TIME Magazine celebrates Canada's heroes with third annual list
CANADA’S HEROES – THE LIST
OLYMPIC WOMEN: “Clara Hughes, one of four athletes in the world to win medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics, has a theory. ‘Canada is not afraid to allow women every single opportunity men have. Compared to most other countries, it’s a very forward-thinking attitude,’ says Hughes, 33, who won speedskating gold and silver in Torino in February, a bronze in 2002 and two cycling bronzes in 1996. ‘Canada isn’t afraid to celebrate its women athletes.’ With more events for men than for women at the Games – and with many women’s events added only during the 1990s – Canada’s female athletes have a knack for rising to the Olympic occasion,” writes Mary Jollimore for TIME. “In Torino, a woman – Albertan Jennifer Heil – set the tone for Team Canada, uncorking two airborne backflips and bouncing on moguls down the freestyle-skiing course for gold on Day One. Then, as Canada’s men’s hockey team, a crew of millionaire NHL misfits, fizzled to seventh, the women outscored all comers by a combined 46 goals to 2 to defend their 2002 Olympic gold and salvage national pride at the rink. But Canada’s brightest star was Cindy Klassen. A hockey player since age 4, Klassen was devastated after being cut from the national team in 1998. She persevered, took up speedskating and collected five medals in Torino to go with a bronze from 2002. She’s now Canada’s most decorated Olympian ever.” After a look Canada’s 2006 female Olympians, Jollimore concludes “that modesty-and a desire to inspire others about what one can achieve in sport-qualifies Canada’s 2006 female Olympic champions as heroes.”
