Sara Renner (born April 10, 1976) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

cross-country skier who competed from 1994 to 2010. With

Beckie Scott Rebecca "Beckie" Scott, (born August 1, 1974) is a Canadian retired cross-country skier. She is Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Committee, and served as an International Olympic Committee member by virtue of being elected ...

, she won the silver medal in the team sprint event at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

and earned her best individual finish of eight in the 10 km classical event in those same games. She was born in

Golden, British Columbia Golden is a town in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, west of Calgary, Alberta, and east of Vancouver. History In 1807, David Thompsonrenowned fur trader, surveyor, and map-makerwas tasked by the North West Company to open a trading route ...

2006 Winter Olympics

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen gave Sara Renner a

ski pole Ski poles, also referred to as poles (in North America), sticks (UK), or stocks (Australia), are used by skiers for balance and propulsion. Modern ski poles are most commonly made from aluminum and carbon fiber, though materials such as bamboo are ...

after hers was broken when a competitor stepped on it during the cross-country team sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Norway's athlete ended up fourth, implying that this selfless act of

sportsmanship Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport, or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake. This is with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors. A "sore loser" refers to o ...

may well have cost the Norwegian team a medal. Renner gave Håkensmoen a bottle of wine as a thank you, while other Canadians responded with phone calls and letters to the Norwegian Embassy and sent 7,400 cans of maple syrup to Håkensmoen. The incident was immortalized in a

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 Gret ...

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

Retirement

She announced her retirement in Vancouver following her finish in the Women's 30 km, Mass Start event. She said: "I just left everything out there today," Renner said after carrying her three-year-old daughter, Aria, in her arms through a series of TV interviews. "It was a beautiful race in the pouring rain — quite the way to go out. To hear everyone cheering for me, it was absolutely inspiring."

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 1 medal – (1 silver)

World Championships

* 1 medal – (1 bronze) :a. Cancelled due to extremely cold weather.

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 4 podiums – (4 )

Team podiums

* 2 podiums – (1 , 1 )

Personal life

Renner grew up at remote Mount Assiniboine Lodge, the oldest backcountry ski lodge in the Canadian Rockies, located southwest of Banff and

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The town shares a border with Kananaskis Countr ...

, just across the

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

provincial border. Her parents ran the high-altitude lodge for three decades, and she credits her youth there for her skiing success. In 2001 Renner posed nude in a calendar called "Nordic Nudes" to help raise money for the Canadian women's Nordic ski team. Teammates

, Milaine Thériault, Jaime Fortier and sister Amanda Fortier also posed nude for the calendar. Renner is married to retired Italian-Canadian alpine skier

Thomas Grandi Thomas Grandi (born 27 December 1972 in Bolzano, Italy) is a Canadian retired alpine skier. He specialized in technical skiing giant slalom and slalom. Skiing career Grandi started in the Alpine Skiing World Cup in the 1992-93 season. His f ...

. Grandi had family support out for himself and his wife during the Turin Olympics. On September 18, 2006, Renner announced that she was taking the year off to have a baby with husband Thomas Grandi. Renner came back after her baby was born, and lead the women's team to Vancouver 2010. On February 2, 2007, Renner gave birth to a girl named Aria at a hospital in

Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest ...

. She and Grandi live in

.FIS Newsflash 143. September 5, 2007.

Notes

References

*
Biography

Cross Country Canada
– Canada's Cross Country Ski Program

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renner, Sara 1976 births Canadian female cross-country skiers Canadian people of German descent Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Living people Sportspeople from British Columbia Olympic cross-country skiers of Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada People from the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Alberta