Canada at the Winter Olympics

This article will address the topic of Canada at the Winter Olympics from different perspectives and approaches, in order to provide a comprehensive and detailed vision of this currently relevant issue. Historical, cultural, social and economic aspects related to Canada at the Winter Olympics will be analyzed, as well as focusing on its impact on people's daily lives. Through exhaustive research and the collection of relevant information, the aim is to offer the reader a deep and up-to-date understanding of Canada at the Winter Olympics, with the aim of expanding their knowledge and generating reflections on this topic.

Canada at the
Winter Olympics
IOC codeCAN
NOCCanadian Olympic Committee
Websitewww.olympic.ca (in English)
www.olympique.ca (in French)
Medals
Gold
77
Silver
72
Bronze
76
Total
225
Winter Olympics appearances (overview)
Flag used from 1924–1956
Flag used from 1960–1964

Canada (IOC country code CAN) has competed at every Winter Olympic Games, and has won at least one medal each time. By total medals, the country's best performance was in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games where Canadian athletes won 29 medals. Canada set a new record for most gold medals won by a country in a single Winter Olympics with 14 at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. This achievement surpassed the previous record of 13 gold medals held by the Soviet Union (1976) and Norway (2002). Both Germany and Norway matched the record total of 14 gold medals in Pyeongchang in 2018. This record has since been surpassed by Norway with 16 at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Canada has hosted the winter games twice: in Calgary in 1988, and in Vancouver in 2010. Canada has also hosted the Summer Olympic Games once, in 1976 in Montreal.[1]

Medal tables

Medals by year

  Host country

Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Gold Medals Total Medals
1924 Chamonix 12 1 0 0 1 8 9
1928 St. Moritz 23 1 0 0 1 5 6
1932 Lake Placid 42 1 1 5 7 4 3
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 29 0 1 0 1 9 9
1948 St. Moritz 28 2 0 1 3 6 8
1952 Oslo 39 1 0 1 2 6 8
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo 37 0 1 2 3 10 9
1960 Squaw Valley 44 2 1 1 4 7 8
1964 Innsbruck 55 1 1 1 3 9 10
1968 Grenoble 70 1 1 1 3 13 14
1972 Sapporo 47 0 1 0 1 17 17
1976 Innsbruck 59 1 1 1 3 11 11
1980 Lake Placid 59 0 1 1 2 14 13
1984 Sarajevo 67 2 1 1 4 8 8
1988 Calgary 112 0 2 3 5 13 12
1992 Albertville 108 2 3 2 7 9 9
1994 Lillehammer 95 3 6 4 13 7 6
1998 Nagano 144 6 5 4 15 4 5
2002 Salt Lake City 150 7 3 7 17 4 4
2006 Turin 191 7 10 7 24 5 3
2010 Vancouver 201 14 7 5 26 1 3
2014 Sochi 217 10 10 5 25 3 4
2018 Pyeongchang 220 11 8 10 29 3 3
2022 Beijing 211 4 8 14 26 11 4
2026 Milano Cortina future event
Total 77 72 76 225 5 5
Medals by sport
  Leading in that sport
SportGoldSilverBronzeTotal
 Ice hockey146323
 Freestyle skiing1212630
 Speed skating10161642
 Short track speed skating10131437
 Figure skating6111229
 Curling63312
 Snowboarding55717
 Bobsleigh52411
 Alpine skiing41712
 Skeleton2114
 Cross-country skiing2103
 Biathlon2013
 Luge0112
 Ski jumping0011
Totals (14 entries)787276226

*One of Canada's ice hockey gold medals was won during the 1920 Summer Olympics. This table includes this medal, resulting in the discrepancy between the medals by games and medals by sports tables.

Canada has never won an Olympic medal in the following current winter sport: Nordic combined.

