The inductees for Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame were announced on Wednesday and there were three Canadian Olympic gold medalists. Those selected were women’s hockey player Vicky Sunohara of Scarborough, Ontario, men’s figure skater Patrick Chan of Ottawa, Ontario and men’s tennis player Daniel Nestor of Toronto, Ontario.
Sunohara won an Olympic gold medal for Canada at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. She also won a silver medal at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, seven gold medals at the Women’s World Hockey Championship and one silver medal at the World Women’s Hockey Championship. In 164 games as a centre with the Canadian national women’s hockey team, Sunohara had 56 goals and 62 assists for 118 points.
Chan won a gold medal in the team figure skating event for Canada at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, and silver medals in men’s singles and the team figure skating event at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. He also won three consecutive gold medals in men’s singles at the World Figure Skating Championships from 2011 to 2013, and silver medals in 2009 and 2010.
Nestor won a gold medal in men’s doubles tennis with Sebastien Lareau of Montreal, Quebec at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. He also won a dozen grand slam doubles titles (eight in men’s doubles and four in mixed doubles).
Six more Canadians were inducted. They were middle distance runner Angela Chalmers of Brandon, Manitoba (won bronze in the women’s 3000 metres at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona), Paralympic swimmer and seven-time Paralympic gold medalist Kirby Cote of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games women’s high jumping gold medalist Debbie Brill of Mission, British Columbia, multi-sport athlete Fred Thomas of Windsor, Ontario (played football with the Toronto Argonauts, basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters and baseball with the Cleveland Indians), Laval University physical education professor Guylaine Demers of Quebec City, Quebec, and North American Indigenous Games chairperson Alex Nelson of Kingcome, British Columbia.
