Charmaine Crooks

PASO representative
Athletes’ Commission

Charmaine Crooks is a member of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) and is its representative on the COC’s Athletes’ Commission.

Crooks is a five-time Olympian in athletics and silver medallist at the 1984 Olympic Games. She represented Canada in athletics for close to two decades and was the first Canadian woman to run the 800 metres in under two minutes. She has won gold medals at World Cups, the Pan American Games and the Commonwealth Games.

In 1996, she was named Canada’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. After competing that year in Atlanta – her fifth consecutive Olympic Games – Crooks was elected as a member of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Athletes’ Commission. Crooks, who remains an IOC member, played an important role in developing the IOC’s Code of Ethics.

In 2006, she was presented with the IOC Women and Sport Trophy for the Americas in recognition of her efforts towards supporting gender equity in high-performance sport. In 2009, she was named BC’s Sports Personality of the Year, bestowed on pillars of the community in the area of sport. She is the first woman ever to receive this award.

A long-time member of the COC’s Executive Committee (now board of directors), Crooks played an integral role in Toronto’s 2008 Olympic Bid. Crooks is vice-chair of the World Olympians Association and has served in various roles with the COC, VANOC, the World Anti-Doping Agency, PASO and Olympians Canada.

Crooks is the president and founder of NGU Consultants, a sports marketing, promotion and production company that develops and creates entertainment programming and provides strategic counsel for companies and athletes on a global basis.

She is a strong supporter of many charitable organizations that focus on women’s, youth and health matters, including Right to Play. Crooks has been a television personality for nearly two decades, working as a host, analyst or commentator for CTV, CBC, TSN, Fox Sportsnet and European TV.