Dave "Eli" MacEachern will be inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame this weekend.

http://www.olympic.ca/en/programs/canadian-olympic-hall-fame/

Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame

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The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) is set to honour five legendary Olympic figures at this year's Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame Gala Dinner & Induction Ceremony on Saturday, April 16. The event will take place in Moncton, N.B., at the Casino New Brunswick, where an exemplary class of three athletes, one builder and one coach will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

For more than 60 years, the COC has proudly honoured individuals who have made a significant impact on the Olympic Movement. The 2011 Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame inductees are no exception and include figure skater Elvis Stojko, swimmer Curtis Myden, bobsledder David MacEachern, women’s hockey coach Melody Davidson and cycling builder Marc Lemay.

"The Vancouver Games ignited Olympic spirit and passion all across Canada and we're bringing this new energy to the Atlantic Provinces," said COC President Marcel Aubut. "The Hall of Fame is the COC’s most prestigious event, and we are thrilled to share this incredible experience with the gracious people of Moncton as we recognize this truly outstanding class of Hall of Fame inductees."

Known for its warmth and hospitality, Moncton will host its first ever Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame Gala. A rising city among Canadian sport communities, the maritime city successfully played host to the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships last July – the smallest city ever to hold the major global event.

In April the city will welcome the Hall of Fame event, which will feature a full artistic program. The induction ceremony will be preceded by a week of festivities and community events throughout the Atlantic Provinces. Further details of these initiatives will be provided at a later date.

The COC has partnered with Vision Co., a Toronto-based event marketing firm to produce and manage the Gala Dinner and Induction Ceremony and community events. Tickets and details are available by contacting Rebecca Lerner (rlerner@olympic.ca).

All proceeds from the 2011 Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame Gala Dinner & Induction Ceremony will benefit the Canadian Olympic Team.

2011 Inductees

Elvis Stojko is a two-time Olympic silver medallist and three-time world champion in figure skating. As Olympic and world champion in 1994, he was named Canadian Athlete of the Year. He is the first man ever to land consecutive quadruple jumps in competition, once in 1991 and again in 1997. The four-time Olympian and seven-time Canadian champion was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. Deeply involved in charitable work, Stojko was known during his athletic career for his amazing perseverance through injury.

Curtis Myden, a model of determination and hard work, was the first Canadian swimmer to win medals at consecutive Olympic Games. He is a three-time Olympian in 1992, 1996 and 2000, and a triple bronze medallist. Myden won two bronze medals at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games in the 200- and 400-metre individual medley. Four years later amid an ever-stronger pool of swimmers, he again took bronze in the 400-metre IM. Leading up to Sydney he swept all the IM gold medals while adding two silver medals at the Pan Pacific Championships. He has set many national records, is a 30-time Canadian champion, and is the first athlete ever inducted in the Swimming Canada Circle of Excellence.

David MacEachern competed in two-man and four-man bobsleigh at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Olympic Winter Games. In his last Games, he and Pierre Lueders won Olympic gold in the two-man event, which significantly raised the profile of bobsleigh, as well as funding, in Canada. A silver medallist in two-man at the 1996 World Championships, MacEachern also collected 28 World Cup medals and five World Cup titles in his career. His success in the 1990s inspired entire groups of new athletes and set the stage for the medals won at Vancouver 2010.

Melody Davidson is head coach of both the 2010 and 2006 Olympic gold medal women's hockey teams in Vancouver and Torino. Davidson was assistant coach in 2002 when the women's team won its first-ever Olympic gold medal. She has been head or assistant coach for four World Championship teams, and two world silver medal squads. She is the only person ever to be named five straight years to the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity's "Most Influential Women" list. Davidson is globally admired for her dedication to the women's game, her core belief in values and her leadership.

Marc Lemay is a world leader in the sport of cycling. Lemay was president of the Canadian Cycling Association from 1981 to 1992 and president of the Union Cycliste Internationale Mountain Bike Commission from 1990 to 2001. He served 14 years as COC Board member, from 1982 to 1996. In 2001 he received the Union Cycliste Internationale Merit for his contribution to the development of international cycling. Under his UCI tenure, the sport of mountain biking experienced tremendous growth that culminated with a berth in the Olympic program.

