4.5.1 Sports and Star Athletes

Sport thrives everywhere in Canada. Every province and territory has produced star athletes, both amateur and professional, along with Olympic medal winners. One world sport actually began with a Canadian. James Naismith invented basketball in 1891. Canadians play in many major leagues today. Ice hockey is the national sport, and Canadian teams have dominated it internationally. Sport is one of the strongest threads in the country's shared life.

Several athletes stand out. At the 1996 Olympic Summer Games, Donovan Bailey set a world sprint record and took two gold medals. Chantal Petitclerc became a Paralympic gold medallist and a world champion in wheelchair racing. Catriona Le May Doan won gold in speed skating at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and carried the flag afterwards. Mark Tewksbury also won Olympic gold and became a prominent activist for gay and lesbian Canadians.

Hockey has its own legends. Wayne Gretzky is counted among the greatest players the game has ever seen. He played for the Edmonton Oilers from 1979 to 1988. One single moment came even earlier. In 1972 Canada faced the Soviet Union in the Summit Series. Paul Henderson scored the goal that won it for Canada. People still call it "the goal heard around the world." It is remembered as a landmark in sport and in culture.

Canada has its own kind of football. The Canadian game is popular and differs from the American version in a number of ways. The professional competition is the Canadian Football League, usually called the CFL. Its clubs play each season for one trophy, the Grey Cup. That cup was given in 1909 by Lord Grey, who was Governor General at the time. The championship remains one of the biggest events in Canadian sport.