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Victoria triathlete Simon Whitfield named to Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame

Six is sweet for triathlete Simon Whitfield. Whitfield will join his sixth hall of fame with the announcement Monday that he will be part of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019. The induction ceremony will take place Oct.
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Simon Whitfield runs toward the finish line to take the silver medal in men's triathlon at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Six is sweet for triathlete Simon Whitfield.

Whitfield will join his sixth hall of fame with the announcement Monday that he will be part of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019.

The induction ceremony will take place Oct. 23 at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. Inductees will be commemorated with murals painted in their honour that will appear in their respective home communities across Canada.

Whitfield’s mural will be painted in Victoria at the Triathlon Canada national training centre headquarters, at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

Whitfield was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in 2016. Whitfield has also been inducted into the Triathlon Canada and International Triathlon Union Halls of Fame.

Whitfield was born in raised in Kingston, Ont. He relocated to his father’s homeland of Australia, and hometown of Sydney, for high school to be immersed in a sporting country. He came to Victoria in 1997 at about the time when many of the nation’s top triathletes were arriving here to train, including eventual Ironman Hawaii world championship multi-champions Peter Reid and Lori Bowden.

Little known outside the Island, Whitfield broke through for a dramatic gold medal in the shadow of the Sydney Opera House when triathlon made its Olympic debut at Sydney 2000, running past his old high school in the process. He followed up with gold at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

A rare four-time Olympian, Whitfield has twice been Canadian flagbearer — in the closing ceremony at Sydney 2000 and in the opening ceremony at London 2012.

Whitfield reflected on retirement after being named to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame: “You miss the mastery of it … of being able to master something. I trained and competed in such an obsessive manner. I was always focused on the next competition. It’s a unique existence and I miss being outside.”

But he still gets his dose of the outdoors as a paddleboarder and paddleboard instructor in the waters around Greater Victoria and on Island pitches in his long-standing pick-up soccer games with a group of friends he has played with for decades

Also on the Class of 2019 list are two-time Olympic silver-medallist Alexandre Despatie, a diver who competed and trained often at Saanich Commonwealth Place, two-time Olympic medallist weightlifter Christine Girard and four-time Olympic-medallist diver Émilie Heymans.

Also in the Class is the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games gold-medallist women’s ice-hockey team and the 2012 London Summer Games bronze-medallist women’s soccer team, which included Emily Zurrer of Chemainus. The soccer team became the first Canadian team to win a medal at the Summer Olympics in a team sport since Victoria players Doug Peden and Art and Chuck Chapman captured basketball silver at Berlin in 1936.

Also being inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall for 2019 are Hiroshi Nakamura, who coached Canada in judo at five Olympics, the late 2010 Vancouver Winter Games builder Jack Poole, and the late sports writer Randy Starkman, whose 24-year career was immersed in covering Canadian Olympians and amateur athletes.

“These individuals remind us that the Olympic movement is about more than just victory. It’s about making an indelible impact on our communities, our nation and the next generation,” said Canadian Olympic Committee president and former Olympic rower Tricia Smith.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com