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November 23, 1999
by Wendy Long
Vancouver Sun
Greene
named top female
athlete of the century
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On the slopes she humbled
rivals and won medals with a skiing style that combined
tenacity with an effervescent enthusiasm for racing.
Off the slopes she charmed
spectators and media alike with a gregarious yet direct
personality that made her a popular ambassador for
her sport and one of its greatest stars.
Nancy Greene Raine remains
one of the most beloved and recognizable ambassadors
in alpine skiing and is the most decorated racer in
Canadian ski racing history.
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 Nancy
Greene cuts down the hill during the women's special
slalom at Grenoble, France, during 1968 Winter Olympics.
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So it was not surprising that
56-year-old Greene was honoured Monday as Canada's female
athlete of the century in a survey of newspaper editors
and broadcasters by The Canadian Press and Broadcast News.
"It's humbling, in a way,
because Canada has such a history of producing tremendous
women athletes yet people don't always know the history,
know all the names," she said in a telephone interview
from Sun Peaks near Kamloops.
"I am thrilled yet overwhelmed.
There are so many great women athletes, some incredible
performances."
Nancy Greene topped the poll
with 933 points followed by rower Silken Laumann at 813
and figure skater Barbara Ann Scott at 724.
Greene was the second of six
children and grew up in Rossland, honing her skills on the
steep and challenging slopes of Red Mountain. By the age
of 16 she competed in her first Olympics, finishing 21st
in downhill at the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley, rooming with
venerable Anne Heggtveit, who won the Olympic gold in slalom.
Four years later Greene finished
seventh in the downhill at the Olympics in Innsbruck. She
later emerged as the first woman star on the fledgling World
Cup circuit, taking the over-all title with four giant slalom
victories, plus two in slalom and one in downhill, in the
inaugural 1966-67 season.
As fate would have it World Cup
founder Serge Lang, whose vision of an international ski
circuit offered Greene the opportunities to truly become
the world's best, died of a heart attack on Sunday
"He was an amazing man,"
she said. "He had a global vision that went beyond
the European domination of the sport."
But it was in 1968 that Greene,
by then affectionately known as Tiger for her tenacious
approach to racing, secured a permanent spot in the minds
and hearts of Canadians. At the Olympics in Grenoble she
earned a gold medal in giant slalom and silver in slalom.
Those accomplishments alone would
make her a national hero but the combination of skiing success,
quick smile and gamine hairstyle, and her ease in front
of television cameras, made Greene one of the most recognized
and revered of Canadian athletes, not just in 1968 but through
to today.
She capped her Olympic triumph
with another World Cup over-all victory in 1968, then she
retired at age 24. Marriage to ski coach Al Raine followed
as did the birth of twin sons Willy and Charley.
But unlike many athletes who
retire, Greene did not leave her sport but instead found
other significant ways of remaining involved.
For more than 30 years the Nancy
Greene Ski League has served as an entry level race program
for young children.
Nancy and Al Raine went on to
develop Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler and for several years
operated a hotel there until their 1994 move to Sun Peaks.
"There's more pressure because
of the corporate sponsorship and worrying about having to
live to to the expectations of sponsors," she said
when asked to compare her life as a ski racer with current
national team members. "The opportunities to train
are certainly greater, we had to work in the summer to save
enough money for racing in the winter."
As is her way, Greene finds a
way to deflect conversation away from herself and her most
recent laurel: Equal cause for celebration is today's official
season opening at Sun Peaks. And isn't it great that Nanaimo's
Alison Forsyth earned a top-five finish recently on the
World Cup?
"I think what it takes to
succeed remains the same," she continued. "You
have to have a real love of your sport to carry you through
all the bad times, you still want to go ski even when things
aren't working. You must have a commitment to work hard
and to never give up."
TOP 10 FEMALE ATHLETES:
1. Nancy Greene (933)
2. Silken Laumann (813)
3. Barbara Ann Scott (724)
4. Myriam Bedard (693)
5. Marnie McBean (545)
6. Bobbie Rosenfeld (420)
7. Catriona Le May Doan (389)
8. Sandra Post (380)
9. Marilyn Bell (292)
10. Elaine Tanner (244)
reprinted with permission
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