Debbie Van Kiekebelt

Last updated
Debbie Van Kiekebelt
Personal information
Born (1954-03-01) March 1, 1954 (age 69)
Kitchener, Ontario
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Pan American Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1971 Cali Pentathlon
Pacific Conference Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1973 Toronto High jump

Deborah "Debbie" Van Kiekebelt (born March 1, 1954 in Kitchener, Ontario) [1] is a Canadian athlete and sports broadcaster. She was a gold medallist in the pentathlon at the 1971 Pan American Games, and was named that year's Canadian Woman Athlete of the year. Later, she became Canada's first female sports broadcaster. [2]

Van Kiekebelt attended Clarkson Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario. During her high school days at Clarkson, she not only captured many Peel regional titles, but set records in several events. [1]

After her Pan-Am gold medal win in Cali, Colombia in the pentathlon, She competed in the Long Jump and Pentathlon at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich. Where she failed to advance to final in the long jump, and place 15th in the Pentathlon. She won a silver medal in the high jump at the 1973 Pacific Conference Games; she was appointed to the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame in 1977. She became the first female Canadian sports broadcaster, appearing on Citytv and NBC, and was host of six television series. [3]

Van Kiekebelt was a director for the See You In Athens Fund which supported Canadian athletes attending the 2004 Summer Olympics. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 Summer Olympics</span> Multi-sport event in Montreal, Canada

The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad and commonly known as Montreal 1976, were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam on May 12, 1970, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles. It was the first and, so far, only Summer Olympic Games to be held in Canada. Toronto hosted the 1976 Summer Paralympics the same year as the Montreal Olympics, which still remains the only Summer Paralympics to be held in Canada. Calgary and Vancouver later hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1988 and 2010, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassie Campbell-Pascall</span> Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster

Cassie DawinCampbell-Pascall is a former Canadian ice hockey player and a current broadcaster for Sportsnet and ESPN. Born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Campbell grew up in Brampton, Ontario, playing for the Brampton Canadettes. She was the captain of the Canadian women's ice hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics and led the team to a gold medal. The left winger took on the role of captain again in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and again successfully led her team to a gold medal with a 4 – 1 win over Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perdita Felicien</span> Canadian hurdler

Perdita Felicien is a Canadian retired hurdler. Felicien is the 2003 World champion in the 100 metres hurdles and 2004 World indoor champion in the 60 metres hurdles. She also won silver medals at the 2007 World Championships, the 2010 World Indoor Championships, and twice at the Pan American Games. Her best time for the 100 metres hurdles of 12.46 secs from 2004 still stands as the Canadian record.

Sheila Christine Taormina is an American former athlete who competed at four Olympics, and was the first woman to qualify for the Olympics in three different sports. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, she earned a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. team in the women's 4×200-meter freestyle relay. She was inducted in 2009 into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame, and in 2015 into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debbie Brill</span> Canadian high jumper

Debbie Arden Brill, is a Canadian high jump athlete who at the age of 16 became the first North American woman to clear 6 feet. Her reverse jumping style—which is now almost exclusively the technique of elite high jumpers—was called the Brill Bend and was developed by her when she was a child, around the same time as Dick Fosbury was developing the similar Fosbury Flop in the US. Brill won gold in the high jump at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, and at the Pan American Games in 1971. She finished 8th in the 1972 Summer Olympics, then quit the sport in the wake of the Munich massacre, returning three years later. She won gold at the IAAF World Cup in 1979, and at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. She has held the Canadian high jump record since 1969, and set the current record of 1.99 meters in 1982, a few months after giving birth to her first child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Botterill</span> Canadian ice hockey player

Jennifer Botterill, is a Canadian former women's hockey player and current hockey broadcast television analyst who played for Harvard University, the Canadian national team, the Mississauga Chiefs, and the Toronto Aeros. She entered the ice hockey world after starting in the sport of ringette.

Elfi Schlegel is a sportscaster for NBC Sports and a former college and national champion gymnast from Canada. She is generally regarded as a top 50 Canadian gymnast of all time, and one of the best of the late 1970s alongside Monica Goermann and the late Sherry Hawco.

