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December 8, 2004
ABOUT CAAWS
Beckie Scott receives CAAWS' Award
Ottawa, ON, . . Canadian Olympic Gold Medallist Beckie Scott was presented with the 'Grace Under Pressure' award from the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS) today. Scott received the honour for her outspoken stand on anti-doping and drug-free competition. Her valiant fight, pressuring the International Ski Federation and the International Olympic Committee, resulted in her bronze medal from the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City being upgraded first to a silver, and then after a long 22-month struggle, to a gold.
Already a trailblazer for women's Nordic sport in Canada, Beckie Scott put cross-country skiing into the headlines at the 2002 Games when she became the first North American to medal in Olympic competition in the five-kilometre pursuit race. Her views on drug-free sport were well known before the 2002 Olympics, but she showed supreme strength of character and conviction as she pursued the ruling which resulted in the gold medal.
Scott joins a long list of Canadian women who have overcome incredible obstacles and challenges in pursuit of their dreams. CAAWS' Grace Under Pressure award, created in 1994, honours women whose accomplishments transcend demanding circumstances, women who 'beat the odds' and showed poise, composure, class and grace during difficult and potentially emotional times. The award is not an annual award - it is awarded only in those years when exceptional circumstances are demonstrated.
Previous recipients include:
1994 - Sylvie Fréchette - for her ability to win an Olympic medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona in synchronized swimming after suffering a deep personal tragedy just prior to the Games; she showed tremendous class and courage for the next two years as the IOC reviewed the circumstances around the medal performances in Barcelona and eventually awarded a second gold medal in the solo event to Fréchette.
1996 - Canada's Women's Tour de France Team - for placing third in the demanding Tour de France event after suffering a devastating crash early in the event and the robbery of all their equipment.
1997 - Silken Laumann - for her unbelievable courage in fighting back from a shattered tibia and five operations only 2 months before the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games to win the bronze medal in the single sculls event.
2000 - Sonia Denoncourt - the first women to officiate a men's pro soccer game, she withstood the jeering of an all-male crowd in soccer crazed Brazil and held her ground while issuing yellow cards to five players and a red card to one player; she also officiated the opening game of the Women's World Cup held in the USA in July 1999 before 80,000 spectators.
2002 - Danièle Sauvageau - who stood tall at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, holding her ground and showing remarkable composure and confidence in an unbelievably exciting and Gold-Medal women's hockey game against Team USA. She and her team brought home the gold medal to Canada, and Danièle showed remarkable composure and class during a tough and demanding time both pre and during the Olympic Games.
The 2004 Grace Under Pressure award was presented to Beckie Scoot by the immediate past chair of CAAWS, Phyllis Berck, at a private luncheon in Toronto.
Reprinted with permission
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