Gold Medal Diary
Inside the World’s Greatest Sports Event
Hayley Wickenheiser is one of the best female hockey players in the world. The youngest member chosen for the Canadian’s Women’s National Team at the age of 15, she led the squad to six gold and three silver medals at the Women’s World Hockey Championships. As an Olympian, she has won four consecutive gold medals, including one at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games—where she also served as the ceremony’s flag bearer. Now a community leader and mentor to aspiring athletes, Wickenheiser reveals how she made her mark in a male-dominated sport—and the grit, resilience, and determination that carried her to Olympic triumph.
A titan of sport and a leader both on and off the ice, Hayley Wickenheiser has five Olympic medals—a silver from the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, and four gold medals won in consecutive Olympic Games, including one at home in Vancouver and one in the Sochi Winter Olympics. Wickenheiser was inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame, dubbed one of Sports Illustrated “Top 25 Toughest Athletes in the World,” and was appointed to the Order of Canada “for her achievements as an athlete and for her contributions to the growth of women’s hockey.” She retired as the country’s all-time leading scorer after 23 years on the Canadian women’s team and almost a dozen Olympic and World Championship medals. Wickenheiser now works to provide mentoring opportunities for young athletes, including founding the Wickenheiser International Women’s Hockey Festival.
Wickenheiser was also the first female player in the world to score a point in a men’s professional game while playing in Finland, and she is the first woman in history to have either played in or coached four NHL development camps with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Edmonton Oilers, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Recently, the four-time Olympic gold medallist took on the position of Assistant Director of Player Development with the Toronto Maple Leafs, where she will monitor Leafs prospects in the WHL, as well as work with players on both the Leafs and the AHL’s Marlies.
Wickenheiser’s passion for sport is paralleled by her drive to give back to the community in several ways, particularly to organizations with a commitment to children such as KidSport, Right To Play, Dreams Take Flight, Clean Air Champions, and Spread The Net.