Island Olympic greats enter B.C. Sports Hall of Fame
Swimmer Cochrane, freestyle skier Sharpe enshrined Thursday with Class of 2024
Even if you reach Olympus, it all comes back to where you started the journey and who you surrounded yourself with along the way. It did Thursday night for two Olympic double-medallists from the Island, swimmer Ryan Cochrane of Victoria and freestyle-skier Cassie Sharpe of Comox, enshrined into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame with the Class of 2024 at the induction ceremony held at the Hotel Vancouver ballroom.
“There was such a strong sense of community in sports growing up in Victoria, and being near incredible athletes in a number of different sports, was consistent motivation throughout my time representing Canada,” Cochrane told the Times Colonist, from Europe, where he is travelling.
“It’s an honour to be inducted into such a prestigious Hall of Fame, especially one that’s filled with many of the athletes I looked up to as a kid. When I started swimming, I had no idea it would take me around the world and on to the Olympic stage, and it started with a true love of competition.
“Looking back, my parents never once complained about the 4:45 a.m. alarms. My gratitude goes well beyond the pool and I am so thankful to have been an athlete in B.C.”
Claremont Secondary graduate Cochrane came out of Saanich Commonwealth Place to become the Olympic 1,500-metre freestyle silver medallist at London in 2012 and bronze medallist at Beijing in 2008.
“In retirement, you gain an appreciation that while an internal drive is the flame that gets you through, it’s the sense of community that allows you to get to podiums,” said Cochrane.
Highland Secondary graduate Sharpe came off Mount Washington to win the women’s freestyle ski half-pipe gold and silver medals, respectively, at the 2018 Pyeongchang and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
“We had the freedom of the local mountain,” Sharpe told the Times Colonist.
“My brothers and I would spend all day up on the mountain skiing and boarding endless hours from morning to evening. This [induction] all came from that and growing up on the Island and on Mount Washington.”
Cochrane, 36, retired following the 2016 Rio Olympics and is also inducted in the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and is now a realtor.
The 32-year-old Sharpe is still mid-career and plans on competing in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
The B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, however, has a stipulation that Olympic gold medallists are automatically to be enshrined and the process need not wait until retirement.
“I am so shocked because I still plan on competing and adding to my career,” Sharpe told the TC.
“I have not taken in the magnitude of this enshrinement yet. I am just so honoured.”
Sharpe became a mother after giving birth to daughter Louella last year. That has brought a whole new perspective, psychologically and logistically: “This brings a cool new element to my life and skiing career. I will be bringing Louella with me — half mom [time] half ski [time].”
The other athletes inducted in the Class of 2024 on Thursday were 14-season MLB player and 2006 AL MVP Justin Morneau from New Westminster, former pro golfer Richard Zokol of Kelowna and the late Canadian national team baseball star Amanda Asay of Prince George.
The builders/coaches category in the Class of 2024 included Dr. Bob McCormack from sports medicine, the late Wayne Norton from baseball and the late Beverley Felske from ringette. The media inductee is former SportsPage and Sportsnet host Don Taylor, now of the Donnie and Dhali The Team show on CHEK.
The team inductee is the 1998 Canadian champion and Williamsport Little League World Series third-place Langley baseball squad.
The B.C. Sports Hall of Fame is at B.C. Place Stadium.