 Oldershaw at the 2012 Olympic Heroes Parade in Toronto, September 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | February 7, 1983 Burlington, Ontario | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 94 kg (207 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Canoeing | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | C-1 1000m, C-1 500m | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Mark Oldershaw (born February 7, 1983) is a Canadian sprint canoeist. Oldershaw won the bronze medal in the C-1 1000 m at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He is a third generation Canadian Olympic canoer, fifth family member to compete at the Olympics and the first member of the family to win an Olympic medal. He was a double Junior World Champion in the C-1 500 m and C-1 1,000 m in 2001.
Career
Oldershaw was born in Burlington, Ontario. He first rose to prominence as a double gold-medalist at the Junior World Championships in 2001, winning both the C-1 500 m and C-1 1,000 m events. However a few years later a tumour was discovered in his right hand which was his prominent paddling hand. This required two surgeries, damaged a nerve and caused him chronic pain. [1] This also caused him to miss qualifying for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. [1] Oldershaw did qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics, there at Beijing he suffered further disappointment, missing the final of the C-1 500 m event. [1]
Despite these disappointments he continued on in his career and his goal of Olympic success. At the 2011 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary Oldershaw came 5th in the C-1 1,000 m. He then qualified as part of Canada's team for the 2012 Summer Olympics, [2] he won a bronze medal in the C-1 1,000 m event. [3] After achieving Olympic success at last, he stated that "I am so happy. I just can’t even put it into words right now. I’m just so proud to represent Canada. The whole race I was just staring at the nose of my boat, there’s a big maple leaf on it, and it’s just such a good feeling." [1]
On July 1, 2015 Oldershaw was named the flagbearer of Canada at the 2015 Pan American Games opening ceremony. [4]
Personal
He is a son of Olympian canoeist Scott Oldershaw—who is also his coach at the Burloak Canoe Club [5]—and grandson of Olympian canoeist Bert Oldershaw, making him the third generation and fifth member of his family to compete in the Olympics. [6] [7] Oldershaw is also close friends with Olympic teammate Adam van Koeverden and trains together with him at the Burloak Canoe Club. [1] [8]
References
- ^ a b c d e Christie Blatchford (August 8, 2012). "Canada's Mark Oldershaw's bronze medal honours family's Olympic legacy in canoe". Montreal Gazette.
- ^ Dave Feschuk (July 24, 2012). "'Lopsided' canoeist Mark Oldershaw hungry for redemption". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
- ^ Piercy, Justin (2012-08-08). "Canadian paddlers van Koeverden, Oldershaw win silver, bronze". CBC Sports. Toronto: cbc.ca. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
- ^ Hossain, Asif (1 July 2015). "Mark Oldershaw to lead Team Canada at TO2015 as flag bearer". olympic.ca/. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
- ^ "New Oldershaw at helm of Burloak Canoe Club". Burlington Post. January 26, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ^ Sean Fitz-Gerald (June 15, 2012). "Mark Oldershaw continues a three-generation family tradition at Olympics". National Post. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
- ^ Brian Cazeneuve (July 26, 2012). "Projected Medal Count". Inside Olympics. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
- ^ Justin Piercy (August 8, 2012). "Canadian paddlers van Koeverden, Oldershaw win silver, bronze". CBC Sports.
- Sources
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mark Oldershaw". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-18.
External links
- 1983 births
- Canadian male canoeists
- Canoeists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Canoeists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Living people
- Olympic canoeists for Canada
- Sportspeople from Burlington, Ontario
- Olympic bronze medalists for Canada
- Olympic medalists in canoeing
- Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Pan American Games silver medalists for Canada
- Pan American Games medalists in canoeing
- Canoeists at the 2015 Pan American Games
- Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games