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The 1988 Olympic Winter Games were held in Calgary, Alberta, from 13 to 28 February 1988. Canada sent 112 athletes (82 men and 30 women) and finished 12th in the overall medal count with five medals (two silver and three bronze). Canadian athletes won medals in alpine skiing and figure skating. Karen Percy won bronze in the women’s downhill and super giant slalom, Brian Orser and Elizabeth Manley won silver in men’s and women’s figure skating and Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall won bronze in ice dancing.

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.

Jennifer Judith Jones, curler, lawyer (born 7 July 1974 in Winnipeg, Manitoba). Jennifer Jones has competed as a skip in the Canadian women’s curling championship, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, 15 times. She is tied for the record with six gold medals. Her championship-clinching shot in the 2005 tournament — known simply as “The Shot” — is considered one of the most iconic curling plays of all-time. Jones is one of only two women to reach 100 wins at the Canadian championships. She also skipped Canada to its second gold medal in Olympic women’s curling, at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. Her rink was ranked No. 1 in Canada between 2005 and 2018. In 2019, a TSN panel named Jones the greatest Canadian women’s curler of all time.

Kaillie Humphries (née Simundson), bobsledder (born 4 September 1985 in Calgary, AB). Kaillie Humphries is the most decorated Canadian bobsledder in Olympic history. She became the first Canadian woman to pilot a Canadian bobsled team to victory at an Olympic Winter Games, winning a gold medal with Heather Moyse in the two-woman bobsled at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. At the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Humphries and Moyse won gold again. They became the first women’s bobsled team ever to successfully defend an Olympic title. Humphries won bronze at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. She has also won two world championships and four World Cup titles. She is the first Canadian female bobsled driver to win the World Championship, and one of the first two women to compete in international four-man bobsleigh competition. She won the Lou Marsh Trophy in 2014 as Canada’s athlete of the year.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) is the organization responsible for Canada’s participation at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games, and Youth Olympic Games. It helps select and financially assist Canadian cities in their efforts to host an Olympic Games or Pan American Games. It also manages programs that promote the values of the Olympics throughout Canada. The organization, which was known as the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) from 1912 to 2002, has a staff of more than 100 people. Its offices are in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

Whistler, British Columbia, incorporated as a resort municipality in 1975, population 11,854 (2016 census), 9,824 (2011 census). The resort municipality of Whistler is located about 120 km north of Vancouver near Garibaldi Provincial Park. Whistler is named after the hoary marmots (called “whistlers” because of their high-pitched warning call) that are common on Whistler Mountain.

Caroline Ouellette, OC, hockey player, softball player (born 25 May 1979 in Montreal, QC). Caroline Ouellette is one of only five athletes to win a gold medal at four consecutive Olympic Winter Games (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). She also won six gold medals and six silver medals with Team Canada at the IIHF Women’s World Championship and four Clarkson Cup titles as the champion of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL). Ouellette was a formidable power forward early in her career and became an excellent playmaker. Upon retiring from women’s hockey in 2018, she ranked second all-time among Canadian women’s hockey players in assists (155) and third in points (242). She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019.

Diane Elaine Clement (née Matheson), OC, track and field sprinter (born 27 September 1936 in Moncton, New Brunswick). Diane Clement held numerous Canadian sprinting records and won a bronze medal for Canada in the women’s 4x110 yard relay at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. In 1956, she became the first athlete born in New Brunswick to represent Canada at an Olympic Summer Games. In 1959, she became the first female coach of the University of British Columbia women’s track and field team. She was also the first female president of an athletic federation in Canada and the first woman to be the honorary vice-president of the International Amateur Athletic Federation Congress. Clement has been inducted into the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame and the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum and is a Member of the Order of Canada.

Cindy Klassen, OM, speed skater, hockey player (born 12 August 1979 in Winnipeg, MB). Cindy Klassen is the first Canadian to win five medals in one Olympic Games (Torino 2006). With a total of six Olympic medals, she is tied with fellow speed skater and cyclist Clara Hughes as the most decorated Canadian Olympians. Klassen was also overall world champion in speed skating in 2003 and 2006. In her career, she set six world records and won 115 international medals (46 gold, 41 silver and 28 bronze). She was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s athlete of the year in 2006 and received the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's female athlete of the year in 2005 and 2006. She has been inducted into the Order of Manitoba, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame.  

Pernell-Karl Sylvester Subban, MSC, hockey player (born 13 May 1989 in Toronto, ON). P.K. Subban is one of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) elite defencemen. After leading the Belleville Bulls to the Memorial Cup in 2008 and winning the American Hockey League’s President’s Award in 2010, he became a fan favourite with the Montreal Canadiens. A three-time All-Star, he won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman in 2013. He played with the Nashville Predators from 2016 to 2019 before being traded to the New Jersey Devils. Subban won gold medals with Team Canada at the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Hockey Championships and the gold medal at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. He is also well known for his generous charity work and philanthropy.

Alexandre Bilodeau, freestyle skier (born 8 September 1987 in Montreal, QC). Alexandre Bilodeau’s gold medal in moguls at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver made him the first Canadian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal on home soil. At the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, he became the first male Canadian athlete to successfully defend his Olympic gold medal; as well as the first freestyle skier to win consecutive Olympic gold medals. He finished his career with three world championships in dual moguls and 19 World Cup medals. He then became an accountant and a national spokesperson for people with disabilities. He has been inducted into the Québec Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Hayley Wickenheiser, OC, hockey player, softball player (born 12 August 1978 in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan). Hayley Wickenheiser won seven gold medals and six silver medals with Team Canada at the IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship, as well as four gold medals and one silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games. She is the all-time leader in goals (18), assists (33) and points (51) in women’s ice hockey at the Olympic Winter Games. She is the all-time leader in assists (49) and points (86) at the Women’s World Hockey Championship. She was also the first woman ever to score a goal in a men’s professional league. Wickenheiser retired from competitive hockey in 2017, finishing with 379 points (168 goals and 211 assists) in 276 games with Team Canada. An Officer of the Order of Canada, she has won the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as the Canadian Press Female Athlete of the Year and been inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Ernestine “Ernie” Jean Russell, gymnast, coach (born 10 June 1938 in Windsor, ON). Ernestine Russell was Canada’s best female gymnast of the 1950s. She was the first woman to represent Canada in gymnastics at the Olympic Summer Games, at Melbourne in 1956. She was also the first Canadian gymnast ever to medal in an international competition, at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, where she won four gold medals and two silver. She won 46 gold medals at the Canadian Gymnastics Championships between 1954 and 1960. She also had a successful career coaching women’s gymnastics at the NCAA level and with Team USA. She has been inducted into the Canadian Amateur Athletic Hall of Fame and the US Gymnastics Hall of Fame.