Student athletes have won 64 Olympic medals and 55 Paralympic medals
Dates
UBC first participates in an Olympic Games when track and field athlete Harry Warren competes in Amsterdam
UBC wins its first medal at the Olympics when Ned Pratt brings home a bronze in doubles rowing
UBC’s four-oared rowing crew brings home Canada’s first-ever gold medal from the Melbourne Games
Medals
total number of medals won by UBC Olympians: 19 gold, 21 silver and 24 bronze
total number of medals won by UBC Paralympians: 24 gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze
UBC’s most decorated Paralympian Walter Wu has won 16 medals in swimming, including 8 gold
UBC’s most decorated Olympian is Kathleen Heddle with three gold and one bronze in rowing
The UBC rowing program began in 1921, competing alongside members of the Vancouver Rowing Club, based at Stanley Park’s clubhouse.
Eighty-one years after its inception, UBC rowing is the most decorated varsity athletic program in Canada. Rowers from UBC have amassed 44 Olympic medals, and numerous accolades at the Can-Am games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Royal Henley Regatta in Oxfordshire, England.
Rower Ned Pratt holds the distinction of being the first UBC athlete to bring home a bronze medal from the 1932 Games in Los Angeles.
In the 1970s, UBC organized a women’s rowing team that ascended quickly to the top of the ranks. At the 1992 Games in Barcelona, men’s and women’s teams from VRC/UBC combined for 9 gold medals.