Donald Stringer (December 29, 1933 – January 8, 1979) was a Canadian

sprint canoer Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race canoes or kayaks on calm water. Overview Race categories vary by the number of athletes in the boat, the length of the course, and whether the boat is a canoe or kayak. Canoe sprints are som ...

who competed in the late 1950s and the early 1960s. Competing in two

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, he earned his best effort of seventh twice (

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

: C-1 10000 m,

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

: C-1 1000 m).

Early life

Early competitions

Don Stringer started canoeing in 1948 aged 14. He won the Canadian Juvenile Singles championship in 1950 then the Canadian Juniors and the 10,000 metres Open in 1951. Stringer failed to make the 1952 Olympic team due to overturning his boat in the Ottawa trials. However, he broke Frank Amyot's 1936 record when he won the senior 1,000 metre singles at the Canadian national championships in 1952. The next year he beat the Olympic gold medallist Frank Havens at a competition in Washington. He was named to the

Olympic team and finished seventh in the C-1 10,000m, which was the best Canadian result in canoe-kayak at those games. He moved to Montreal after those games, but still made the

canoe team. He again finished seventh, this time in C-1 1000m. Stringer retired from the sport in 1962, and died 16 years later. He was survived by three sons. He was inducted into the Greater Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. The Canadian national championship trophy for U17 Men's C-1 is named for him.

References

1933 births 1979 deaths Canadian male canoeists Canoeists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic canoeists for Canada {{Canada-canoe-bio-stub