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Nestor entered few singles tournaments after 2000 when a shoulder injury forced him to concentrate on doubles, in which he is now considered one of the world's finest players.

Alex Harvey, (born at Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, QC, 7 Sep 1988). Athlete Alex Harvey participated in the winter Olympic Games and made his mark on the World Cup circuit in cross-country skiing.

​Patrick Lewis Wai-Kuan Chan, figure skater (born 31 December 1990 in Ottawa,ON). Patrick Chan is a Canadian champion and world champion men’s singles figure skater. A three-time world champion, he has won 10 national championships in the singles competition, breaking the record set by Montgomery Wilson in 1939. Known for dazzling artistry, Chan has repeatedly won major international competitions such as the World Figure Skating Championships and the Skate Canada, Grand Prix, Trophée Eric Bompard, and Four Continents events. He has set world records for points at competitions including the 2011 and 2013 World Championships and the 2013 Trophée Bompard, and has won three medals at the Olympic Winter Games: a silver in the men’s competition (2014) and a gold (2018) and silver (2014) in the team event.

Sports have a long history in Canada, from early Indigenous games (e.g., baggataway) to more recent sports such as snowboarding and kitesurfing. Officially, Canada has two national sports: lacrosse (summer) and hockey (winter).

Jacques Amyot, COQ, marathon swimmer, athlete (born 13 November 1924 in Quebec City, QC; died 7 September 2018 in Quebec City). Jacques Amyot won eight national swim titles. He held 47 Quebec records and 16 Canadian records in open-water swimming (see also Marathon Swimming). He was the first person to swim across Lac Saint-Jean and the first Canadian man to swim across the English Channel. He was the inaugural recipient of the Quebec Athlete Gala’s Athlete of the Year award, as well as the Prix honorifique Jacques-Amyot for lifetime achievement, which was named in his honour. He is a member of the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame and the Quebec Swimming Hall of Fame (1998), as well as a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Québec.

Kaetlyn Osmond, figure skater (born 5 December 1995 in Marystown, NL). Figure skater Kaetlyn Osmond has competed at two Olympic Winter Games, winning bronze in women’s figure skating (2018) and gold (2018) and silver (2014) in the team event. In 2018, she won gold at the World Figure Skating Championships, becoming the first Canadian women’s world champion in 45 years. She has also been Canadian champion (2013, 2014, 2017), has won gold medals at several international events, including Skate Canada International and the Nebelhorn Trophy.

Henry (Harry) Vernon Howell, hockey player, coach, manager, scout (born 28 December 1932 in Hamilton, ON; died 10 March 2019 in Ancaster, ON). Harry Howell was a defenceman in the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the New York Rangers, Oakland Seals, California Golden Seals and Los Angeles Kings. Known affectionately as “Harry the Horse,” he set a franchise record with the Rangers for most games played with 1,160. He was also a seven-time all-star and a Norris Trophy winner. Following the end of his playing career, he served as a coach, manager or scout for several teams, including Team Canada (1978 world championships), the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Rangers. Howell was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979. His No. 3 was retired by the Rangers in 2009.

Mark Arendz, Paralympian, biathlon and cross-country skiing (born 3 March 1990 in Charlottetown, PEI). Arendz has won eight medals at the Paralympic Winter Games in biathlon and cross-country skiing, including a gold medal in the men’s 15 km standing biathlon at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang. He has also won eight medals at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Nordic Skiing World Championships and has had great success on the IPC World Cup circuit, including winning the 2013 World Cup Crystal Globe in para-biathlon.

Andrew Christian Wiggins (born 23 February 1995 in Toronto, ON). Andrew Wiggins is a Canadian professional basketball player with the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Raised in Vaughan, Ontario, Wiggins first rose to fame as the world’s top-ranked high school basketball player and was a second-team All-American in college. In 2014, he became the second Canadian to be selected first overall in the NBA draft. He is the first Canadian player to be named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year and the first to score more than 40 points in a game. Wiggins also helped Canada secure three bronze medals in international competition. He is the highest-paid Canadian athlete of all time.    

Dr. James Naismith, physical educator, author, inventor, chaplain, physician (born 6 November 1861 in Almonte, Ontario; died 28 November 1939 in Lawrence, Kansas). James Naismith is best known as the inventor of the sport of basketball. He was also the first full-time athletics instructor at McGill University and established the basketball program at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, where he worked and lived for 41 years until his death. Naismith became the first member of the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959. He was posthumously inducted to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame. In 2010, his original hand-written rules for the sport of basketball were sold at auction for $4.3 million, a sports memorabilia record. 

