UBC’s rich Olympic legacy is on display for those wanting a closer look at the athletes and academics who have helped shape Canada’s role in the global sporting event.
The Olympic Legacy Exhibit, undertaken by UBC Library, University Archives and Public Affairs, features an array of images and documents that focus on UBC’s sporting history, with exhibits of medalled athletes, athletes turned scholars, UBC research, influential alumni and sports teams, and multicultural traditions. Material is provided by University Archives, Rare Books and Special Collections, Public Affairs, Musqueam Indian Band, cIRcle (UBC’s digital repository), and Athletics and Recreation.
Highlights include photos of Quene Yip, described as “UBC’s first Chinese-Canadian Sport Star,” and Harry Warren, a Rhodes Scholar and sprinter who in 1928 became the first UBC athlete to compete in the Olympics. (Warren also participated in the Great Trek, an event held in 1922 to spur completion of the Point Grey campus, and went on to become a UBC professor.)
Various influential teams are featured, including UBC’s “Cinderella Rowers,” a four-man crew that won the gold at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, despite having trained for a mere nine months. Also on the roster is the UBC-based 1964 Olympic hockey team, established by the late Rev. Father David Bauer and UBC Sports Hall of Famer Bob Hindmarch.
Behind-the-scenes figures include veteran UBC and Olympic swim coach Tom Johnson; Doug Clement, a former Olympic athlete and coach who became a sports medicine pioneer; and Bob Osborne, a founder and long-time director of UBC’s physical education faculty who played and coached Olympic basketball.
Among the featured scholars are Andrei Krassioukov, an Associate Professor in UBC’s Department of Medicine; Margot Young, an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law; and Bob Sparks and Rob VanWynsberghe, both of the School of Human Kinetics.
Meanwhile, the multicultural aspect of the Games will be illustrated by displays of Chinese-Canadian soccer players (courtesy of the Chung Collection, located at UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections) and Q’aysca:m, a stone-carved female figure who played an important role in Musqueam sporting culture.
The exhibit is at the Learning Centre Gallery, located on level two of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, adjacent to the circulation desk.
For more information, please contact Jessica Woolman at 604-827-4275 or jessica.woolman@ubc.ca, or visit www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/ps/Olympics2010_event.html.
Organized by the Library Olympics programming committee, the exhibit features material from University Archives, Rare Books and Special Collections, Musqueam Indian Band, cIRcle, Public Affairs, UBC Reports, and the Athletic department. Five exhibit cases cover UBC’s Olympic legacy through a look at sport – medaled athletes, athletes turned scholars, sports teams that live on forever, and multicultural sports traditions.
Come and watch a screening of the film