Canadian Olympic gold medalist Andre De Grasse of Scarborough, Ontario has been appointed as a member of the Order of Canada. In an announcement made on Wednesday, De Grasse is one of three high performance athletes chosen to receive the honour. The others were gymnast Ellie Black of Halifax, Nova Scotia and kickboxer Muzammal Nawaz of Burlington, Ontario.
De Grasse is a two-time Olympic gold medalist. He won the gold medal in the men’s 200 metres at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, and a second gold medal in the men’s 4×100 metre relay at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. De Grasse has won seven medals overall at the last three Olympic Games, and six medals at the World Athletics Championships. De Grasse won three Olympic medals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (silver in the men’s 200 metres, bronze in the men’s 100 metres and bronze in the men’s 4×100 metre relay), and two more medals at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021 (silver in the men’s 4×100 metre medley relay and bronze in men’s 100 metres). De Grasse’s World Championship gold medal came in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon in the men’s 4×100 metre relay.
Black has won three medals at the World Gymnastics Championships. She won silver in the women’s individual all-around in 2017 in Montreal, silver in the women’s balance beam in 2022 in Liverpool, England, and bronze in the women’s team event in 2022. Nawaz is a five-time world professional middleweight kickboxing champion.