  • Canada has finished with the highest Canadian Winter medals total at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games with 29 medals.[2] This represents Canada's second highest medal haul at the Olympics, behind the 44 of the Soviet-bloc-boycotted 1984 Summer Games.[3]
  • Canada has finished the 2010 Winter Olympics at the first place at the medal table, with 14 gold medals.[3]
  • Canada was the first nation to win 14 gold medals at a single Winter Games. In 2018, Germany and Norway matched this record. Then in 2022, Norway set a new record with 16.[3]

Olympians

  • The Canadian with the most times at the Winter Olympics is Jasey-Jay Anderson, who appeared at 6 Olympics; 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018.[4]
  • The Canadian with the most Winter medals is Cindy Klassen, who has 6 medals; 1 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze.[5] While Canadian Winter Olympian Clara Hughes also has 6, her medals are split across Winter (4 medals) and Summer (2 medals) Games.[6]
  • The Canadian with the most medals at a single Winter Games is Cindy Klassen, who won 5 at the 2006 Games.[5]

Biathlon

Canada's only medals in biathlon were won by Myriam Bedard in the Albertville and Lillehammer games.

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1992 Albertville0011
1994 Lillehammer2002
Totals (2 entries)2013

Bobsleigh

Bobsleigh

Canada has won five gold medals in bobsleigh. The first, a surprising victory by Vic Emery's four-man team in Innsbruck (1964). The second was won by Pierre Lueders and Dave MacEachern in the two-man event in Nagano (1998) - a race that produced a rare tie in which both the Canadian pair and an Italian pair were awarded gold (a German pair won bronze). The Canadian men's duo of Justin Kripps and Alex Kovacz would repeat the feat in 2018, tying for gold with a German sled. In the first back to back wins by a two-woman team, Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse won gold medals in Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014).

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1964 Innsbruck1001
1998 Nagano1001
2006 Turin0101
2010 Vancouver1113
2014 Sochi1001
2018 Pyeongchang1012
Totals (6 entries)5229

Skeleton

In the 2006 Turin games Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards won Canada's first medal in skeleton and later Duff Gibson became the first Canadian to win a gold medal in skeleton in the men's event. At the 2010 Vancouver games, Jon Montgomery won a gold in the men's event.

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
2006 Turin1113
2010 Vancouver1001
Totals (2 entries)2114

Curling

Curling is one of the most popular sports in Canada, and both the men's and women's teams have won a medal at each of the five Olympics curling has been held at so far. Canadian curlers also finished in the top 3 places when curling was a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992. The women's team in 1998, led by skip Sandra Schmirler, the men's team in 2006, led by skip Brad Gushue, the men's team in 2010, led by Kevin Martin, the women's team in 2014 led by Jennifer Jones and the men's team in 2014 led by Brad Jacobs have won gold medals. In 2018, Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris won gold in the first mixed doubles tournament at a Winter Olympics.

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1998 Nagano1102
2002 Salt Lake City0112
2006 Turin1012
2010 Vancouver1102
2014 Sochi2002
2018 Pyeongchang1001
Totals (6 entries)63211

Ice hockey

Canada men's national hockey team celebrating after winning the gold medal against USA in Vancouver 2010.

Hockey is Canada's national winter sport, and Canadians are extremely passionate about the game. The nation has traditionally done very well at the Olympic games, winning 6 of the first 7 gold medals. However, by 1956 its amateur club teams and national teams could not compete with the teams of government-supported players from the Soviet Union. When Canada's best players (from the National Hockey League) were able to compete starting in 1998, expectations were high for the country's return to glory, but the Czech Republic won gold and the team fell to Finland in the bronze medal game. Canada finally won its first hockey gold in 50 years in Salt Lake City in 2002, sparking national celebrations.

The 2010 games were the first Olympics to take place in an NHL market since the league's players started to compete in the games, as Vancouver is home to the Vancouver Canucks.

