|
November 23, 1999
by Wendy Long
Vancouver Sun
Lucile Wheeler:
Canada's First Olympic Downhill Medallist
|
Think of Lucile Wheeler
and the word "first" comes immediately to
mind. First Olympic downhill medallist. First Canadian
Olympic skiing medallist. First North American to
win the downhill and combined on the treacherous Hahenkammen
at Kitzbühel, Austria. First world ski champion
in North America. With these successes came the highest
honours her country could bestow - in 1958 the Lou
Marsh Trophy as outstanding athlete of the year, the
Velma Springstead Memorial Trophy as outstanding female
athlete, the Canadian Press Award as woman athlete
of the year, and in 1976, the Order of Canada.
In 1937 two-year old Lucile
first took to the slopes at the family lodge, Gray
Rocks Inn, which her grandparents had opened near
St-Jovite, Que., in 1906.
"My mother would send
me across Lake Ouimet on cross country skis to carry
messages between our home and the hotel," she
recalls.
|
 |
With remarkable foresight, Lucile's
father, Harry, a 1932 Olympic medallist in the demonstration
sport of dog sledding, had hired the area's first ski professional,
Ernst Wagner in 1933. It was his successor, Hermann Gadner,
who taught Lucile to ski and who first spotted her tremendous
potential.
"He convinced my father
that he could make me a ski racer," says Lucile. It
didn't hurt that Lucile was able to train at one of the
best ski schools on the continent, or that her friends were
talented athletes such as Peter Kirby, a bobsled gold medallist
in 1964, his sisters, Anne and Judy, Tommy Corcoran, a future
American Olympian. As role models, there was Rhoda and Rhona
Wurtele, whose promising careers were interrupted by the
Second World War.
As her talent emerged, Harry Wheeler and her coaches realized
that to reach the top, Lucile had to train in Europe and,
from 1952 to 1957, she spent her winters in Kitzbühel,
training with master coach Pepi Salvenmoser. Summers were
spent back in St-Jovite, riding, swimming, rock climbing,
and playing gold and tennis.
It all began to pay off in 1956
when Lucile won the Olympic downhill bronze medal at Cortina,
"a step along the way ... an unexpected, beautiful
surprise", she says, and only her third European competition.
Her real target, however, was the 1958 world championships
in Bad Gastein, Austria. At her peak physically and mentally,
Lucile was determined to break the European stranglehold
on the championships, and break it she did with victories
in both downhill and giant slalom.
"Back then, the world championships
were as important as the Olympics, and the competition was
even tougher," she says. As for training, much of it
was experimental and from 1956 on, Lucile was her own personal
trainer. She used the Gray Rocks golf course and airport
for running, ran up and down the Sugar Peak ski hill, went
hiking, skipped rope, and did push-ups and sit-ups.
With her goal achieved, Lucile
retired and in 1960, she married Ottawa football great Kaye
Vaughan. Only after marriage and motherhood - she has two
children, Myrle and Jake - did she see differences in how
women and men were treated. In skiing, she says, the treatment
was "quite equal". One of her major accomplishments
was the establishment of an elementary school ski program
in the Eastern Townships that involved children with special
needs.
"It was a great job because
it allowed me to be with my kids, who were the same age
as the children in the program," she says. "So
it was a great balance between family and work."
Lucile, who was delighted that so many women competed at
Atlanta, remains an active skier and golfer. Asked what
advice she would give today's aspiring Olympians she says:
"Always pursue your dreams, be dedicated, and work
hard, but don't totally devote yourself to only one thing
in life. Work to reach a goal, but also be prepared to live
other great and fulfilling things ... the top is small and
hard to reach; there's only space for a few, and this can
be very frustrating. Injuries, politics, coaching problems,
and difficult retirements are all good reasons to have other
interests."
CAAWS Action Bulletin, Autumn
1996
|
