Winners: Barbara Ann Scott, Figure Skating
Barbara Ann Scott figure skating at the 1948 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz.
Date: February 6, 1948
Collection: CP photo
1946 - Feature Story
The Second World War precluded honouring a top Canadian female athlete for 1945 but popular Ottawa figure skater Barbara Ann Scott was feted as winner of the Lou Marsh Award as Canada’s top athlete for that year after winning her second consecutive Canadian championship and her first North American title. The occasion marked the first time a female athlete had been chosen for the Lou Marsh honour and even then, observers were pinning Scott as the greatest female skater since Norway’s Sonja Henie. By 1946, with Canada emerging from wartime, sportswriters resumed voting for various sports awards and Scott was a decisive winner for top Canadian female athlete honours, garnering 45 of a possible 66 points. In January, at the 1946 Canadian Figure Skating Championships at Schumacher, Ontario, Scott won her third consecutive Canadian title, and, with international competitions back on the calendar, Scott was already being touted as a favourite for the 1947 World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm.
1947 - Feature Story
Scott began 1947 by winning the European Figure Skating Championships in Switzerland. The 18-year-old executed an outstanding free skating routine and was accorded a perfect mark of six by one judge. She went on to become the first North American woman to win the world women’s figure skating crown. At the 1947 World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm, Scott mesmerized spectators and so impressed the world’s judges that two judges awarded her perfect marks of six.
1948 - Feature Story
World champion Scott was now a national icon and world-renowned as she embarked on the grandest season of her skating career. In January, she overcame rough ice conditions to defend her European title. Three weeks later the crowd in St. Moritz stood and cheered as Scott completed her free skate to become the 1948 Olympic champion. Scott went on to win her second World Figure Skating Championship at Davos, Switzerland leaving no doubt “Canada’s Sweetheart” was the top figure skater on the planet.
Career Highlights
- 1948 Gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz
- 1947, 1948 World Figure Skating Champion
- 1946-1948 Bobbie Rosenfeld Award (Canada’s female athlete of the year)
- 1945, 1947, 1948 Lou Marsh Memorial Award
- 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948 Canadian Figure Skating Champion
Figure skates worn by Barbara Ann Scott when she won the Gold medal at the 1948 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz.
Date: 1948
Collection: Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Barbara Ann Scott performing a spiral.
Date: 1947
Collection: Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame
Barbara Ann Scott wearing a skating costume.
Date: 1948
Collection: Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Sweater worn by Barbara Ann Scott while training in Davos and St. Moritz..
Date: 1947-1948
Collection: Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Hat worn by Barbara Ann Scott while training in Davos and St. Moritz.
Date: 1947-1948
Collection: Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Mittens worn by Barbara Ann Scott while training in Davos and St. Moritz.
Date: 1947-1948
Collection: Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Barbara Ann Scott performing the splits on ice.
Date: 1940’s
Collection: Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Barbara Ann Scott twirling on the ice.
Date: 1945
Collection: Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Barbara Ann Scott receiving a trophy.
Date: 1940’s
Collection: Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
