Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (3) (31766900443)

Jocelyn Charles Bjorn Lovell (19 July 1950 – 3 June 2016) was a Canadian cyclist. He won dozens of Canadian national titles for

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

and

road cycling Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...

in the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as gold medals at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

and

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

. He competed at three Olympic Games. His victories, at international competitions, renewed global interest in Canadian cycling. At the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, he won three gold medals in Games record times. Later that year he won a silver medal at the

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. He continued to race as an amateur into the early 1980s. On 4 August 1983, he was hit by a dump truck while training in

Halton Region The Regional Municipality of Halton, or Halton Region, is a regional municipality in Ontario, Canada, located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario. It comprises the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hil ...

, just northwest of Toronto. The driver drove into him from behind, breaking Lovell's neck and pelvis. From that moment on, he permanently became

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or t ...

. No charges were laid. In 1985, he was inducted into the

Canadian Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, ...

Personal life

Lovell was born in Norwich, England in 1950. He moved with his family to Canada in 1954. He started cycle racing when he was 13. Lovell was married to speed skater and competitive cyclist Sylvia Burka in 1981. They separated in 1986. He lived in Mississauga, Ontario with his second wife, Neil. He died in Toronto on Friday, 3 June 2016.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovell, Jocelyn 1950 births 2016 deaths Canadian male cyclists Cyclists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1975 Pan American Games Cyclists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Olympic cyclists of Canada Cyclists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Sportspeople from Norwich People with tetraplegia Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling Pan American Games medalists in cycling Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games 20th-century Canadian people Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games