Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Toronto Township, Ontario, Canada | November 14, 1964|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Western Ontario | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse | David Patchell-Evans | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Silken Suzette Laumann, MSC (born November 14, 1964) is a Canadian champion rower.
Laumann was born in Toronto Township, Ontario, now Mississauga. Starting in 1976, Laumann won a number of awards, including a gold medal in quadruple sculls at the U.S. Championships, two gold medals in single sculls at the Pan American Games, a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics in the double sculls with her sister Daniele. At the 1988 Olympics, Laumann finished seventh in the double scull. Laumann graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. [1] Laumann won a silver medal in single sculls at the 1990 World Championships, and the gold medal at the following year's World Championships.
Arguably the most famous incident in Laumann's life was during her training leading up to the 1992 Summer Olympics. One of the odds-on favourites to capture a gold medal, her shell was involved in a collision with the boat of German coxless pair team Colin von Ettinghausen and Peter Hoeltzenbein on May 15, 1992. Despite serious injuries to her leg (in her words, "The injury looked so bad I actually wondered whether I was going to lose my leg, because I could see the bone." [2] ), five operations and a total stay in the hospital of approximately three weeks, Laumann was back on the water training by late June. Her efforts paid off with a bronze medal, and she was subsequently named Canadian of the Year by the Canadian Club in recognition and was selected to carry the Canadian Flag in the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.
After a one-year absence to allow the injury to heal further, Laumann resumed competing in 1994, and she won a silver at the 1995 World Championships. She also won a gold medal as part of a quad sculls team at the 1995 Pan American Games, but was subsequently stripped of the medal after testing positive for pseudoephedrine (which she claimed to have accidentally ingested due to a mix-up in what cold medicine she could safely use [3] ). Her final competitive race was at the 1996 Summer Olympics, where Silken won a silver medal in single sculls. She formally announced her retirement three years later.
Laumann was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal in 1999 for her outstanding international rowing career. In 2004, she was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. [4]
She now lives in Victoria, British Columbia and works as a public speaker.
Donovan Bailey is a retired Jamaican-Canadian sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to become Olympic champion in 1996. He was the first Canadian to legally break the 10-second barrier in the 100 m. Particularly noted for his top speed, Bailey ran 12.10 m/s in his 1996 Olympic title run, the fastest ever recorded by a human at the time. He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 as an individual athlete and in 2008 as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4x100 relay team. In 2005, he was also inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
Clara Hughes, is a Canadian cyclist and speed skater who has won multiple Olympic medals in both sports. Hughes won two bronze in the 1996 Summer Olympics and four medals over the course of three Winter Olympics.
Susan Marie Nattrass, is a Canadian trap shooter and medical researcher in osteoporosis. She was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Competing at an elite international level from the 1970s through the 2010s, Nattrass has had multiple appearances, in one or both of trap or double trap, at Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, and Pan American Games. Nattrass is a repeat World Champion and repeat medalist at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships, and Pan American Games. She was the flag bearer for Canada at the 2007 Pan American Games and the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Alison Jane Sydor is a Canadian retired professional cross-country mountain cyclist. She began cycling at age 20 and is a graduate of the University of Victoria. She won a silver medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in mountain bike, and has won three world mountain bike championships gold medals and the 2002 relay race in Kaprun, Austria.
Abigail Golda Hoffman, is a Canadian former track and field athlete.
Danielle Goyette is a Canadian former ice hockey player who played on the Canada women's national ice hockey team. In 2013, she was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame. In 2017, she was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Goyette was made a member of the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2018.
Kathleen Joan Heddle, was a Canadian Olympic rower. She and her long-time rowing partner Marnie McBean were the first Canadians to be awarded three Olympic gold medals at the Summer Games. They also won a silver in double sculls at the 1994 World Championships.
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.
Derek Nesbitt-Porter is a gold medal-winning Olympic rower from Canada.
Donna-Marie Gurr, CM is a former swimmer from Canada, who won the bronze medal in the 200m backstroke at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Marnie Elizabeth McBean, is a Canadian former rower. She is a three-time Olympic gold medallist. In 2023, she was appointed to the Senate of Canada.
Karine Sergerie is the 2007 world champion in women's lightweight taekwondo. She is Canada's first female world champion in the sport.
Christine Girard is a Canadian weightlifter from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. She competes in the 63 kg division. Girard was the first Canadian female to win a medal in weightlifting when she won gold at the 2012 London Olympics. She also won Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games titles in her weight class and has won multiple medals in each of those competitions. She holds the Commonwealth games record and the Pan-American Games record in the Clean and Jerk.
Martine Dugrenier is a Canadian retired wrestler. A three time world champion, she has also competed twice at the Olympics, finishing in 5th place both times.
Barbara Armbrust is a Canadian rower. She won a silver medal in the coxed four at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Laryssa Biesenthal is a Canadian former representative rower. She is a dual Olympic medallist and represented Canada in sweep-oared and sculling boats at four World Rowing Championships, medalling on each occasion. She is married to Olympic rower Iain Brambell.
Lisa Buscombe is a Canadian retired archer. Buscombe won various medals in archery championships including gold at the 1984 World Field Archery Championships and 1985 World Games plus a silver medal in the 1986 World Field Archery Championships. In 1985, she was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.
Jennifer Walinga is a retired rower who competed between the 1980s to 1990s. As a member of the national rowing team for Canada, Walinga did not medal at the 1985 World Rowing Championships. In coxed four events, Walinga won gold at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and the 1986 World Rowing Championships. Years later, she had a seventh place finish in coxed four at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Caroll-Ann Rosenberg née Alie is a retired Olympian in windsurfing. Apart from her Olympic appearances, Alie won gold at the 1995 Pan American Games and silver at the 1999 Pan American Games. She was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Hannah Margaret McNair "Maggie" Mac NeilOLY, MSc is a Canadian competitive swimmer. A 100 metre butterfly event specialist, she is the 2020 Olympic champion, 2019 World (LC) champion, two-time World (SC) champion, 2022 Commonwealth champion, and 2023 Pan American champion. She holds the short course world record, the Commonwealth record, and Pan American record in the event.