Women's ice hockey was introduced at the Nagano Olympics in 1998, with Canada winning the silver medal. Canada has appeared in every Olympic gold medal game, facing the United States six times (1998, 2002, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022) and Sweden once (2006). Canada has topped the podium five times (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2022), taking silver against the United States twice (1998, 2018).

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1920 Antwerp*1001
1924 Chamonix1001
1928 St. Moritz1001
1932 Lake Placid1001
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen0101
1948 St. Moritz1001
1952 Oslo1001
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo0011
1960 Squaw Valley0101
1968 Grenoble0011
1992 Albertville0101
1994 Lillehammer0101
1998 Nagano0101
2002 Salt Lake City2002
2006 Turin1001
2010 Vancouver2002
2014 Sochi2002
2018 Pyeongchang0112
2022 Beijing1001
Totals (19 entries)146323

Note: Ice hockey was part of the Summer Olympic program for the 1920 games in Antwerp, but is listed here for completeness. As it was held at a Summer Games, it is not counted in the total for Canada's performance at the Winter games.

Luge

Following the announcement on December 22, 2017 that the 2014 luge team relay results of the silver medallists Russian team were voided due to team members being banned for doping violations, Canada was expected to be upgraded from fourth to bronze.[7][8] However, the bans and annulment of results were successfully appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and on 1 February 2018 the results were restored.[9] The IOC intended to appeal the decision to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland,[10] however following the Court's upholding of the CAS' decision in the related case of Alexander Legkov, the IOC decided not to proceed with the appeal.[11]

Alex Gough won Canada's first ever Olympic medal (Bronze) in Luge at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
2018 Pyeongchang0112
Totals (1 entries)0112

Skating

Figure skating

Canada has won at least one medal in figure skating in 14 of the 17 post-war Winter Olympic games (since 1948). Canada's gold medalists are Barbara Ann Scott (1948) and the pairs of Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul (1960); Jamie Salé and David Pelletier (2002); and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (2010 and 2018). Canada also won gold in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Virtue and Moir celebrated a number of firsts at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics when they won the gold medal for Ice Dancing: their first gold medal at their first Olympics, and the first North Americans as well as the youngest pair to win gold in this event. Other notable Canadian skaters include 1976 Bronze medalist Toller Cranston, as well as Brian Orser and Elvis Stojko, both of whom won silver medals in successive games.

At the 2022 games Canada finished in fourth in the women's team event. After a positive doping test by a member of the gold medallist Russian team, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) disqualified her.[12] As a result, Canada's team was expected to be upgraded to a bronze medal.[13] However, on 30 January 2024 the ISU announced the medal reallocation, downgrading Russia to bronze and leaving Canada at fourth.[14] This decision was appealed by Canada to the CAS,[15][16] but the court dismissed the case with no changes to the rankings.[17]

   Hosted Winter Games
   Ongoing Winter Games
Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1932 Lake Placid 0 0 1 1
1948 St. Moritz 1 0 1 2
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo 0 1 0 1
1960 Squaw Valley 1 0 1 2
1964 Innsbruck 0 1 1 2
1972 Sapporo 0 1 0 1
1976 Innsbruck 0 0 1 1
1984 Sarajevo 0 1 0 1
1988 Calgary 0 2 1 3
1992 Albertville 0 0 1 1
1994 Lillehammer 0 1 1 2
1998 Nagano 0 1 0 1
2002 Salt Lake City 1 0 0 1
2006 Turin 0 0 1 1
2010 Vancouver 1 0 1 2
2014 Sochi 0 3 0 3
2018 Pyeongchang 2 0 2 4
Total 6 11 11 29

Short track speed skating

Canada has benefitted from the addition of short track speed skating to the Olympic program in 1992, winning multiple medals at each games since. Marc Gagnon, who won 3 gold and 2 bronze medals between 1994 and 2002 and François-Louis Tremblay, who has collected 2 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals from 2002 to 2010, are among only 5 Canadian Olympians to win a total of 5 medals.

