Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum

Danger and Sportsmanship on the high seas at the 1988 Summer Olympics

Published

2 years ago

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Here is another in our series of stories from the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. We love learning about our province’s sports heroes and encourage you to take the time to Hall of Fame where you can see all of this wonderful history from Alberta’s past in one place.

Lawrence Lemieux is a Canadian sailor who competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in the Finn class. He was inducted in 2002.

On September 24, 1988, the sailing competition was underway. The conditions had unexpectedly become dangerous.

In the 470 class, two sailors on the Singapore team were thrown into the water, suffered injuries and were unable to right their boat. Sailing alone near the half point in his race, Lemieux then in second place in this the fifth of a seven-race event and was given a good chance to win one of the medals, immediately took action, forgetting his own race and sailed towards the downed crew.

Lawrence did not win a medal in the overall seven race competition but at the medal ceremony Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee, awarded Lemieux the Pierre de Coubertin Medal for “Sportsmanship for his act.” “By your sportsmanship, self-sacrifice and courage,” said Samaranch, you “embody all that is right with the Olympic ideal”.

Lawrence placed well and won countless national and international regattas between 1978 and 1998. For many years, he built boats used at the highest level of international competition. Now retired from competition, he continues to contribute to sailing with coaching locally, nationally and internationally.

If you enjoyed this story, be sure to check out some others:

How Betty Carveth Dunn became a part of baseball history. She was in the original League of Her Own.

Jamie Sale and David Pelletier’s rise to the top of figure skating royalty and won the hearts of millions in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake.

Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum

Alberta Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2019: Kreg Llewellyn, Waterskiing Athlete

Published

12 hours ago

June 25, 2019

Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum

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Kreg began competitive water skiing in the late 1970s. In 1979 he won his first Provincial Junior Boys Overall Title and later that year set his first Canadian Junior Boys Trick Record.

In 1984, he became an integral part of the Canadian National Water Ski Team and for the next 20 years competed in the Overall events of Slalom, Trick and Jump. Kreg held 24 Canadian Records and won 7 individual World Championship medals, 3 Gold Team World Championship Medals, and 18 Pan American medals including: 7 Gold, 9 Silver and 2 Bronze.

Kreg was an innovator and was willing to try anything, doing “tricks that couldn’t be done to doing them fast”. He also helped design and test the first ever Skurfer, which was a precursor to the evolution of Wakeboarding. Kreg won the first ever World Wakeboard Championships in Hawaii.

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Alberta

Alberta Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2019: Mike Rogers, Hockey Athlete

Published

2 weeks ago

June 13, 2019

Todayville

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Mike Rogers played professional hockey for a total of 12 years; five years in the World Hockey Association, then seven years in the National Hockey League. Mike has the distinction of being one of only four players in the NHL to achieve 100 points in their first three seasons – the others are Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Peter Stastny. Mike’s first year in the NHL was with the expansion Harford Whalers team in 1979/80. He scored 105 points in both his first and second year. Mid-way through the 1980/81season, he was named captain. Mike joined the New York Rangers for the 1981/82 season and led the team with 103 points. He averaged 67 points in his next three seasons as the team adapted a more defensive style of play. In 484 regular-season NHL games, he had 519 points. In 1974/75, during Mike’s first year in the WHA, he led the Edmonton Oilers rookies in goals and points and was selected the WHA’s Most Gentlemanly Player. He was traded to the New England Whalers in 1975/76 and was their top scorer in 1978/79. In 396 WHA games, he scored 145 goals and had 222 assists for 367 points.

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