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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, December 17, 2009 · 4 Canada's skiing twins will carry Olympic torch in Oakville By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF T hey've been called, `two of the world's best women downhill skiers and probably the best all-around athletes Canada has ever produced.' On Saturday, the past glory of identical twin skiers Rhoda and Rhona Wurtele will be recognized as the pair, now 87 years old, march the Olympic Torch destined for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games through the streets of Oakville. "I'm very delighted," said Rhoda, from her home in Etobicoke. "It's wonderful just to be participating in the Olympics. Of course, it was always our great ambition to represent our country there." Born in St. Lambert, Québec in 1922, the twins began skiing at the tender age of eight. As the daughters of McGill hockey player John Stone Hunter Wurtele, the pair was permitted to THE TWINSKIS: Rhoda (left) and Rhona Wurtele with Emile Allais at the 1948 Olympics and Rhona (left) and Rhoda with John Eaves, Rhoda's son, at Corvatch, St. Moritz in 1994. explore a wide variety of sports including swimming, tennis, basketball and badminton. Skiing, however, would stay with them. "I loved it because of the outdoors and companionship, the beautiful air and the exercise," said Rhoda. "We were right there on the hill (of Westmont Mountain) and we would ski down to where the jumps were. Our brothers jumped so we got interested in that. Our one brother challenged us on the big one so we said, `Right now,' and that was that. We thought it was sissy to carry poles." While those first familial victories may have been the sweetest, many more were to come as the twins began skiing competitively. From 1942 to 1952, the twins came in first and second in nearly every one of the several dozen skiing competitions they entered, which occurred in both Canada and the United States. These victories included the 1942 Ladies' International Ski Meet, Mount Tremblant, Québec, where Rhona came first in the slalom event while Rhoda placed first on the downhill event. The pair also came in first in the combined event category for this competition. These three first-place victories were repeated over and over again including at the 1947 United States Eastern National Championships, Pico Peak, Vermont, where Rhona took first place in the downhill category and Rhoda came in first in the slalom category. The combined event in this competition also fell to the sisters. Rhoda credits the sisterly bond the two shared with being the secret to their success. "We had each other and there was competition although we didn't really care as to who won what. That wasn't the point," said Rhoda. This carefree attitude the twins took towards racing was put to the test in 1948 when they were selected to represent Canada on the women's alpine team at the Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The trouble began just 16 days before the games were to begin when a male teammate took a sudden turn in front of Rhoda during a practice run. "He cut on (hit) my skies," said Rhoda. "It was just a stupid incident and I fell and broke my ankle." The problems continued two days later when Rhona hit a rock during another practice run, which caused a ski to fly up and hit her in the head. The accident tore a gash in the back of Rhona's head, but after eight days in hospital she attempted to compete in her first Olympic downhill event. The event got off to a rocky start. "Rhona had just gotten out of the hospital, but she was determined to race. I mean, it was her lifetime's ambition to go into the Olympics," said Rhoda. "She was sitting there waiting for her number to come up and a man came up with his skies on his shoulder, he turned around and, guess what, the skies hit her in the back of the head." Despite her now multiple head injuries Rhona raced in the downhill event, but was unable to take a sharp corner and crashed off the course. Rhona suffered a chipped anklebone in this incident, but was still able to stand up and finish the race. "We were taught to finish what we started," said Rhona, in the book No Limits. Rhoda noted the chaos of the 1948 Olympics was an unfortunate sign of the times. While not winning medals at the Olympics proved disappointing, the twins did not dwell on it. They went on to win more skiing championships throughout North America and Europe. Other achievements of the twins include establishing the Twinski Club for adult women and girls in 1964 and induction into the Canadian Amateur Athletic Hall of Fame in 1953. The Olympic torch will arrive in Oakville just after 2:30 p.m. at Lakeshore and Southdown roads. It will travel along Lakeshore Road, passing Navy and Water (officially Adam van Koeverden Street) streets before moving down into the Oakville Harbour and journeying up the creek before heading back on land and onto Navy Street and then resuming its westbound course along Lakeshore Road. It will then head north on Dorval Drive where the route will end at Mary Street.