Olympians enshrined in Sports Hall of Fame
On Thursday, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame inducted nine remarkable Canadians who have left their mark on their respective sport. The list of includes seven Olympians who have won a total of nine Olympic medals.
The Class of 2012 includes:
Pierre Lueders (Bobsleigh)
A five-time Olympian (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010), Lueders captured gold at the Nagano Olympics with partner Dave MacEachern in the two-man bobsleigh event. In 2006, he would team with Lascelles Brown to capture silver in Turin. During his 22-year career, Lueders won more than 100 international medals including 85 World Cup medals and eight World Championship medals. He is a two-time World Champion in the two-man bobsled with partner Giulio Zardo (2004) and Lascelles Brown (2005). Lueders retired from international competition in 2010.
Jeremy Wotherspoon (Speed Skating)
A four-time Olympian (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010), Wotherspoon captured gold at the Nagano Olympic Games in the Speed Skating 500m event. Wotherspoon also holds three World Championship titles in the 500m (2003-2004, 2008) and one in the 1000m (2001). At the time of his retirement in 2010, Wotherspoon had an impressive record of 67 career victories to go with 12 overall World Cup titles. He also won Speed Skating Canada’s Male Athlete of the Year award from 1998 to 2005 and once more in 2008.
Scott Niedermayer (Hockey)
A two-time Olympian (2002 and 2010), Niedermayer was a member of Canada’s gold medal winning hockey team in 2002 and captained the team that won gold in 2010. During Olympic play, Niedermayer recorded eight points in 13 games from the blue line. The defenceman was a member of four Stanley Cup teams and won the 2003-04 James Norris Memorial Trophy as the National Hockey League’s Defenseman of the Year. Internationally, Niedermayer was also part of the 2004 World Championship team for Canada and the 2004 World Cup gold medal team. His first major championship came in 1991 when he helped Canada win gold at the World Junior Championships.
Jamie Salé and David Pelletier (Figure Skating)
Salé and Pelletier captured the ice dancing pairs gold medal in 2002 during the Salt Lake City Winter Games. The duo was also crowned the 2001 world champions and awarded the 2001 Lou Marsh Memorial Trophy as the Canadian Athletes of the Year. They have also been inducted into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame (2008) and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (2009).
Derek Porter (Rowing)
A three-time Olympian, Derek Porter captured a gold medal with the men’s eight rowing team at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. For the 1996 Summer Games, Porter made the transition to single sculls and finished in second place to win silver. The 1993 single sculls World Champion also captured two silver medals with the men’s eight at the 1990 and 1991 World Championships.
Charmaine Hooper (Soccer)
Hooper is arguably one of the greatest female soccer players that Canada has produced. Her 71 international goals rank second on the all-time list and represented Canada at three FIFA Women’s World Cups (1995, 1999 and 2003). Hooper was an original member of the national women’s program which launched in 1986 and was the first national player to be capped at 100 games for Canada. Hooper was named Canada’s Female Player of the Year in 1994, 1995 and 2002.
Marion Lay
A two-time Olympian, Marion Lay captured a bronze medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay swim team at the 1968 Olympic Games. In retirement, she helped lead several causes for women in sport including establishing Canada’s first government-led women in sport program and organizing Canada’s first women and sport conference. Lay was an integral member of the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee, serving as the City of Vancouver representative on the board of directors.
Daryl “Doc” Seaman
Seaman was one of six Calgary businessmen who helped bring a National Hockey League team to that in 1980. Seaman was also instrumental in bringing the Winter Olympic Games to Canada in 1988 and partnered with Harley Hotchkiss to create the Seaman Hotchkiss Hockey Foundation that has contributed over $5,000,000 to minor hockey development initiatives. The Hockey Hall of Fame has named its new archive and resource centre in Toronto the D.K. (Doc) Seaman Hockey Resource Centre.
