History and Canadian Results

Canadian nordic skiers first attended the Olympics in 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

• Best Ever Canadian Olympic Results
• Olympic Logos to 1988
• British Columbian Olympians
• Canadian Olympic Teams
  • • 1928 St Moritz, Switzerland.
      With three athletes and two support personnel selected two months prior to competition, Canada entered the Olympic cross country fray in 1928.
    • 1932 Lake Placid, New York.
      Two months prior to the 3rd Winter Olympics Sigurd Lockeberg and Herman Smith-Johannsen, among others, assisted Canada’s Olympic team prepare and train for the cross country events.
    • 1936 Garmish-Partenkirchen, Germany.
      Almost ten months prior to the IVth Winter Games, the Canadian Olympic Ski Committee selected eight men, most of whom would ski both nordic and the debuting alpine events of Hitler’s Olympics. Four women were named to ski slalom and downhill.
    • 1948 St. Moritz, Switzerland.
      After an absence of 12 years the international sporting movement got back on track in neutral Switzerland as familiar St. Moritz hosted a worldwide revived interest in the Olympic Winter Games.
    • 1952 Oslo Norway.
      The Winter Games finally headed to Norway, considered the traditional home of skiing, as capital city Oslo and its environs hosted the VIth Olympics.
    • 1956 Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy
      Three men carried Canada’s nordic hopes to the VIIth Olympic Winter Games and one came away with a cross country standard that remains for athletes to best in 1988.
    • 1960 Squaw Valley, USA
      Back to North America for the first time since 1932 went world elite nordic skiers along with familiar Canadian faces returning to carry this nation’s hopes in the high altitude and changing snow conditions.
    • 1964 Innsbruck, Austria.
      Under Niilo Itkonen of Prince George, 1952 Canadian cross country champion turned coach, four men made up Canada’s cross country ski team for IXth Winter Games.
    • 1968 Grenoble France
      New blood highlighted the Canadian cross country men’s team in the Xth Winter Games as two skiers from B.C. and an Ontarian competed in the three individual events and received assistance from a military biathlon skier to complete a four man team in the relay. Canada Press article.
    • 1972 Sapporo, Japan The Mackenzie Delta town of Inuvik, Northwest Territories sent a record six of eight cross country skiers to Sapporo, led by 18 year old twins Shirley and Sharon Firth, part of the youngest team ever assembled. It also marked the debut of Canadian and American women in the Olympic cross country arena.
    • 1976 Innsbruk, Austria Again, Inuvik, NWT, dominated team selection with five of the ten athletes selected to Innsbruck. Shirley and Sharon Firth were the lone athletes to return to Olympic competition.
    • 1980 Lake Placid, New York.
      For the first time since Canada’s entry into Olympic cross country competition, the Canadian Olympic Association (COA) vetoed a men’s team citing lack of potential top 16 performances by the men’s group.
    • 1984 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
      Three women and a lone man carried Canada’s hopes for cross country successes to Yugoslavia and among that foursome were the Firth twins, Shirley and Sharon of Inuvik, NWT, who joined a select group of international stars in the fourth consecutive Olympic appearance.
    • 1988 Calgary Canada.
      Canada was once again represented by a full team in 1988, with the races being held a 1 hour drive west of Calgary in the picturesque community of Canmore. The newly developed Canmore Nordic Centre hosted the athletes as Canadians posted Best Ever finishes in a number of events.
    • 1992 Albertville, France.
      Once again a full team represented Canada, in an Olympics that was noted for the athletes skiing around the Olympic Rings in the Stadium, and a brilliant Games for Vegard Ulvang, “the Terminator” , and Bjorn Daehlie, from Norway each getting 3 Gold and a Silver Medal.
    • 1994 Lillehammer Norway.
      For 1994 only one Canadian, Dany Bouchard made the stiff COA selection standard for an exciting Games in the “homeland of the sport”. Crowds of 100,000 lined the trails to cheer on the competitors in what has to be the most high profile Games ever for cross country skiing.
    • 1988 Nagano, Japan.
      1998 saw a full team representing Canada in the Cross Country events once again, as 5 males and 5 females took to the trails near the village of Hakuba, just outside of Nagano.
    • 2002 Salt Lake City, USA.
      In 2002 hopes were high for the full women’s contingent and one male representative for Canada.  Beckie Scott of Vermilion, Alberta, again was leading the charge
    • 2006 Torino, Italy
      Canada headed into the 2006 Olympics and Paralympics in Torino with a full team and high hopes.
    • 2010 Whistler, Canada. 
      The 2010 Games were a home Olympics for Canada, with the events held in Whistler, B.C.
    • 2014 Sochi, Russia.
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    • 2018 Pyeong Chang, Korea.  Canada will field a cross-country skiing team mixed with loads of international experience along with youthful energy and drive for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Media Release
    • 2022
    • 2026
    • 2030