Penelope “Penny” Oleksiak, swimmer (born 13 June 2000 in Scarborough, ON). Swimmer Penny Oleksiak is Canada’s most decorated Olympian, with seven medals overall. She also holds the record as the youngest Canadian to win Olympic gold (16 years and 59 days). In 2016, she became the first Canadian athlete to win four medals at a single Olympic Summer Games: gold in the 100 m freestyle; silver in the 100 m butterfly; bronze in the women’s 4x100 m freestyle relay; and bronze in the women’s 4x200 m freestyle relay. Oleksiak won three medals at the Tokyo Games in 2021: silver in the women’s 4x100 m freestyle relay; bronze in the women’s 200 m freestyle; and bronze in the women’s 4x100 m medley relay. She received the Lou Marsh Trophy and the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award in 2016.

Thomas Charles Longboat (Gagwe:gih), distance runner, Olympian (born 4 July 1886 in Ohsweken, Six Nations of the Grand River; died 9 January 1949 in Ohsweken). Tom Longboat was an Onondaga distance runner from Six Nations of the Grand River. One of the most famous athletes of the early 20th century, Longboat pioneered training methods still used today. He is considered one of the first celebrity athletes in Canada, with his athletic successes known across North America and overseas. He was a leader in establishing marathon running as an international sport and won many marathons in record-breaking times, beating competitors from all over the world. Longboat was the first Indigenous person to win the Boston Marathon (1907). He competed for Canada at the 1908 Olympic Games. He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.

Alison Jane Sydor, OBC, cyclist (born 9 September 1966 in Edmonton, AB). Alison Sydor is considered one of Canada’s best cyclists and one of the best mountain bike cyclists ever. She won 17 World Cup medals in cross-country cycling, including four gold, and 13 World Championship medals, including three gold. After winning silver in the first Olympic mountain bike event in 1996, Sydor was named International Cyclist of the Year by Velo News and received the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada’s female athlete of the year. She also competed in road racing; she won the National Road Championships four times and was the first Canadian woman to medal in an individual international road race. Sydor has been inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame and the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame.

George Dixon, boxer (born 29 July 1870 in Africville, NS; died 6 January 1908 in New York, New York). George Dixon was the first Black world champion in boxing history and the first Canadian to ever win a world championship. Despite his small stature (5 feet 3.5 inches and between 87 and 115 pounds), Dixon amassed several notable accomplishments across a 20-year career and was the first boxer to win championships in multiple weight classes — bantamweight (1890) and featherweight (1891–96; 1897; 1898–1900). A cerebral fighter known as a “pioneer of scientific boxing,” he is credited with inventing various fundamental training techniques, including shadowboxing and the use of the heavy bag. As a dominant Black fighter in the post-Civil War United States, Dixon was subjected to fierce racism. He died in poverty from alcoholism at the age of 37. He was an inaugural inductee into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, and was also named to The Ring Magazine Hall of Fame and the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Hockey is Canada's national winter game and arguably its greatest contribution to world sport, and this prowess undeniably translates to the Olympic arena as well.

William J. "Torchy" Peden, cyclist (born 16 April 1906 in Victoria, BC; died 26 January 1980 in Chicago, Illinois). One of the greatest cyclists of his era, Peden was particularly successful on the six-day racing circuit in the 1930s. In his first four years of six-day racing, he won 24 of 48 races. In total, he won 38 of 148 races between 1929 and 1948, a record that stood until 1965. Peden was one of the top-paid athletes of the Depression era, alongside Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees. He is a member of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, BC Sports Hall of Fame, Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame.

Canadian women have participated in every Olympic Winter Games since their inception in 1924. The first Canadian woman to medal at the Games was figure skater Barbara Ann Scott, who won gold in 1948. Her success was followed by gold medals in such sports as alpine skiing (e.g., Anne Heggtveit in 1960 and Nancy Greene in 1968), speed skating (e.g., Catriona Le May Doan in 1998 and 2002 and Cindy Klassen in 2006), biathlon (Myriam Bédard 1994), and hockey (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014). Canadian women have also excelled in Olympic sports such as bobsled, snowboarding, short track speed skating, freestyle skiing, and curling. Since the 1948 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Canadian women have won 105 Olympic medals, including 38 gold medals.