Bob Boucher the answer to this trivia question
It still happens to Bob Boucher, more than 50 years after he made history.
He’ll be riding his bike in and around Nelson, B.C., as he does four or five times a week at age 76, and somebody in the group will steer the conversation to athletes who have competed in both Summer and Winter Olympics.
“They’ll say Pierre Harvey was the first Canadian to do it,” said Boucher. “I have to say: ‘No, geez, I did that.’ I’ve had that discussion on the bike with guys. I don’t think there was a hell of a lot of fuss made when I did it.
“And so many articles had been written, saying it was Pierre Harvey. So it’s not as recognized as maybe you might think it is.”
Boucher competed at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics as a speedskater, finishing a disappointing 25th in the 500-metres after a slip. Eight months later, he was in Mexico City as a track cyclist, losing both sprint races to athletes from Great Britain.
Harvey competed in track cycling at the 1976 Games in Montreal, and cross-country skiing in 1984 at Sarajevo. Canadian Sue Holloway became the first woman to compete in Summer and Winter Games in 1976 — as a cross-country skier in Innsbruck, then as a sprint kayaker in Montreal.
For Boucher, it was both a physical and mental struggle to do both Games.
“When I came back (from Grenoble),
I was totally fried, financially and time-wise,” he said. “I was training for the summer and I know, retrospectively, my head wasn’t in it. I had no energy. And then I had a crash at the velodrome (in Winnipeg) and broke my collarbone. Then, for sure, it looked like the dream was over.”
That was far from the case.
“I had a brace, my arm was tied up, and my wife turned my handlebars so they were reversed,” he said. “There was a junior team training to go to a race in the east, so because I wasn’t at work, I went riding with them every day. They were doing maybe 50 miles a day.
“At the end of six weeks, I had my energy back, I had my mental attitude back and made the (Olympic) team.”
Boucher said that while he still loves to ride, he had to give up skating last winter after an issue with balance led to “a bit of ice diving.”
He was advised that a series of crashes and concussions suffered over his cycling career may be the root cause.