Canadian Highlights in the Summer Olympics

The Summer Olympic Games includes nearly 30 different sports from aquatics to wrestling. Sports involving ice and snow-based activities are now reserved for the Winter Olympic Games, but it wasn’t always that way.

Ice hockey began as an Olympic event in the 1920 summer Games in Antwerp. Canada’s ice hockey team, the Winnipeg Falcons, won 12-1 over Sweden to take the title. Also that year, Earl Thompson from Saskatchewan set a record-breaking time in the 100 metre hurdles, earning him the gold medal.

All Canadian Olympic Athletes in beijing 2008

Canada won only one medal in the 1960 Rome Summer Olympic Games – a silver medal in rowing. In the 1964 summer Games in Tokyo, Canada won four medals. Of the four medals Canada earned in the Mexico Summer Olympic Games in 1968, three were won by one swimmer. Elaine Tanner earned a silver medal each for the 100 metres and the 200 metres backstroke as well as a bronze medal for the freestyle relay. The only gold medal that Canada received at the Mexico summer Games was won by the equestrian team of Jim Elder, Jim Day and Tom Gayford.

The 1976 Summer Olympic Games were held in Montreal, Canada. Canada won 11 medals – five silvers and six bronzes, but no gold medals. Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was at the centre of a steroid scandal during the 1988 summer Games in Seoul. Johnson had previously set world sprinting records and was known as “the world’s fastest human.” He won a gold medal in Seoul, but was stripped of it after he tested positive for steroids. Johnson was banned from competitive sprinting for two years, but his coach, Charlie Francis, received a lifetime ban from professional coaching. When Johnson had another positive drug test in 1993, he also received a lifetime ban from competitive sports.

Canada won six gold medals – four for rowing – in the Barcelona Summer Olympic Games in 1992. Canada also earned twelve silver and bronze medals during the Barcelona Games. Canadian runner, Donovan Bailey, won a gold medal in the summer Games held in Atlanta in 1996 in the 100 metres dash and another gold medal along with three teammates in the 100 metres relay. Canada won 14 medals in the Sydney Summer Olympic Games in 2000 and 12 medals in the 2004 Athens summer Games, but had fewer athletes competing in 2004.

By Sherry F. Baker
The next summer olympics will be in 2008 in Beijing. One World One Dream.
Summer Aug 8th - 24th, 2008.

Olympic summer games host cities since 1896:

Athens 1896
Paris 1900
St. Louis 1904
London 1908
Stockholm 1912
Antwerp 1920
Paris 1924
Amsterdam 1928
Los Angeles 1932

 

Berlin 1936
London 1948
Helsinki 1952
Melbourne 1956
Rome 1960
Tokyo 1964
Mexico City 1968
Munich 1972
Montreal 1976

 

Moscow 1980
Los Angeles 1984
Seoul 1988
Barcelona 1992
Atlanta 1996
Sydney 2000
Athens 2004
Beijing 2008