Diane Jones-Konihowski, is a former Canadian pentathlete who was the 1978 Commonwealth Champion and won two gold medals at two Pan-American Games, as well as representing Canada at two Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Canada, represented by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, from August 8 to 24, 2008. Canadian athletes had competed in every Summer Olympic Games since 1900 with the exception of 1980, which were boycotted in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Canada sent 332 athletes in 25 sports, the seventh largest team at the games and Canada's largest since 1988. Canada did not send a team in handball, volleyball or basketball. Kayaker and 2004 Summer Olympics gold medalist Adam van Koeverden was the flag bearer at the opening ceremonies; Karen Cockburn bore the flag at the closing.

Lisa Alexander is a Canadian former competitor in synchronised swimming and Olympic medallist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guatemala at the 2008 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Guatemala competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008. In what was the country's fourteenth Summer Olympics since its debut at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. A total of twelve athletes competed in nine sports and twelve distinct events. It was the lowest number of participants for Guatemala since the 1980 Games in Moscow, USSR. Three of the twelve athletes were taking part in their second Olympics, and one of them, race walker Luis García, participated in his fourth. In any event that involved a progression through rounds, the Guatemalan athletes did not advance past the first round; as of the Beijing Olympics, there had yet to be a Guatemalan medalist. At the opening ceremony, badminton player Kevin Cordón bore Guatemala's flag.

Katy Livingston is a British modern pentathlete who has competed at the Olympic Games.

Susan Diane Reeve is a former female track and field athlete from England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brianne Theisen-Eaton</span> Canadian athlete

Brianne Theisen-Eaton is a Canadian retired track and field athlete who competed in the heptathlon and women's pentathlon. She won the bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Theisen-Eaton holds the Canadian record for the heptathlon with 6,808 points, as well as the indoor pentathlon with a score of 4768 points. Theisen-Eaton is a heptathlon silver medallist from the 2013 World Championships and 2015 World Championships, as well as a pentathlon silver medalist from the 2014 World Indoor Championships. She is the first and only Canadian woman to podium in the multi-events at the World Championships. Theisen-Eaton won Commonwealth Games gold in the heptathlon at Glasgow 2014 and was the 2016 World Indoor Champion in the pentathlon. She also won a bronze medal as part of the women's 4 x 400 m relay at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yane Marques</span> Brazilian modern pentathlete

Yane Márcia Campos da Fonseca Marques is a modern pentathlon athlete from Brazil. She became nationally known despite the obscurity of her sport in the country after winning a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, the first Latin American to medal and the only woman to do so.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sommer West</span> Canadian ice hockey player

Sommer West was a Canadian Olympic softball player at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In addition, she was a former member of the Canadian national women's hockey team. She was also an ice hockey player in the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). West has competed for the Mississauga Chiefs and Burlington Barracudas in the CWHL. Currently, she is the head coach of the Toronto Furies of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. As head coach of the Toronto Furies, she led the squad to the 2014 Clarkson Cup championship.

Mary Beth Iagorashvili is a retired American modern pentathlete. She is also the first U.S. female modern pentathlete and one of the twenty-four athletes to participate in the first-ever women's event at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In 1999, she married Georgian-born modern pentathlete Vakhtang Iagorashvili, who won an individual bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica Pinette</span> Canadian modern pentathlete

Monica Pinette is a two-time Olympic modern pentathlete from Canada. She is one of the first female Canadian modern pentathletes, and the only indigenous athlete of (Métis) to compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Her 13th place finish overall at the 2004 Summer Olympics was Canada's best recorded performance in the modern pentathlon to date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Combined events at the Olympics</span> Athletics events at the Olympics with scores based on multiple events

Combined events at the Summer Olympics have been contested in several formats at the multi-sport event. There are two combined track and field events in the current Olympic athletics programme: a men's decathlon and a women's heptathlon.

Yvonne Saunders-Mondesire is a Canadian former track and field athlete. A versatile athlete, she competed in women's pentathlon, long jump, high jump, 400 metres and 800 metres. She competed internationally for Canada, Jamaica, and England during her career.

References

  1. 1 2 "Debbie Van Kiekebelt". Mississauga Sports Council. Archived from the original on 2010-06-27. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  2. Berkoff, Fran (1 April 2002). "Called to the bar". Calgary Sun. Archived from the original on 19 October 2006. Retrieved 2008-07-09.
  3. 1 2 "About Us". Canadian Athletes Now: See You in Athens. Archived from the original on 2006-01-30. Retrieved 2008-07-09.