Winter Olympic Medallists

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Abstract

The map shows the distribution by birthplace (where known) of medallists from the Winter Olympics.

Source: PC Photo/AOC, Library and Archives Canada, C-9525.

Three hundred and thirty-seven Canadians have earned a total of 419 medals in the Winter Olympics since the first Games, held in Chamonix, France in 1924. The birthplaces of 76 medallists from the earliest games are not known, and in addition, nine Canadian medallists were born abroad. During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver the map will be updated to show the birthplaces of our new Olympic medal winners.

Some interesting facts on the birthplaces of Winter Olympians:

• Ontario hosts the most birthplaces of medallists at 92 and hosts the most common birthplace of all athletes -- Toronto, with 31 medallists
• sixty-one medallists were born in Quebec, with 29 from the city of Montréal
• Alberta is the third-highest birth province at 30, with 61% of Albertan medallists born in either Edmonton or Calgary
• of the 13 medallists from Manitoba, only 2 were born outside Winnipeg -- in Saint-Boniface and The Pas
• seventeen medallists were born in British Columbia, of those, only 5 were born in Vancouver

Figure 1 below shows the number of medallists by birth province.

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Figure 1. Medallists by Birth Province

Of the 337 medallists, 29% are women and 71% are men. The athletes with the highest numbers of individual Winter Olympic medals are:

• Cindy Klassen: 6 medals in speed skating, birthplace Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Marc Gagnon: 5 medals in short track speed skating, birthplace Chicoutimi, Quebec
• Éric Bédard: 4 medals in short track speed skating, birthplace Laviolette, Quebec
• Gaétan Boucher: 4 medals in speed skating, birthplace Charlesbourg, Quebec

Despite Canadians accomplishments in speed skating, the ice hockey team members dominate the medal counts: they earned 58% of all individual medals awarded to Canadians in the Winter Olympics. The next most awarded sports are short track speed skating with 12% of all medals and speed skating with 9% of all medals. Table 1 below shows the number of medals earned by Canadians since 1924.

In modern times, Canadians have become true contenders at the Winter Olympics. At the last winter Games in Turin Italy, Canada placed 5th in the overall medal count by country while it was 4th in 2002 at Salt Lake City, United States. To obtain more information on Olympians and medallists, visit the Canadian Olympic Committee’s website.