November 19, 1983
Chandra Crawford
Chandra was born and raised in Canmore and grew up in an adventurous, outdoors family, skiing, hiking, biking, climbing and doing countless other activities in the Rocky Mountains. At the age of 12 she began competing in biathlon, but switched to cross country five years later when she realized her shooting skills could not match her superior talent for cross country skiing.
Chandra trained at the Canmore Nordic Centre, home of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, and represented Canada at World Junior Championships in 2001, 2002 and 2003. She made her Olympic debut at Torino in 2006 and astonished the world when she won gold in the 1.1 kilometre sprint. She had won her first World Cup medal (bronze in a sprint race) less than one week prior to the opening of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.
Chandra went on to compete in two more Winter Olympics, Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014. She won 2 gold, one silver and 2 bronze individual medals in World Cup competition between 2006 and 2014, and two bronze medals for team sprint (with Dasha Gaiazova in 2010 and with Perianne Jones in 2012).
Prior to her gold medal performance in Torino, Chandra had founded a not-for-profit organization called Fast and Female, dedicated to empowering girls between the ages of 8 and 18 to stay with sports and lead healthy, active lifestyles. Following her retirement in 2014, Chandra earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration and leads Fast and Female in many events annually across North America, with the help of hundreds of athlete ambassadors.
Photo by Pam Doyle Photography 
Photo by Pam Doyle Photography
Sources: Wikipedia, Cross Country Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee