Figure skater Barbara Ann Scott wins gold at the Olympics

March 2, 2017

Barbara Ann Scott Doll, 1948. Canadian Museum of History, 983.29.23, S89-1870

1948

Competing at the 1948 Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz, 19-year-old Ottawa native Barbara Ann Scott became the first Canadian figure skater to win a gold medal. She received a hero’s welcome on her return to Canada and was hailed as a role model for young Canadian girls — both for her image as a sweet and wholesome young woman and for her athletic ability. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King remarked that Scott’s victory provided Canadians hope during the gloom and uncertainty of the post-Second World War era.

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