Svein Olafur Sigfusson (July 15, 1912 – September 20, 1992) was a Canadian athlete and entrepreneur. He won a bronze medal in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

at the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games was the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. The main venue was ...

and was Canadian champion for the

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

. The son of Manitoba politician

Skuli Sigfusson Skuli Sigfusson (October 1, 1870 — November 27, 1969) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba on three occasions: from 1915 to 1920, 1922 to 1936, and 1941 to 1945. Early life Sigfusson was born ...

and his wife Gudrun Arnason, he was born in

Lundar, Manitoba Lundar is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district situated in Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the Rural Municipality of Coldwell, in Manitoba's Interlake Region, 99 km north of Winnipeg on Hwy 6. Nearby attractio ...

. Sigfusson operated a transportation company in northern

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

on a system of roads, most of which he had developed himself. His company built part of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

, as well as roads in northern Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. In 1971, his operation was shut down by the provincial government when they cancelled land-use permits which allowed the company to build winter roads to remote communities. Nicknamed "Bigfoot", Sigfusson was 6' 4" in height and wore size 13 track shoes. In 1938, he set a Canadian record in the hammer throw, winning the gold medal at the Canadian championships that same year. He also won silver medals in the discus, shot put, triple jump and javelin events. Sigfusson won at least nine Canadian championships between 1938 and 1954 and was named to the All-Canada track and field team in 1954. He was received the Manitoba Centennial Medal in 1970, was named to the Order of Canada in 1974 and became a member of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 1982. In 1992, he published ''Sigfusson’s Roads'' (). Sigfusson died later that year.

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* 1912 births 1992 deaths Sportspeople from Manitoba Canadian people of Icelandic descent Canadian male discus throwers Canadian male hammer throwers Canadian male shot putters Canadian male triple jumpers Canadian male javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Members of the Order of Canada 20th-century Canadian people Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games {{Canada-athletics-bio-stub