats added two more prestigious victories to her résumé, winning gold at the World University Championships and the Commonwealth Games.

Getting to Know…

Family: Parents Doug and Kati Yeats… Older sister Ani… Younger brothers Johnny and Peter… Doug is a five-time Olympian (1976-1992) and an engineer, making him her role model as well as her coach… Johnny is a Canadian cadet champion and recent national trials winner in Greco-Roman wrestling… Her mother was a member of Hungary’s national gymnastics team… Getting into the Sport: Started wrestling at age 14… Had done gymnastics for 10 years but despite giving everything she had to the sport, knew she wasn’t close to going to the Olympics… Switched to wrestling and within six months had won her first national title… Outside Interests: Studying civil engineering at McGill University… Enjoys books, movies, dogs, cooking and cottage living… Odds and Ends: Has dreamed of representing Canada since watching her mentor Kyle Shewfelt win floor exercise gold at Athens 2004… Favourite motto: “Turn your idols into rivals”…