Topic spans: 1948 - 1968
Gold Medal Athletes - 1948-1968
Canada's sweetheart, an overlooked hockey team, the goodtime bobsleigh playboys, and the tiger from British Columbia – these are Canada's post-war Olympic gold players. In an era that predated big corporate sponsorship, these athletes were at the forefront of a dynamic, golden generation of Canadian Olympians. Humble but skilled, Canadian athletes staged upset after upset, inspiring future Olympians to try to match the golden trail they blazed.
Image of rowers Jackson and Hungerford reproduced with the permission of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
6 television clips
6 radio clips
Tiger on the slopes – Grenoble, 1968
Broadcast Date: Nov. 19, 1967
With a tiger decal on her crash helmet, Nancy Greene rushes down the snowy slopes carving each turn. She is fearless. Many are calling her an overnight sensation but in reality she has travelled a long path to the podium. When she was just three years old, Greene strapped on a pair of homemade skis and skied just for fun. But in 1958 she was slotted into a race when two other competitors dropped out.Despite her lack of racing experience she placed third and competed to win from then on. She finished seventh at the Innsbruck Olympics and looked up to Canadian skiing star Ann Heggtveit. The Grenoble Olympics have proven to be her Games and she has claimed gold in the giant slalom and silver in the slalom events. In this CBC feature, Greene prepares for the Olympic Games, a star in waiting.
Tiger on the slopes – Grenoble, 1968
• Greene injured her ankle weeks prior to her competition at Grenoble. Buoyed by her wins at the Olympics, she won nine consecutive races.• Greene was a member of the national ski team from 1959 to 1968 and was a six-time Canadian Champion. She won the World Cup in 1967 and 1968. After her success, she retired at the age of 24.
• In 1968 Greene received the Lou Marsh trophy and the Order of Canada. In 2000 she was named Canada's female athlete of the century by the Canadian Press.
• Greene was one of the first Canadian athletes to cash in on the post-Olympics endorsement opportunities and signed a high-profile contract to promote Mars Bars.
Tiger on the slopes – Grenoble, 1968
Medium: Television
Program: The Way It Is
Broadcast Date: Nov. 19, 1967
Guest(s): Nancy Greene
Host: Warren Davis
Interviewer: Carl Charlson
Duration: 6:29
Last updated:
July 31, 2008
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12 clips in this topic . page
Radio
7:14
July 18, 1976
It is a world first. Standing four feet 11 1/2 inches tall, weighing 86 pounds, a 14-year-old Romanian vaults in to the history books on July 18, 1976.
Television
5:30
April 22, 1980
There won't be any Canadian athletes at the 1980 summer Olympics. The government is boycotting the Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Tiger on the slopes – Grenoble, 1968.
The CBC Digital Archives Website.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Last updated: July 31, 2008.
[Page consulted on Nov. 22, 2009.]