Gordon Goplen

Athlete (1999)

Speedskating

Gordon Goplen began speed skating in 1973, went to Canadian championships and won medals virtually every year until 1988, raced at the world championships in 1986 and represented Canada at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games at Calgary.

He first competed at the Canadian championships, as a bantam in 1973, winning a bronze medal. Gordon emerged with gold medals in three distances and Canadian records in two of them at the 1974 Canadian indoor championships.

He skated for Saskatchewan at the Canada Winter Games at Brandon in 1979 and, four years later, would also compete in the Winter Games at Chicoutimi. Gordon qualified for the national junior men's team in 1983-84 and moved up to the national senior team in 1986. He won two gold medals at the North American indoors in 1984, three more gold at the North American outdoors in 1985 and two more at the North American indoors in 1986.

On his 1985 trip to West Berlin, he witnessed the Berlin Wall coming down, and he also skated at the world championships at Inzell, West Germany, in 1986. He qualified for Canada's team during the 1987 Olympics trials and skated with team when the Olympic games were held on Canada's home facility at Calgary. He was 34th in the 5,000 metres and 20th in the 10,000 metres.

Gordon competed in track from 1974 until 1981, was active with four city cross-country teams from Evan Hardy, and was also a roadrunner. He also played with Evan Hardy winning teams in high school soccer and was active as a cyclist.