COC Congratulates Charmaine Crooks On Receiving IOC Award
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) congratulates five-time Olympian, 1984 Olympic silver medallist and COC Executive Committee member Charmaine Crooks (athletics, Vancouver, B.C.) on being awarded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Women and Sport Trophy for the Americas.
“The Canadian Olympic Committee would like to congratulate Charmaine Crooks for receiving this prestigious and well deserved IOC award for her passionate advocacy of women in sport,” said COC President Michael Chambers. “The COC has always supported gender equity in high-performance sport and Charmaine’s tireless efforts have paved the way for numerous Canadian women to succeed on the international stage as evidenced by Canada’s success at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.”
After participating in her fifth consecutive Olympic Games in 1996, Crooks was elected as a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission and served as an IOC member until 2004. An active member of the IOC Press Commission, World Olympians Association, COC and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Crooks also holds other important positions within sports organizations at the international and national level.
The IOC’s award ceremony was highlighted by Argentinean tennis player Gabriela Sabatini who was awarded the 2006 Women and Sport Trophy. As well as the world trophy, five continental trophies were presented to Crooks (Canada/America), Albertine Barbosa Andrade (Senegal/Africa), Elisa Lee (Korea/Asia), Dominique Petit (France/Europe) and Lorraine Mar (Fiji/Oceania).
The 2006 winners were selected by the IOC Women and Sport Commission. Chaired by IOC member Anita L. DeFrantz, the commission selected the six recipients from dozens of candidatures submitted by the National Olympic Committees and International Federations of Olympic sports.
