The Vancouver 2010 Terry Fox Award was awarded to Olympic athletes who embodied

Terry Fox Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958 June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money ...

's values of determination and humility in the face of adversity. It was created for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The Vancouver Olympic Committee collaborated with Fox's parents, Betty and Rolly, to create the award. Fox's parents presented the awards to

Joannie Rochette Joannie Rochette (born January 13, 1986) is a Canadian physician and retired competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 Olympic bronze medallist, the 2009 World silver medallist, the 2008 and 2009 Four Continents silver medallist, the 2004 G ...

and

Petra Majdič Petra Majdič (born 22 December 1979) is a Slovenian former cross-country skier. Her best results came in classic style races. She won twenty-four World Cup races, twenty in sprint races, but she also won a marathon (30 km race) in Trondhei ...

on February 27, 2010. The award is a nickel and wooden tray depicting the path of Fox's 1980 Marathon of Hope run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research.{{cite news, url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/27/sports/AP-OLY-Terry-Fox-Award.html , work=The New York Times The words: "I want to set an example that will never be forgotten. —Terry Fox" are written on the tray in English and French. Rochette is a Canadian

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

whose mother, Therese, died suddenly on February 21, 2010, of a massive heart attack, just hours after she and Rochette's father, Normand, arrived in Vancouver and two days before the women's short program. Despite emotional turmoil, she went on to win bronze in Ladies' Figure Skating. Majdič is a

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 ...

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

who continued competing despite suffering four broken ribs and a collapsed lung as a result of a crash during training before the individual classical sprint on February 17, 2010. She fell on a sharp curve and tumbled off the course, then slid on her back down a three-metre slope and onto some rocks. Despite obvious physical pain, she went on to win bronze in the Ladies' Individual Sprint Classic. She needed help stepping onto the podium due to her injuries. The selection committee, that included Fox's brother, Darrell, sportscaster

Brian Williams Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American retired journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for ''NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004. ...

, former-Olympian and

VANOC The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) (french: Comité d’organisation des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques d’hiver de 2010 à Vancouver - COVAN) was the non-profit organization responsible ...

board member

Charmaine Crooks Charmaine Crooks (born August 8, 1962), is a Canadian athlete, five-time Olympian and Olympic Silver Medallist (LA '84, 4X400m Relay). Crooks was born in Mandeville, Jamaica, but represented Canada for close to 20 years in athletics. The first ...

and former rower

Tricia Smith Patricia Catherine M. Smith (born April 14, 1957) is a Canadian lawyer and Olympic rower who was elected president of the Canadian Olympic Committee. She sits on the International Council of Arbitration for Sport. Biography Smith was born in V ...

, originally planned to choose only one recipient but felt both athletes' stories were so compelling that they decided to honour both.

References

2010 Winter Olympics Terry Fox Awards established in 2010