Klassen gets the call to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/04/2017 (3406 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Moments awash in dazzling gold, silver and bronze remain some of speed skating legend Cindy Klassen’s most vivid memories.

But there are also more personal moments of her career – when she wasn’t climbing a podium and the spotlight wasn’t aimed her way – the Winnipeg product, named for induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday, considers just as precious.

“One competition that was really big for me was in 2001 in Budapest,” recalled Klassen, 37, during a phone interview with the Free Press. “It was the world championships and I got a fourth-place finish.”

Failing to crack the top-three at the World All-Around Speed Skating Championships in Hungary more than 16 years ago might seem like something one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians would have long forgotten.

But not Klassen, long celebrated not just for her athletic achievements but also for her unfaltering humility and grace, who first laced up the blades at Gateway Recreation Centre but turned to speed skating in the late 1990s when a shot at women’s hockey stardom wasn’t in the cards.

Coming so close to capturing an all-around medal on that Budapest oval – where she skated the women’s 500-metre, 1,500m, 3,000m and 5,000m events – meant so very much.

“I remember that day thinking, ‘Wow, maybe I can do this, maybe I can make the podium one day, that I could actually go to the Olympics,’” she said. “That’s a moment I hold onto.”

She went. And she won.

Klassen captured six medals in three appearances at the Winter Olympic Games. Her first, a bronze in the 3,000m, was earned in 2002 in Salt Lake City, and she’d grab five more (gold, two silver, two bronze) four years later in Torino, Italy, which remains a Canadian Winter Olympics record. She was also the flag bearer during the closing ceremonies in 2006.

Klassen, who retired in 2015 after battling a concussion and knee injuries, won an astounding 115 international medals and still holds the women’s 3,000m world record.

Now, she’s part of the Class of 2017 for the nation’s sports hall of fame in Toronto.

“I got the call a few weeks ago and, wow, it was completely out of the blue. It’s so amazing, it’s such an honour to be selected,” said Klassen, from her home in Calgary. “It’s a very special way to kind of end things in my speed-skating career.”

Other athletes being inducted include a pair of Summer Olympians, wrestler Carol Huynh and triathlete Simon Whitfield, golfer and 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir, Stanley Cup champion and Hockey Hall of Fame member Lanny McDonald, lacrosse star, the late Gaylord Powless, from the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation near Brantford, Ont., and the Edmonton Grads women’s basketball team of the early to mid-1900s.

Neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Tator, an expert on concussion research, and the late Dr. Robert W. Jackson, orthopaedic surgeon and Canadian Paralympic founder, both of Toronto, were named to the hall of fame in the builder’s category.

All recipients will be officially inducted on Nov. 9 at a ceremony in Toronto.

“It’s really neat to read their stories. They’re all so inspiring,” Klassen said of her fellow inductees. “I really respect the hall of fame because it’s not just professional athletes, it’s amateurs, it’s people making huge impacts in Canadian sports, even though some aren’t competitors. To be among those names is more than anything I could have dreamed of.”

She said it’s days like these when she looks back on her career with a deep sense of pride, and also tremendous gratitude and appreciation for the athletes from whom she drew inspiration

“It was hockey players when I was younger, so people like Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman and, of course, Wayne Gretzky. I was glued to my TV set watching them play,” said Klassen, who kept a promise to herself and went back to school. She’ll graduate with degree in psychology from the University of Calgary this summer.

“As I transitioned to speed skating, people like Susan Auch from Winnipeg — she’s been a mentor to me — and Catriona LeMay Doan and Jeremy Wotherspoon — I found a lot of inspiration from these athletes.”

The announcement, meanwhile, caught McDonald by surprise.

”You never dream of ever being honoured or asked to go into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame,” said McDonald. “I thought it was one of the guys pranking me when this came about, but all of a sudden (Wednesday) happens and you realize, ‘Oh, my gosh.’

”It’s so cool. I’m so honoured and thrilled. What a great class to go in with.”

McDonald, 64, amassed 1,006 points (500 goals, 506 assists) in 1,111 career games with Toronto, Colorado and Calgary from 1973 to ‘89. He retired following the 1988-89 season after helping the Flames win their only Stanley Cup.

Huynh, 36, became the first Canadian to win Olympic gold in women’s wrestling in Beijing in 2008. Four years later in London, the native of Hazelton, B.C., claimed a bronze medal.

Whitfield, 41, of Kingston, Ont., captured Olympic triathlon gold in Sydney in 2000 and earned silver eight years later in Beijing. He was also a 12-time world champion.

Weir, 46, a native of Bright’s Grove, Ont., has registered 15 pro wins and in 2000 became the first Canadian to play in the President’s Cup.

Powless, who died in 2001 at the age of 54, led the Oshawa Green Gaels to four Minto Cup championships (1964-67) and was twice named the most valuable player. He and his father, Ross, are both members of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, the only father-son tandem in the players’ category.

The Edmonton Grads amassed a stunning 502-20 record from 1915 to 1940. The team also participated in four straight Olympics (1924-36) and was 27-0 but received no medals because women’s basketball wasn’t an official event. Kay MacBeth, 95, the Grads’ last surviving player, represented the squad Wednesday at the induction announcement.

Jackson was a founding member of the Canadian Paralympic movement in 1967. In 1976, he organized the Olympiad for the physically challenged. The Toronto native died in January 2010 at age 78.

Tator, 80, of Toronto, is an expert on sports concussions and spinal cord injury. In 1992, he founded ThinkFirstCanada, which helps educate young athletes, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2000. He helped develop the Canadian Brain and Nerve Health Coalition two years later.

– with files from Canadian Press

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell