Three Canadian Olympic gold medalists will receive the Order of Canada according to The Canadian Press on Friday. They are figure skaters Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of London, Ontario, as well as swimmer Mark Tewksbury of Calgary, Alberta.
Virtue and Moir were three-time Canadian Olympic gold medalists. They won the gold medal in ice dancing at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. Virtue and Moir also won the gold medal in the team figure skating event at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, as well as silver medals in ice dancing and the team event at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, for five Olympic medals overall.
Tewksbury meanwhile won a gold medal for Canada at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona in the men’s 100 metre backstroke. He also won a silver medal in the men’s 4×100 metre medley at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and the bronze medal in the men’s 4×100 metre medley at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
Three other Canadians will receive the Order of Canada. They are former University of Winnipeg sociology professor Dr. Sandra Kirby of Calgary, Alberta, wheelchair basketball coach Tim Frick of Parksville, British Columbia, and former hockey broadcaster Brian McFarlane of Temiskaming Shores, Ontario.
Kirby was instrumental in convincing the International Olympic Committee not to do chromosomal testing to verify the gender of Olympic athletes. McFarlane was with Hockey Night in Canada as an analyst from 1964 to 1991, and Frick coached the Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team to three Paralympic gold medals at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, and the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney.
