Canada's Athletes of the 20th century as voted on in a 1999 survey of newspaper editors and broadcasters conducted by the Canadian Press and Broadcast News:

Top 10 Female Athletes

Nancy Greene Nancy Catherine Greene Raine (born May 11, 1943) is a former Canadian Senator for British Columbia and an Olympian alpine skier voted as Canada's Female Athlete of the 20th Century. She was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Greene Raine won ...

(born 1943), skier #

Silken Laumann Silken Suzette Laumann, (born November 14, 1964) is a Canadian champion rower. Life and career Laumann was born in Toronto Township, Ontario, now Mississauga. Starting in 1976, Laumann won a number of awards, including a gold medal in quadr ...

(born 1964), rower # Barbara Ann Scott (1928–2012), figure skater #

Myriam Bédard Myriam Bédard, (born December 22, 1969) is a Canadian retired biathlete. She represented Canada at two Winter Olympics winning gold medals, and a bronze medal. As of 2022, Bédard is the only Canadian biathlete, male or female, ever to win an ...

(born 1969), biathlon #

Marnie McBean Marnie Elizabeth McBean, (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian former rower. She is a three-time Olympics gold medallist. Rowing career A graduate of the University of Western Ontario, McBean competed at the 1992 Summer Olympics in the coxless ...

(born 1968), rower # Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld (1904–1969), track-and-field (voted female athlete of the first half of the century) #

Catriona Le May Doan Catriona Ann Le May Doan, (born December 23, 1970) is a retired Canadian speed skater and a double Olympic champion in the 500 m and served as the chef de mission for Team Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Career Speed skatin ...

(born 1970), speed skater #

Sandra Post Sandra Post, (born June 4, 1948) is a retired professional golfer, the first Canadian to play on the LPGA Tour. In 1968 at age 20 in her rookie professional year, she won a women's major – the LPGA Championship, and was the youngest play ...

(born 1948), golfer #

Marilyn Bell Marilyn Grace Bell Di Lascio (born October 19, 1937) is a Canadian retired long distance swimmer. She was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and later swam the English Channel and Strait of Juan de Fuca. Personal life Bell was born ...

(born 1937), long-distance swimmer #

Elaine Tanner Elaine Tanner-Watt, (born February 22, 1951) is a Canadian former competition swimmer. Olympic medallist, and former world record-holder in two events. Career Nicknamed "Mighty Mouse" partly because of her small stature (standing barely five fe ...

(born 1951), swimmer

Top 10 Male Athletes

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

(born 1961), ice hockey player #

Gordie Howe Gordon Howe (March 31, 1928 – June 10, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. From 1946 to 1980, he played 26 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) and six seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA); his first 25 seaso ...

(1928–2016), ice hockey player #

Bobby Orr Robert Gordon Orr (born March 20, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time. Orr used his ice skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the pos ...

(born 1948), ice hockey player #

Lionel Conacher Lionel Pretoria Conacher, MP (; May 24, 1900 – May 26, 1954), nicknamed "The Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. ...

(1901–1954), multi-sport athlete (voted male athlete of the first half of the century) # Maurice Richard (1921–2000), ice hockey player #

Donovan Bailey Donovan Bailey (born December 16, 1967) is a retired Jamaican-Canadian sprinter. He once held the world record for the 100 metres. He recorded a time of 9.84 seconds to win the gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games. He was the first Canadian ...

(born 1967), track-and-field #

Ferguson Jenkins Ferguson Arthur "Fergie" Jenkins CM (born December 13, 1942) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher and coach. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1965 to 1983 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and Bo ...

(born 1943), baseball player #

Mario Lemieux Mario Lemieux (; ; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played parts of 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins between 1984 and 2006, and he assumed ownership of the f ...

(born 1965), ice hockey player #

Larry Walker Larry Kenneth Robert Walker (born December 1, 1966) is a Canadian former professional baseball right fielder. During his 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played with the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies, and St. Louis Cardinals. I ...

(born 1966), baseball player #

Gaétan Boucher Gaétan T. Boucher, (born May 10, 1958), is a Canadian former speed skating Olympic champion. Biography Boucher first trained in ice hockey, the leading sport in Canada but then changed to speed skating after winning a national title in 1972. ...

(born 1958), speed skater

Team of the Century

* 1972 Team Canada in ice hockey, defeated the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

in the first ever

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used in ...

involving NHL players

Top 10 Female Athletes

Top 10 Male Athletes

Team of the Century

See also