2010 Winter Games Quick Facts

Canada at the Olympics

• In 2008-2009, Canadian winter sport athletes finished first overall in world championships with 28 medals in Olympic winter sport events: 6 gold, 9 silver, and 13 bronze. They also placed fourth in overall World Cup rankings.
• Canadian athletes have competed in all 20 Winter Olympic Games since the inaugural Winter Games in 1924.
• Since 1924, Canadian athletes and teams have won a total of 38 gold medals at the Winter Games, including 20 in the last three Games alone (1998, 2002 and 2006).
• Our men’s hockey team won Canada's first Winter Games gold medal at the Chamonix Games in 1924.
• Barbara Ann Scott  won Canada's first individual gold medal in figure skating at the St. Moritz Games in 1948.
• Gaétan Boucher was Canada's first double-gold winner in speed skating at the Sarajevo Games in 1984.
• Canada played host to its first Olympic Games (Summer) in 1976 in Montréal, Quebec.
• Canada hosted its second Olympic Games (Winter) in 1988 in Calgary, Alberta.
• Cindy Klassen is Canada’s all-time most decorated Olympian with six Olympic medals in speed skating, won at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Games.

Canada at the Paralympics

• In 2008-2009, Canadian winter Paralympians finished first in overall world cups with 29 gold medals and placed second in world championship standings.
• Canada's first participation in the Paralympic Games was at the 1968 Games in Tel Aviv.
• Canada's first Paralympic medals were won in 1968, including the first double gold winner, Eugene Reimer in athletics.
• Eugene Reimer was named Canadian Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year in 1972, the first time this award was won by an athlete with a disability.
• Chantal Petitclerc has the third-highest medal total won by a female athlete in any sport in the history of the Paralympic Games (21 medals including 14 gold in wheelchair racing).
• Brian McKeever is a visually impaired skier (cross country skiing and biathlon) who has won 7 of Canada's 11 nordic skiing medals at the last three Winter Paralympic Games. He also competes in mainstream cross country skiing, finishing 21^st in the 15 km at the 2007 World Championships and 2^nd at the 2009 Canadian Championships in the 10 km.

Fun facts

• Recent testing using heart rate monitors shows a curling athlete can burn up to 1800 calories in a two-hour game.
• Short track athletes can experience G-forces of 2.5 times their body weight when skating the corners.
• There will be 15 winter sport disciplines at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
• The granite used for the majority of curling rocks comes from a single island, Ailsa Craig, off the coast of Scotland.
• The cost of a pair of skeleton runner blades is $1000; an average athlete requires six pairs of blades per year.
• Freestyle aerialists ski into the jump very quickly: 50 to 65 km per hour for a double flip, 60 to 75 km per hour for a triple flip. Speeds are different at each jump site depending on the steepness of in-run and the length of the transition-or flat section-before the jump and the location of the speed trap.
• The track at the Whistler Sliding Centre is painted white to minimize heat absorption. Shade from nearby trees helps keep the venue cool.
• Canada’s alpine skiers in the downhill and super G disciplines bring up to 20 pairs of skis with them to each World Cup race.
• Athletes in short track speed skating reach speeds of up to 45 km/h in the women’s races and 48 km/h in men’s events.
• Canada’s two-man bobsleigh teams can push and complete the 50-metre sprint at the start line, while loading into the 220-kilogram sleds, in less than 5.0 seconds in men’s races and within 5.2 seconds in women’s events.
• According to Own the Podium, approximately 250 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes participating in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games are considered medal hopefuls.
• A Sledge Hockey player has a wrist-shot speed of between 100 and 110 km/h.
• The Government of Canada is the largest funder of the Own the Podium 2010 program.
• Canadian athletes made history during the 2008-2009 season by finishing first overall in world championship medal counts, topping the perennial world-leading Germans and Americans, who finished tied for second.
• The following are the number of gates in each Alpine skiing event :
  • Downhill: 25 on average
  • Super giant slalom: minimum 30
  • Giant slalom: between 45 and 50
  • Slalom: between 55 and 65
• There are 45 to 70 bumps (moguls) in the average ski run.
• The maximum height reached by a freestyle aerialist with a high degree of difficulty is about 60 feet.
• Own The Podium invested approximately $8 million in a special program designed to help our Canadian athletes in areas such as air friction, ice friction, snow friction, and human performance.