>> Women in Sport - Champions Forever!!
There are many historic success stories of girls and women who have proved, over and over, that they can make their mark in sport – despite the obstacles they faced. Here are just a few of the brave and determined women who made it to the front lines – as athletes or as sports leaders:
• In 1900, the Olympic Games allowed women to compete – the same year Canada sent its first man to the Olympics. But it was 24 years before the first Canadian woman went. She was 15-year-old figure skater Cecil Eustace Smith, who competed in the 1924 Winter Olympics at Chamonix, France, skating in both ladies' and pairs' competitions.
• In 1925, Alexandrine Gibb founded the Women's Amateur Athletic Federation (WAAF) of Canada and lobbied to allow women to enter track and field events at the Olympics. Three years later, in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam , women were allowed to participate. Under her supervision, the “Matchless Six,” the six women track-and-field athletes who represented Canada , brought home four medals: two gold, one silver and one bronze.
• In the late 1920s, major newspapers across the country started hiring women sports journalists to bring greater attention to women in sports. For over 30 years, newspaper columns written by women sportswriters, like Phyllis Griffiths, and former track athletes Myrtle Cook and Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld, were major sources of information about Canadian women's sports.
• In 1951, Peggy Seller , Canada 's "First Lady of Synchronized Swimming", established the Canadian Amateur Synchronized Swimming Association and served as its first president. In 1952, she wrote the first Canadian illustrated brochure for synchronized swimming, as well as the rules governing international competition for the Federation Internationale de Natation Amateur (FINA).
• In 1954, 16-year-old marathon swimmer Marilyn Bell became the first swimmer to cross Lake Ontario , and in 1955, at the age of 17, she became the youngest person ever to swim across the English Channel .
• In 1956, when she was nine years old, Abby Hoffman had to pretend to be a boy to play on an all-boys hockey team because there weren't any girls' teams. When her team made it to the playoffs, it was discovered that “Ab” was really a girl. The story made headlines around the world. She later moved into track and-field and took part in four Olympic Games. In 1981, she became the first woman to be elected to the Canadian Olympic Association and the first woman director general of Sport Canada.
• In 1962, 15-year-old figure skater Petra Burka became the first woman figure skater in history to complete a triple Salchow (three complete rotations in the air).
• In 1966, at 15 years of age, swimmer Elaine Tanner - better known as “Mighty Mouse” because of her short stature and powerful strokes - became the first person ever to win four gold medals at the Commonwealth Games. Two years later, she became the first Canadian woman to win three Olympic medals – two silver and a bronze.
• In 1968, 14-year-old Betsy Clifford became the youngest Canadian skier ever to compete at the Olympics.
• In 1972, along with team-mate Roseann Allen, 18-year-old cross-country skiers Sharon and Shirley Firth (twin sisters) became the first Canadian aboriginal women to ever compete at an Olympic Games. In 1984, they also became the first Canadian women to compete in four straight Winter Olympics (1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984).
• From 1973 to 1976, Sylvie Fortier proved to be a powerful force in the world of synchronized swimming, dominating national and international events in figures, solo, duet and team. In 1976, she was named synchronized swimming's champion of the world.
• In 1976, cross-country skier and kayaker Sue Holloway became the first Canadian woman to compete in both the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics in the same year. She competed in the cross-country skiing competition in Innsbruck , Austria , and then participated as a kayak competitor at the Montreal Games.
• As one of Canada 's most accomplished coaches, Debbie Muir led her athletes to win seven of a possible nine synchronized swimming World Championship titles from 1978 to 1986.
• The 1979 Canadian Female Athlete of the Year, Helen Vanderburg , won gold medals for synchronized swimming in Canadian, Pan-American, Pan-Pacific, FINA Cup and World Aquatic championships in 1978 and 1979.
• In 1980 at the Swiss Open Championships, the synchronized swimming duet of twin sisters Penny and Vicky Vilagos was the first ever to receive a perfect score of 10.
