Nancy Olmsted

Who is Nancy Olmsted?

Nancy Olmsted was born in North Bay on February 25, 1966. She is the youngest of four children of Charlie and the late Joan Olmsted. Nancy competed in the Sport of Canoeing during the 1980's and during that time, represented Canada in two summer Olympic Games; 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul, Korea. She was a spare in 1984 at the age of 18 and competed in the K-4 500m event with her sister Barbara and placed 10 in the 1988 Olympic Games. Nancy was the first woman athlete to win six gold medals at the Canadian Canoe Championships in Calgary in 1983 and placed 6th in the Junior World Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in the K-1 500m event. She was a member of the Canadian National Canoe Team from 1983 to 1992. During that time, she represented the North Bay Canoe Club in the Canadian Championships winning over 50 National Championship medals during her canoeing career. Her best world performance was fifth in the K-2 event in 1991 and achieved a bronze medal in the K-2 event with her sister, Barbara in the World University Games in 1987 in Zagreb, Yugoslavia. In addition to this, Nancy was a varsity level cross-country skier and competed in the University circuit for 5 years and placed second in 4 of these 5 years while representing Queen's University and Nipissing University respectively. While attending Nipissing University, the women's team won the Varsity Ontario University Championships under the direction of Nordic Coach, Dave Rees. Nancy was named to the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame and was also named the Northern Ontario athlete of the year in 1983.