Wayne Douglas Gretzky is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999, retiring at the age of 38. Nicknamed "the Great One", he has been called the greatest ice hockey player ever by the NHL based on extensive surveys of hockey writers, ex-players, general managers and coaches. Gretzky is the leading career goal scorer, assist producer and point scorer in NHL history, and has more career assists than any other player has total points. He is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season, a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, Gretzky tallied over 100 points in 15 professional seasons, 13 of them consecutively. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular season records, 15 playoff records, and 6 All-Star records.
Joseph "King" Krol was a Canadian football quarterback, running back, defensive back, and placekicker/punter from 1942 to 1953 and 1955. Considered as possibly the most versatile player in Canadian football history as a triple-threat to pass, run, and kick, he was one of Canada's greatest athletes and also famously known as a "Gold Dust Twin" for his teamwork with Royal Copeland. Joe Krol was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. After suffering from a fall in his apartment, Krol died in a Toronto hospital on December 16, 2008.
The Vanier Cup is a post season university football championship game, used to determine the national champion in U Sports football. The game is the final for the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl. In turn, the participating teams are determined by the winners of 4 bowl games: the Loney Bowl (AUS), Hardy Cup, Dunsmore Cup (RSEQ), and Yates Cup (OUA).
Cassie Dawin Campbell-Pascall is a former Canadian ice hockey player and a broadcaster for ESPN/ABC, and formerly Sportsnet. Born in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Campbell grew up in Brampton, Ontario, playing for the Brampton Canadettes. She was the captain of the Canadian women's ice hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics and led the team to a gold medal. The left winger took on the role of captain again in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and again successfully led her team to a gold medal with a 4 – 1 win over Sweden.
The Tip O'Neill Award is given annually to a Canadian baseball player who is "judged to have excelled in individual achievement and team contribution while adhering to the highest ideals of the game of baseball." The award was created by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and first presented in 1984. It is named after James "Tip" O'Neill, one of the earliest Canadian stars in Major League Baseball (MLB).
Sandra Post, is a retired professional golfer, the first Canadian to play on the LPGA Tour. In 1968 at age 20 in her rookie professional year, she won a women's major – the LPGA Championship, and was the youngest player at the time to win a major.
The Clarkson Cup is an ice hockey trophy awarded to Canada's national women's champions. Commissioned by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, the trophy was first unveiled in July 2006 when Clarkson ceremoniously presented it to the Canadian national women's team. Owing to a rights dispute with the artists who designed the trophy, it was not officially awarded until 2009, when it became, as intended, the award for top women's club team. From 2012 to 2019, it was exclusively awarded to the winner of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL). In Canada, it has been considered the women's equivalent of the Stanley Cup.
Cindy Klassen, is a Canadian retired long track speed skater. She is a six-time medallist having achieved one gold, two silver, three bronze at the Winter Olympics.
Christine Margaret Sinclair is a retired Canadian professional soccer player who most recently played as a forward for the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and, from 2000 until her retirement from international soccer in 2023, was a member of the Canadian national team. An Olympic gold medallist, two-time Olympic bronze medallist, CONCACAF champion, and 14-time winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the Year award, Sinclair is officially the world's all-time leader for international goals scored for men or women with 190 goals, and is one of the most-capped international soccer players with 331 appearances.
The Lionel Conacher Award is an annual award given to Canada's male athlete of the year. The sports writers of the Canadian Press (CP) first conducted a poll to determine the nation's top athlete, of either gender, in 1932. Separate polls for the best male and female athletes were conducted beginning the following year. The CP formalized the poll into an award in 1978, presenting their winner a plaque. It was named after Lionel Conacher, a multi-sport champion whom the news organization had named its top athlete of the half-century in 1950. The award is separate from the Northern Star Award, in which a select panel of sports writers vote for their top overall athlete.
Lewis Edwin Marsh was a Canadian athlete and referee, and one of the pioneers of sports journalism in Canada, working at the Toronto Star for 43 years.
The Bobbie Rosenfeld Award is an annual award given to Canada's female athlete of the year. The sports writers of the Canadian Press (CP) first conducted a poll to determine the nation's top female in 1932, naming track star Hilda Strike the winner. The CP formalized the poll into an award in 1978, presenting their winner a plaque. It was named after Bobbie Rosenfeld, an all-around athlete and Olympic track and field champion whom the news organization had named its top athlete of the half-century in 1950. The award is separate from the Northern Star Award, in which a select panel of sports writers vote for their top overall athlete.
Joseph Daniel Votto is a Canadian-American former professional baseball first baseman who spent his entire 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Cincinnati Reds from 2007 to 2023. He was the second Canadian player, following Larry Walker, to have 2,000 hits, 300 home runs, and 1,000 runs batted in (RBI) in MLB. Votto is a six-time MLB All-Star, a seven-time Tip O'Neill Award winner, and two-time Lou Marsh Trophy winner as Canada's athlete of the year. In 2010, he won the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player Award and Hank Aaron Award. Renowned for his plate discipline and ability to get on-base, Votto was first in career walks (1,365), third in on-base percentage (.409), and fourth in on-base plus slugging (.920) among all active players at the time of his retirement during the 2024 season. He is one of two Reds with at least 300 home runs, 1,000 RBI, and 2,000 hits in franchise history, the other being Johnny Bench.
Marie-Philip Poulin is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain for the Montreal Victoire of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). She is also the captain of the Canadian national ice hockey team.
Mikaël Kingsbury is a Canadian freestyle skier. He is the most accomplished mogul skier of all time. He achieved eminence early in his career after earning the 2009–10 FIS World Cup Rookie of the Year award. He is a ten-time FIS Freestyle World Cup title-holder for overall moguls and nine-time title-holder for overall freestyle, owning the records for most men's Moguls World Cup titles and Overall Freestyle World Cup titles. He also owns the records for career World Cup moguls victories with 78, and consecutive Freestyle World Cup event wins with 13. He is the first man to have won both the moguls and dual moguls World Championship events, and has won the most medals at the Freestyle World Championships of any male competitor in history, having won a medal in 13 of the 14 events he has competed in. Kingsbury won the Olympic silver medal in 2014 and 2022, and, at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, he won the gold medal in men's moguls.
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is a Canadian former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL). He played university football and attended medical school at McGill University in Montreal, before being selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL draft and playing six years on the team. Duvernay-Tardif is one of a small number of NFL players to graduate from medical school. He was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2019 and enrolled at Harvard University to get a Master of Public Health degree the following year.
Auston Taylour Matthews is an American professional ice hockey centre and captain for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Penelope Oleksiak is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Nicknamed "Magic Penny", she is one of her country's most decorated Olympians. Oleksiak rose to fame during the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she became the first Canadian to win four medals in the same Summer Games, and the country's youngest Olympic champion with her gold medal win in the 100 m freestyle. She was the first athlete born in the 2000s to claim an Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Her success led to her being awarded the 2016 Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete, the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's top female athlete for 2016, and a member of the Canadian Press team of the year. Five years later she won three additional medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics, breaking the national record for Olympic medals; joined in 2024 by sprinter Andre De Grasse, with seven Olympic medals each.
