Browse "Women"

Elaine Tanner, "Mighty Mouse,"; swimmer (b at Vancouver 22 Feb 1951). Tanner's career in international competition was brief but outstanding.

In 1989, Manley retired from amateur competition and went on to enjoy a successful professional career. She was involved in several television specials, including Elvis Tour of Champions. She toured briefly with the Ice Capades, where she played Cinderella in Cinderella: Frozen in Time.

Emma-Jayne Wilson concluded her studies at Guelph in 2002 and worked at a breeding farm for a short time before moving to Woodbine to assume a position as an exercise rider. Two years later Wilson was certified as an apprentice jockey, riding her first race in August 2004.

Ethel Catherwood, track and field athlete (b in Hannah, North Dakota 28 Apr 1908; d Grass Valley, California 26 Sept 1987). Ethel Catherwood was the only Canadian woman ever to win an individual gold medal in Olympic track and

Eugenie Bouchard, tennis player (born 25 February 1994 in Montréal, QC). At Wimbledon 2014, Bouchard became the first Canadian singles player to reach the final of a senior Grand Slam singles tennis tournament. Although she lost to Petra Kvitova, the match was watched by over a million Canadians and helped make Bouchard a media sensation. Two years earlier, Bouchard had won the Wimbledon 2012 girls’ tournament, becoming the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title at any level. A two-time winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award (2013 and 2014), she was the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Newcomer of the Year in 2013 and won a WTA title in Nuremberg, Germany, in 2014.

Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld, track and field athlete, sportswriter (born 28 December 1904 in Ekaterinoslav, Russia [now Dnipro, Ukraine]; died 13 November 1969 in Toronto, ON).

Helen Vanderburg, synchronized swimmer (b at Calgary 12 Jan 1959). Vanderburg was the first Canadian to dominate international synchronized swimming. A member of the national team from 1971 to 1979, she won 11 Canadian solo, duet and figure titles.

On 25 June 2014, author Jeremy Freeborn interviewed Anne Heggtveit of Ottawa, ON, at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary for The Canadian Encyclopedia.

On 30 November 2015, Catriona Le May Doan spoke to Jeremy Freeborn for The Canadian Encyclopedia.

On 22 June 2015, Danielle Goyette spoke to Jeremy Freeborn at her office at the University of Calgary, where she is the head coach of the University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team.

​In August 2014, author Jeremy Freeborn interviewed four-time Olympic champion and seven-time world champion hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser for The Canadian Encyclopedia (via e-mail exchange).

In September 2013, author Jeremy Freeborn interviewed Olympic and world champion bobsledder Kaillie Humphries for The Canadian Encyclopedia (via e-mail exchange).

Kay MacBeth (née MacRitchie) was the last player to join the Edmonton Grads, a women’s basketball team James Naismith, inventor of the game, considered “the finest basketball team that ever stepped out on a floor.” At 95 years old, MacBeth is also the last surviving Grad, a club that played from 1915 to 1940. In those 25 years, the Grads accumulated a record that is quite possibly beyond parallel. Over the course of some 400 official outings, the Grads lost only 20 games. The Grads were both national and world champions who often defeated their opponents by lopsided scores. MacBeth played for the Grads in 1939–40. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

​On 25 June 2014, author Jeremy Freeborn interviewed Marlene Stewart Streit at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary.

Jean Wilson, speed skater (b at Glasgow, Scot 19 July 1910; d at Toronto 3 Sept 1933). After winning international honours, she died of the muscular disease myasthenia gravis. Wilson started SPEED SKATING when she was 15.

Jennifer Heil, freestyle mogul skier, community activist (born 11 April 1983 in Edmonton, AB). Mogul skier Jennifer Heil, nicknamed "Little Pepper," was the first Canadian female freestyle mogul skier to win a medal in Olympic competition.

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.

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, becoming the first women’s bobsled team ever to successfully defend an Olympic title. Humphries won bronze at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, and 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 top athlete of the year.

She won Canada's only 1976 Olympic gold medal - in the giant slalom on 4 Feb - for which she was considered a long shot against gold-medal winning German skier Rosi Mittermaier. In so doing she became the youngest-ever gold medalist in skiing to that date.

In Dec 1992 she finished third in Vail, Colo, and in Feb 1993 she missed winning in the downhill at Veysonnaz, Switz, by 9/100ths of a second, finishing in second place. Her most successful season came in 1992-93, and she finished the year as one of the top-ranked downhillers in the world.