• In 1986, Sharon Adele Wood became the first North American woman to climb Mount Everest .
• In 1988, at age 18, Chantal Petitclerc entered her first wheelchair race. Since then, she has become a world-class athlete, winning several medals, including two gold and two silver at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney , and a gold in the women's 800 metre wheelchair final at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
• With her two gold medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, synchronized swimmer Carolyn Waldo became the first woman in Canadian history to win two gold medals at the same Olympic games – gold in solo and gold in duet with partner Michelle Cameron .
• In 1990, Carol Anne Letheren became the first female president of the Canadian Olympic Association and, that same year she also became the sixth female member of the International Olympic Committee. Two years earlier, in 1988, she was the first woman in the world to be chef de mission of an Olympic team.
• Ten weeks before the 1992 Summer Olympics, rower Silken Laumann was badly hurt in a boating accident. Her injuries were so serious that she required five operations within a short time. Through it all, Silken kept on training. Wearing a bandage on her injured leg, she competed at the Olympics that year and won a bronze medal!
• Just a week before the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, synchronized swimmer Sylvie Fréchette's fiancé died. Despite her grief, she competed in the Olympics, but her nightmare continued. Although she had a magnificent performance, an unfortunate judging error cost her the gold medal. After months and months of appeals, Sylvie finally received her gold medal in December 1993.
• In 1992, Manon Rhéaume became the first woman to play in the National Hockey League. She was a goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
• At the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillhammer , Norway , Myriam Bédard won gold in both the 7.5 and 15-kilometre biathlon events. She became the first Canadian athlete (male or female) ever to win two winter Olympic gold medals, as well as the first North American athlete ever to win gold in Olympic biathlon events.
• At the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta , Sonia Denoncourt became the first woman to ever referee an Olympic soccer game.
• The 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney , Australia , marked the 100 th anniversary of women's participation in the games.
• The “Michael Jordan” of women's wheelchair basketball is a Canadian! Chantal Benoit is probably the world's greatest woman player and builder of the sport. At the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, her team made history by winning its third consecutive Paralympic gold medal, defeating the hometown Australians. She also led the team to its 1992 and 1996 gold medals.
• In 2002, Clara Hughes became the first Canadian athlete (male or female) to win medals at both summer and winter Olympics – in 1996, she won two bronze medals in cycling and in 2002, a bronze in speed skating.
• In 2006, coach Julie Sauvé was inducted into Canada 's Sports Hall of Fame in honour of her 31 years of dedication and outstanding contributions to the sport of synchronized swimming.
There are many other girls and women – little known and famous alike – who have succeeded in sport. They are proof that with determination and courage, girls and women can do it! Many female athletes and sports leaders continue to break records, excel at their activity and be role models for all Canadians. Their bold and colourful stories are worth discovering. Why not find out more about them?
To learn more about Women's History Month, and about women and sport, check out the following links: http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/dates/whm/index_e.html and http://www.caaws.ca
SOURCES:
Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity
(CAAWS) Web site, http://www.caaws.ca/
Canoe Web site, “2002 Games Team Canada ,”
http://www.canoe.ca/2002GamesTeamCanada/home.html
CBC Web site, “The Olympians – a Century of Canadian Heroes,”
http://cbc.ca/sports/olympians/ (accessed July 24, 2002)
Hall, M. Ann. The Girl and the Game: A History of Women's Sport in Canada .
Peterborough , Ontario : Broadview Press, 2002.
National Archives of Canada Web site, “Sporting Lives,”
http://www.archives.ca/05/0527_e.html
National Library of Canada Web site, “Celebrating Women's Achievements –
Canadian Women in Sport,” http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/2/12/h12-239-e.html
McDonald, David and Lauren Drewery. For the Record – Canada 's Greatest Women Athletes.
Rexdale , Ontario : John Wiley & Sons Canada Limited and Fitness and Amateur Sport, 1981.
Women in Coaching – Coaching Association of Canada Web site,
http://www.coach.ca/women/index.htm
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