As Canada prepares to watch its athletes go for gold at the Olympics in Vancouver starting on Feb. 12, the National Post looks back at the 39 gold medals the nation has won in Winter Games history.
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When we Owned the Podium: Anne Heggtveit
- February 27, 2010 6:25 PM |
- By John Shmuel
Story provided by
Name Anne Heggtveit
Olympics 1960 Squaw Valley, U.S.
Event Women's slalom
The Setting Heggtveit had already competed in the giant slalom and downhill races, posting a disappointing 12th place in each. The poor finishes had some reporters already writing her off for the slalom.
On the day Heggtveit led her first run by 1.5 seconds over Austrian Marianne Jahn-Nutt. When the second run came around, Jahn-Nutt crashed and did not finish the race. Heggtveit in comparison not only executed another flawless run, but built up a massive lead with Jahn-Nutt out of contention.
Even though the United States' Betsy Snite won the second run over Heggtveit, the American's earlier run had placed her in fourth, and so resulted in Snite finishing behind Heggtveit. In fact, Heggtveit's dominating win by 3.3 seconds is still a record margin in the women's slalom today.
The gold for Heggtveit was Canada's first-ever Olympic skiing gold medal in
the slalom event.
Afterlife: Heggtveit was made a member of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1971. In addition, she was also made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1976 and had the honour of being in the first group of inductees in the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1982.
A ski run located in Ottawa is named in her honor.
About the Author
- Bruce Arthur Bruce Arthur is the National Post's national sports columnist. A Vancouver native, he has been with the Post since 2001, and a columnist since 2005. He is covering his second Olympics, after the 2008 Games in Beijing. He expects these Games to be slightly less propagandistic, and for China to win slightly fewer medals.
- Joe O'Connor Joe O'Connor is a roving sports feature writer with an open-ended beat. He joined the National Post in 2002, and has spent the past seven years bouncing from sport to sport, offering fresh perspectives and delivering unique stories wherever he goes. Whether it has been getting Don Cherry to open up about his love life; George Chuvalo to talk about heartbreaking loss; or racing down the side of a mountain with former Crazy Canuck, Dave Irwin, the veteran Postie chases a story wherever it leads. Before joining the newspaper he was a two-time silver medalist at the National Magazine Awards. Vancouver will be his first Olympics.
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