   Hosted Winter Games
   Ongoing Winter Games
Games Gold Silver Bronze Total
1992 Albertville 1 2 0 3
1994 Lillehammer 0 2 1 3
1998 Nagano 2 0 2 4
2002 Salt Lake City 2 1 3 6
2006 Turin 0 3 1 4
2010 Vancouver 2 2 1 5
2014 Sochi 1 1 1 3
2018 Pyeongchang 1 1 3 5
Total 9 12 12 33

Speed skating

Gaetan Boucher (1000 m and 1500 m in 1984), Catriona Le May Doan (500 m in 1998 and 2002), Cindy Klassen (1500 m in 2006), Clara Hughes (5000 m in 2006), Christine Nesbitt (1000 m in 2010) and Ted-Jan Bloemen (10000 m in 2018) are Canada's gold medalists in speed skating. In 2006, Cindy Klassen became the first Canadian to ever win five medals in one winter games, winning one gold (1500 m), two silver (Team Pursuit and 1000 m) and two bronze medals (3000 m and 5000 m). She also won a bronze medal in the 2002 games, giving her 6 medals, surpassing short track speed skater Marc Gagnon for the title of most decorated Canadian Winter Olympian. However, Clara Hughes was able to tie Klassen's record following her bronze medal in 2010. In addition to this, Hughes won 2 bronze medals at the 1996 Summer Olympics, one in 2002 Winter Olympics (making her the first Canadian to have won a medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics), and two in 2006.

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1932 Lake Placid0145
1952 Oslo0011
1976 Innsbruck0101
1980 Lake Placid0101
1984 Sarajevo2013
1994 Lillehammer0101
1998 Nagano1225
2002 Salt Lake City1023
2006 Turin2428
2010 Vancouver*2125
2014 Sochi0112
2018 Pyeongchang*1102
Totals (12 entries)9131537

Skiing

Alpine skiing

Canada's most celebrated alpine skier is Nancy Greene, who won gold and silver at the 1968 games in Grenoble.

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo0011
1960 Squaw Valley1001
1968 Grenoble1102
1976 Innsbruck1001
1980 Lake Placid0011
1988 Calgary0022
1992 Albertville1001
1994 Lillehammer0011
2014 Sochi0011
Totals (9 entries)41611

Cross country skiing

Canada's first medal in cross country skiing was won by Beckie Scott in the women's 2 × 5 km pursuit event at the 2002 games in Salt Lake City. This represented the first time a North American woman won an Olympic medal in the sport. While she was originally awarded the bronze medal, after the first and second place finishers were disqualified for doping violations she was upgraded to gold.[18]

Chandra Crawford followed this up at the next games with a gold medal in the sprint event, and the team of Scott and Sara Renner also won a silver medal in Turin (2006).

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
2002 Salt Lake City1001
2006 Turin1102
Totals (2 entries)2103

Freestyle skiing

Canada has enjoyed success in freestyle skiing after its introduction to the Winter Olympics in 1992. Jean-Luc Brassard (1994), Jennifer Heil (2006), Alexandre Bilodeau (2010 & 2014), Justine Dufour-Lapointe (2014), and Mikael Kingsbury (2018) have won gold in the moguls event. Canada has won gold in the women's ski cross at every olympics that featured it (Ashleigh McIvor, 2010; Marielle Thompson, 2014; and Kelsey Serwa, 2018). Brady Leman (2018) won gold in the men's ski cross event. In 2014 and 2018 the Canadian women also took the silver medals (Serwa in 2014, and Brittany Phelan in 2018). Dara Howell took gold in the slopestyle event in 2014. Cassie Sharpe added a halfpipe gold in 2018.

   Ongoing Winter Games
GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1994 Lillehammer1113
2002 Salt Lake City0112
2006 Turin1001
2010 Vancouver2103
2014 Sochi4419
2018 Pyeongchang*4217
Totals (6 entries)129425

Canadian skiers also finished in the top 3 positions in aerials at the 1988 and 1992 games, when it was a demonstration sport.

