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(From Left to Right)
Catriona Le May Doan carries the
flag after winning a gold medal
in speed skating at the 2002
Olympic Winter Games
Canadian football is a popular
game that differs in a number
of ways from American football.
Professional teams in the
Canadian Football League (CFL)
compete for the championship
Grey Cup, donated by Lord Grey,
the Governor General, in 1909
Your Canadian Citizenship
Study Guide
26
(From Left to Right)
Donovan Bailey
Chantal Petitclerc
Terry Fox
Wayne Gretzky
Sports have flourished as all provinces
and territories have produced amateur and
professional star athletes and Olympic medal
winners. Basketball was invented by Canadian
James Naismith in 1891. Many major league
sports boast Canadian talent and in the national
sport of ice hockey, Canadian teams have
dominated the world. In 1996 at the Olympic
Summer Games, Donovan Bailey became a
world record sprinter and double Olympic gold
medallist. Chantal Petitclerc became a world
champion wheelchair racer and Paralympic gold
medalist. One of the greatest hockey players of
all time, Wayne Gretzky, played for the Edmonton
Oilers from 1979 to 1988.
In 1980, Terry Fox, a British Columbian who
lost his right leg to cancer at the age of 18,
began a cross-country run, the “Marathon of
Hope,” to raise money for cancer research. He
became a hero to Canadians. While he did not
finish the run and ultimately lost his battle with
cancer, his legacy continues through yearly
fundraising events in his name. In 1985, fellow
British Columbian Rick Hansen circled the globe
in a wheelchair to raise funds for spinal cord
research.
Canadian advances in science and technology
are world renowned and have changed the way
the world communicates and does business.
Marshall McLuhan and Harold Innis were
pioneer thinkers. Science and research in
Canada have won international recognition
and attracted world-class students, academics
and entrepreneurs engaged in medical
research, telecommunications and other fields.
Since 1989, the Canadian Space Agency and
Canadian astronauts have participated in space
exploration, often using the Canadian-designed
and built Canadarm. Gerhard Herzberg, a refugee
from Nazi Germany, John Polanyi, Sidney Altman,
Richard E. Taylor, Michael Smith and Bertram
Brockhouse were Nobel Prize-winning scientists.
Mark Tewksbury, Olympic
gold medallist and
prominent activist for gay
and lesbian Canadians
In 1972, Paul Henderson
scored the winning
goal for Canada in the
Canada-Soviet Summit
Series. This goal is often
referred to as “the goal
heard around the world”
and is still remembered
today as an important
event in both sports and
cultural history