Chandra Crawford (born November 19, 1983) is a Canadian cross-country skier who has competed since 2001 at the age of 16. Prior to this, she was a

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

for five years. She was born in

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Countr ...

, Canada.

Career

On February 22, 2006, she became the surprise gold medal winner in the women's cross-country sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Video of her circulated on the Internet as she sang "

O Canada "O Canada" (french: Ô Canada, italic=no) is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée composed the mus ...

", the Canadian national anthem, from the medals podium. Then- CBC commentator Brian Willams said of the event: "If you're ever standing on top of the podium, ''this'' is how you sing our national anthem." She won her first World Cup gold medal in her home-town of Canmore in January 2008 in the sprint event, followed by a second gold in Lahti, Finland, in March 2008. She finished the 2008 World Cup season ranked seventh in the sprint and 23rd overall. Crawford placed 44th in the freestyle sprint during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. On March 27, 2014, she retired from competitive skiing.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 1 medal – (1 gold)

World Championships

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 2 victories – (2 ) * 5 podiums – (4 , 1 )

Team podiums

* 2 podiums – (2 )

Career highlights

;Women's cross-country 1.1 kilometre sprint * Silver – 2011 World Cup,

Rogla Rogla () is a peak on Zreče Pohorje ( sl, Zreško Pohorje) in the Municipality of Zreče in northeastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. It is now included in the Savinja Statistical Region. Name Rogla was atte ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

– 2008 World Cup,

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

* Gold – 2008 World Cup, Canmore,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

– 2007 NorAm Cup,

Mont-Sainte-Anne Mont-Sainte-Anne is a ski resort in Eastern Canada, eastern Canada, located in the town of Beaupré, Quebec, about northeast of Quebec City. The mountain is part of the Laurentian Mountains, Laurentian mountain chain and has a summit elevation o ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

* Bronze – 2006 Tour de Ski,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

* Gold – 2006 Winter Olympics, Turin, Italy * Bronze – 2006 World Cup, Davos,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

* Gold – 2005 Canadian Championships,

Prince George, British Columbia Prince George is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, with a population of 74,004 in the metropolitan area. It is often called the province's "northern capital" or sometimes the "spruce capital" because it is the hub city for ...

* Silver – 2004 Under-23 World Championships,

Soldier Hollow Soldier Hollow is a cross-country ski venue located at the mouth of a hollow of the same name about southeast of Salt Lake City in Wasatch Mountain State Park in northwestern Wasatch County, Utah, United States. The venue was created for the 2 ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, U.S. ;Women's cross-country team relay * Bronze – 2004 Under-23 World Championships, Soldier Hollow, Utah,

Honors

In 2018, Crawford was inducted into the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* * * 1983 births Living people Canadian female cross-country skiers Canadian female biathletes Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic cross-country skiers of Canada People from Canmore, Alberta Sportspeople from Alberta Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics 21st-century Canadian women {{Canada-crosscountry-skiing-bio-stub