Canadian Women At The Olympic Winter Games

Early Years

The first Olympic Winter Games took place in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Canada’s first female Winter Olympian was 15-year-old Cecil Smith, who finished sixth in the women’s figure skating competition and seventh in the pairs competition with Melville Rogers. Cecil Smith, her sister Maude “Jim” Smith, and Constance Wilson competed for Canada in figure skating at the 1928 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz; all three finished in the top ten. The Canadian Olympic Association also sent figure skaters to the 1932 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, USA, and, for the first time, sent female alpine skiers to the 1936 Olympic Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Canada’s First Female Olympic Winter Gold Medalist

The Olympic Winter Games did not take place for 12 years because of the Second World War. When they re-convened in 1948, Canada’s Barbara Ann Scott was poised to make history. Scott won the ladies’ singles figure skating competition at the 1947 World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, becoming the first North American (male or female) to win a world figure skating title. She came back to Canada a heroine and was presented with a car from the city of Ottawa. (Unfortunately, Scott had to return the car to keep her amateur status.) At the 1948 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz, Scott skated flawlessly, and became Canada’s first female Olympic Winter gold medalist. According to the CBC, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King recognized Scott for giving “Canadians courage to get through the darkness of the post-war gloom.” She thus earned the title “Canada’s Sweetheart”.

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Excellence In Alpine Skiing

At the 1956 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Lucile Wheeler became the first Canadian (male or female) to medal in alpine skiing when she won bronze in the women’s downhill.

Wheeler would be the first of many Canadian skiers to excel at the Olympic Winter Games. Four years later, at the 1960 Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Anne Heggtveit won gold in the women’s slalom. At the 1968 Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble, Nancy Greene became the first Canadian woman to win two medals at an Olympic Winter Games when she won gold in the giant slalom and silver in the slalom. In 1999, Greene was named Canada’s top female athlete of the 20th century.

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At the 1976 Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria, 18-year-old Kathy Kreiner won the gold medal in the women’s giant slalom. Two more Canadians would achieve alpine skiing stardom — Karen Percy won two bronze at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary (women’s downhill and super giant slalom), and Kerrin Lee-Gartner> won gold in the women’s downhill at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville.

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Legacy Of The 1988 Olympic Winter Games

Since the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, Canadian women have won an impressive 84 medals. A major reason for this success was the legacy of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, particularly the new facilities built for the Olympics, including a speed skating oval at the University of Calgary. Access to such facilities significantly benefited Canadian athletes, and from 1994 to 2010, Canadian women won an unprecedented 18 medals in long track speed skating. Catriona Le May Doan won back-to-back Olympic titles in the women’s 500m in 1998 and 2002; Cindy Klassen won five medals (a Canadian record) at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy; and Christine Nesbitt won the women’s 1000m at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

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Gender Equality At The Olympic Games

A second major reason for Canadian success over the last 20 years is the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) commitment to gender equality in Olympic winter sports. The IOC’s commitment has provided more opportunities for Canadian women as it opened up more sports for women generally at the Games. In 1994, Myriam Bédard won two gold medals at the Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, in women’s biathlon>, a sport which debuted in 1992. At the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, women’s hockey was included for the first time, and since then Canada has won four gold medals (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014). At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canadian women finished first and second in women’s bobsled, an event which only made its Olympic debut in 2002 (despite the fact men’s bobsled has been in the Olympic Winter Games since 1924). Meanwhile, Beckie Scott and Chandra Crawford have won gold medals in cross-country skiing events that have been added to the Olympic program since 1992.

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Canadian Success In New Sports

In the last two decades, Canadian women have excelled in the new Olympic sports of freestyle skiing, curling, short-track speed skating, and snowboarding. In short-track speed skating, Canadian women have won 14 medals since 1992. At the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, skip Sandra Schmirler and her team won the gold medal in women’s curling. (Sadly, just over two years later Schmirler died of cancer.) Canadian women have also medalled in curling at the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

At the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Jennifer Heil became the third Canadian woman in four years to medal in freestyle skiing when she won gold in women’s moguls (she won silver in the same event in 2010). At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, Ashleigh McIvor won an Olympic gold medal in the debut of women’s ski cross. In snowboarding, which made its Olympic debut in 1998, Maëlle Ricker became Canada’s first female champion in the sport when she won the women’s snowboard cross at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Canadian Women at Sochi 2014

At the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Canadian women contributed to 13 medals. This included six gold medals, all in women’s events that have only joined the Olympic program since 1992: moguls, slopestyle skiing, bobsled, ski cross, curling and hockey.

Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse defended their Olympic title in women’s bobsled from the ​2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver​. Marielle Thompson became the second consecutive Canadian woman to win Olympic gold in ski cross, following in the footsteps of McIvor. Her teammate, Kelsey Serwa, took silver in the event. Dara Howell was the first Olympic champion in women’s slopestyle skiing, which made its debut at the 2014 Games. Joining her on the podium was Kim Lamarre, who won bronze.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe became the youngest freestyle skiing champion in Olympic history at 19 years of age. She and her sister, Chloé, finished first and second in women’s moguls, becoming the first Canadian sisters to share the podium in a single event at the Olympic Winter Games.

In women’s hockey, Team Canada won its fourth straight gold medal, beating the United States 3–2 in overtime in a dramatic gold medal game. Marie-Philip Poulin scored the game-tying goal with 55 seconds left in the third period and then the overtime winner. It was the fourth straight gold medal for Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and Caroline Ouellette.

In curling, the Canadian team skipped by Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones made history by becoming the first women’s team to go through an entire Olympic Winter Games undefeated. Team Canada had a record of 11-0 and beat Sweden 6-3 in the gold medal game.

Canadian Women at PyeongChang 2018

At the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, female athletes contributed to 17 of the 29 medals won by Canada. This included five gold medals in figure skating, curling and freestyle skiing.

Figure skater Tessa Virtue won two Olympic gold medals with her ice dance partner, Scott Moir. Virtue and Moir won gold in the ice dance for the second time in three Olympic Winter Games and gave two excellent performances in the team competition as Canada won team figure skating gold for the first time ever. Three other Canadian women helped Canada win gold in the team competition: Gabrielle Daleman and Kaetlyn Osmond skated in the ladies’ competition (Daleman in the long program and Osmond in the short program), while pairs figure skater Meagan Duhamel competed in the short and long programs with partner Eric Radford. It was also the first of two medals for Osmond and Duhamel, who won bronze in the ladies and pairs events, respectively.

In curling, Kaitlyn Lawes teamed with John Morris to win gold in mixed doubles, which debuted at the 2018 Games. Lawes and Morris lost their first game of the tournament 9–6 to Norway before winning their next eight games. In the gold medal game, they trounced Switzerland 10–3. It was Lawes’s second Olympic gold medal, as she had been part of Jennifer Jones’s gold medal winning team in women’s curling at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

In freestyle skiing, Cassie Sharpe won gold in women’s halfpipe skiing and Kelsey Serwa won gold in women’s ski cross. It was a one-two Canadian finish in women’s ski cross, with Brittany Phelan winning silver in the event. In women’s moguls, Justine Dufour-Lapointe won silver, her second career Olympic medal after winning gold at the 2014 Sochi Games. In snowboard, reigning world champion Laurie Blouin took silver in women’s slopestyle, becoming the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in the event.

In short track speed skating, Kim Boutin won silver in the women’s 1000m and took bronze in the women’s 500m and 1500m events. She was the second short track speed skater to ever win three medals at a single Olympic Winter Games. Boutin’s first medal of the Games was in the women’s 500m, where she finished fourth but was upgraded to third when South Korea’s Choi Min-jeong was disqualified for interference. Although Boutin received online death threats from angry fans, she continued to compete and won another two medals. The Canadian Olympic Committee recognized Boutin’s perseverance and excellence by naming her the flag bearer in the closing ceremonies.

Luger Alex Gough also won multiple medals at the games. She won bronze in the women’s singles event, becoming the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in luge, and won silver in the mixed team relay event with teammates Sam Edney, Justin Snith and Tristan Walker.

Kaillie Humphries won bronze in women’s bobsleigh, her third Olympic medal in the event. In PyeongChang, however, she had a different brakewoman, with hurdler Phylicia George replacing Heather Moyse. In women’s hockey, Canada won the silver medal after losing 3–2 to the United States in a shootout. Mélodie Daoust was the tournament’s most valuable player and Shannon Szabados was named the tournament’s top goaltender.

Canadian Female Medalists at the Olympic Winter Games