Nordic combined

Canada has never won an Olympic medal in the Nordic combined competition. Their best finish was tenth in the individual normal hill competition at the 1932 games.

Ski jumping

Canada won the bronze medal in the mixed team ski jumping event at the 2022 Winter Olympics.[19]

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
2022 Beijing0011
Totals (1 entries)0011

Snowboarding

Ross Rebagliati won a gold medal in giant slalom snowboarding when the sport made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Nagano games. Initially he was stripped of the medal when traces of marijuana were found in his blood during a drug test, but the IOC reversed its decision after an appeal a few days later because marijuana was only a restricted substance, not a banned substance.[20]

GamesGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1998 Nagano1001
2006 Turin0011
2010 Vancouver2103
2014 Sochi0112
2018 Pyeongchang*1214
Totals (5 entries)44311

See also

References

  1. ^ The Canadian Olympic Committee (2019-02-08). "FAQ: What are the Olympic Games?". Team Canada - Official Olympic Team Website. Retrieved 2024-08-05.
  2. ^ Adam Frisk (23 February 2018). "2018 Winter Olympics officially Canada's most successful Winter Games ever". Global News. Global TV. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Myles Dichter (23 February 2018). "Canada sets national record with 27 Olympic medals". CBC Olympics. CBC Sports. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Five things to watch Friday and early Saturday at the Winter Games". The Toronto Star. Toronto, Canada: TorStar. The Canadian Press. 22 February 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  5. ^ a b Brittany Da Silveira (8 February 2018). "Canada's Most Decorated Winter Olympians". Canadian Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 9 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  6. ^ Leslie Young (2 August 2012). "Top 5: Canada's most-decorated Olympians". Global News. Global TV. Archived from the original on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  7. ^ "IOC sanctions 11 Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings". International Olympic Committee. 2017-12-22. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  8. ^ COUTO, MELISSA (2018-02-01). "Canada to lose 2014 bronze after 28 Russian athletes get Olympic doping bans lifted". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2018-04-20.
  9. ^ "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) delivers its decisions in the matter of 39 Russian athletes v/the IOC: 28 appeals upheld, 11 partially upheld" (PDF). Court of Arbitration for Sport. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  10. ^ "IOC to challenge Russian doping cases at Swiss supreme court". National Post. 2018-05-03. Retrieved 2018-05-03.
  11. ^ "IOC DISAPPOINTED AT DECISION OF SWISS FEDERAL TRIBUNAL". International Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on 2019-02-03. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  12. ^ "Kamila Valieva is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 25 December 2021". TAS / CAS. 29 January 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  13. ^ "Valieva disqualified from 2022 Olympics, US to get team gold and Canada bronze". The Sports Network. 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  14. ^ "BEIJING 2022 FIGURE SKATING TEAM EVENT RESULTS". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
  15. ^ "CAS registers 4 appeals against the re-ranking announced by the ISU in relation to the figure skating Team Event at the OWG Beijing 2022" (PDF). Court of Arbitration for Sport. 2024-02-26. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
  16. ^ "Skate Canada to appeal ISU ruling that awarded Russia bronze medal from Beijing Olympics". CBC News. 2024-02-16. Retrieved 2024-03-13.
  17. ^ "CAS dismisses the appeal filed by Canadian figure skaters, Skate Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee" (PDF). Court of Arbitration for Sport. 2024-08-02.
  18. ^ "Court Orders IOC to Award Beckie Scott Gold Medal". olympic.ca. December 18, 2003. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  19. ^ "Stories from 2022". Olympics.com. 23 April 2018. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  20. ^ Gross, George (2006-02-21). "Ross Rebagliati: 1998 – Nagano, Japan". Sun Media Corporation. Canadian Online Explorer. Archived from the original on July 16, 2012. Retrieved 2009-06-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)