Douglas Anakin

Douglas Thomas "Doug" Anakin (born November 6, 1930 in Chatham , Ontario ; † April 25, 2020 ) was a Canadian bobsledder and luge . He became Olympic champion in the four-man bobsleigh in 1964.

Career

Anakin graduated from Queen's University . He then worked as a sports teacher and coached in wrestling , football and skiing . At the beginning of the 1960s, the passionate mountaineer began to be interested in bobsleigh. Before the 1964 Winter Olympics , he joined the Canadian four-man bobsleigh team, which also included Victor Emery , John Emery and Peter Kirby .

The Austrians and Italians were considered favorites for victory. The Canadians were only able to train four times on the Olympic bobsleigh run in Igls , in contrast to numerous competitors who had arrived weeks before. Completely surprisingly, the Canadians undercut the track record in the first run, held their ground at the top and won the gold medal. Anakin also took part in the single-seater competition of tobogganers, but could not finish the race.

In 1967 Anakin resigned from elite sport. From 1971 until his retirement in 1990 he taught at the prestigious John Abbott College . He became one of the greatest promoters of tobogganing in Canada. At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo , he was the coach of the Canadian toboggan team. A scholarship program at John Abbott College is named after him.

Web links

• Douglas Anakin in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Entry into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
• Douglas Anakin for Scholarship for Outdoor Pursuits

Individual evidence

1. ^ Bobsleigh mourns the loss of Olympic champion Doug Anakin. IBSF , accessed on May 7, 2020 (German).