Pamela Leila Rai (born March 29, 1966, in New Westminster, BC, Canada) is a former

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

and

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

swimmer who represented Canada from 1980 to 1987. Rai competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

in Los Angeles, California where she won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 100-metre medley relay, with teammates

Anne Ottenbrite Anne Ottenbrite (born May 12, 1966) is a Canadian former breaststroke swimmer, who won three medals at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles: gold (200-metre breaststroke), silver (100-metre breaststroke), and bronze (4×100-metre medley relay ...

Reema Abdo Reema Abdo (born May 19, 1963) is a Canadian former backstroke swimmer and Olympic bronze medallist. Abdo was born in Aden, in the Federation of South Arabia, and became a naturalized Canadian citizen. Swimming career Abdo began her swimming ...

and

Michelle MacPherson Michelle A. MacPherson (born May 11, 1966), also known by her married name Michelle Hojnacki, is a former backstroke and butterfly stroke, butterfly swimmer from Canada. After being selected for the Canadian Olympic swim team for the 1980 Summer ...

. Rai successfully represented Canada at many international meets throughout her career. Other notable accomplishments include University of Victoria Athlete of the Year 1986, City of Victoria Athlete of the Year 1985, 1983 Hapoel Games silver, 1983 Pan American Games silver, and 1986 Commonwealth Games gold medals. From 1984 to 1987 Rai swam for the University of Victoria, where she dominated Canadian university women's swimming. Rai is currently a high school math and social justice teacher and a certified yoga instructor trained in India of the

Sivananda Sivananda Saraswati (or Swami Sivananda; 8 September 1887 – 14 July 1963) was a yoga guru, a Hindu spiritual teacher, and a proponent of Vedanta. Sivananda was born Kuppuswami in Pattamadai, in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. He stu ...

lineage. She is an honored inductee to the

BC Sports Hall of Fame The BC Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in BC Place Stadium, at Gate A, the main entrance to the stadium, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It collects, preserves, studies and interprets materials that relate to British Columbia's spo ...

, the Swim BC Hall of Fame, the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

Legacy Hall of Fame and the Delta Sports Hall of Fame. Rai is the first woman in the world of Indian ancestry, and the first Indo-Canadian to win an Olympic medal. In 1964, Rai's father,

Harinder Jit Singh Rai Hardinder Jit Singh Rai (died 1984), nicknamed ''Pandit'', was an international-level Canadian field hockey forward. In 1956-57 he played for the University of British Columbia. On October 21, 1962 he scored Canada's first ever international goal i ...

was the first Indo-Canadian to qualify for an Olympic Games (field hockey). His stellar skills led him to score the only goal at the qualifying match enabling Canada's field hockey team entry to the Olympic games for the first time. Just prior to the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, he was removed from the team by officials who favoured an all-white contingent. Rai dedicated her 1984 Olympic success to her father who died from leukemia 3 months prior to her competing in the games.

External links

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archive
* * 1966 births Living people Canadian female freestyle swimmers Canadian sportspeople of Indian descent Canadian people of Punjabi descent Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists in swimming Olympic swimmers of Canada Pan American Games medalists in swimming Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada Sportspeople from New Westminster Swimmers at the 1983 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games University of Victoria alumni Medalists at the 1983 Pan American Games 20th-century Canadian women 21st-century Canadian women Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games {{Canada-swimming-bio-stub

See also

External links