• Elvis Stojko bio
• Curtis Myden bio
• David MacEachern bio
• Marc Lemay bio
• Melody Davidson bio
• Hall of Fame Members All-Time
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Former bobsledder MacEachern developing some of Canada's top track athletes

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5j8HCOcYPHnexR3DPm_bdLZv-tgLA

Former bobsledder MacEachern developing some of Canada's top track athletes

By Lori Ewing (CP)

CHARLOTTETOWN — As the coach of Prince Edward Island's first track club, Dave MacEachern didn't exactly have state-of-the-art facilities at his disposal.

The former Canadian Olympic bobsledder held workouts on an old railway bed when the weather co-operated. Cold days meant heading inside, either into the hallway of a nearby school or an abandoned flea market, where he would roll out an 80-metre long strip of rubber he'd purchased to use as a makeshift track.

Growing up on P.E.I., MacEachern knows all about overcoming odds, and his message is simple: it's what's inside that counts.

"As long as we have the right attitude and heart, you can go anywhere with track and field," said Kurt McCormack, one of MacEachern's top athletes with his club Sparta Athletics, and bronze medallist in triple jump Tuesday at the Canada Summer Games.

MacEachern's athletes captured P.E.I.'s first two medals at these Games - Matt Caseley of French River won gold in the hammer throw Tuesday night.

MacEachern, 41, has been back living and raising his family in Charlottetown since his Olympic gold medal bobsled career ended in 2000.

One of his first success stories was Jared Connaughton. He started coaching the sprinter in Grade 11 with a goal of "getting him out of here," and Connaughton went on to run track at the University of Texas in Arlington where he still lives and trains. He has the No. 2 time in Canada this year in both the 100 and 200 metres, and was part of the Canadian 4x100 relay team that finished fifth last week at the world championships in Berlin.

"It was tough to get the wheels spinning here," said Connaughton, who is back in town to watch the Canada Games. "You had to be determined to run fast and put in the effort in a place that just didn't harbour the opportunities.

"I call this my jump-off point, and I always have that in the back of my head, that this is where I come from. Sprinters can get a little needy, but I'm very bare bones and that was instilled in me here."

Bare bones is an understatement. The 21-year-old McCormack, who grew up in Souris, a tiny coastal town of just over 1,200 people 80 kilometres northeast of Charlottetown, learned to triple jump on pavement because there wasn't a proper pit in P.E.I. MacEachern worked on strengthening his legs so they could take the constant jarring of landing on rock-hard asphalt.

"I think where we came from really grounded us in track and field, coming from nothing," said McCormack. "We don't take anything for granted."

But things are changing. Thanks to the Canada Games, the island has its first rubberized track, part of the $6.8-million Alumni Canada Games Place at UPEI.

Connaughton is impressed.

"I flew in this morning," Connaughton said. "You're always looking out the window to see P.E.I. from a neat perspective, and when I looked down and saw the track and saw all the stuff set up, it kind of hit home. It's come a long way."

McCormack, who'll head back to Dickinson State University in North Dakota after the Games, jumped 14.93 metres to take bronze. Taylor Stewart of London, Ont., won the gold with 14.76, while Jacob Zorzella of Toronto jumped 14.95 for second.

Caseley won the hammer with a throw of 56.55 metres. Angus Taylor of Richmond, B.C., won the silver with 55.88, while Nolan Henderson of New Westminster, B.C., took the bronze with 55.80.

MacEachern, who teamed up with Pierre Lueders to win gold in the two-man at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, retired two years later after suffering several concussions.

"I didn't really have a whole lot of desire to collect any more concussions and my children really made me think twice about Olympics and personal pursuits, so that was part of it," MacEachern said.

The lure of competing in front of a hometown crowd at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics had MacEachern considering a comeback. He had spoken with Lueders and started training seriously again, but was feeling a lot of pain in one knee. Test results showed he'd partially torn his ACL playing soccer.

"Who knows if I could have or not?" said MacEachern, who has 28 World Cup medals to his name. "I was still really strong, and I'm still pretty quick right now, definitely for my age. I think Pierre's going to win two medals. I think he's going to do awesome and I wish I was there doing it with him. I'm not, but I wish I was, mostly because of my kids (sons Seamus, 3, Declan, 8, and Conor, 10).

"I would like to do it for them, but otherwise I'm really comfortable in my skin and what I did."

MacEachern and his wife Triona Herrop were the first to introduce pilates and hot yoga to P.E.I. through their gym Dynamic Fitness. Plus the three-time Olympian has trained some of sport's top athletes, such as Dallas Stars forward Brad Richards - a native of Murray Harbour, P.E.I. - through his company Eli Sport.