The Bobbie Rosenfeld Award is an annual award given to Canada's female athlete of the year. The sports writers of the Canadian Press (CP) first conducted a poll to determine the nation's top female in 1932, naming track star Hilda Strike the winner. The CP formalized the poll into an award in 1978, presenting their winner a plaque. It was named after Bobbie Rosenfeld, an all-around athlete and Olympic track and field champion whom the news organization had named its top athlete of the half-century in 1950. The award is separate from the Northern Star Award, in which a select panel of sports writers vote for their top overall athlete.
The poll was suspended for four years during the Second World War after the CP decided it could not name a sporting "hero" at a time when Canadian soldiers were fighting in Europe. Figure skater Barbara Ann Scott was the first woman to lead the poll three times, accomplishing the feat in consecutive years between 1946 and 1948. That total was matched by speed skater Catriona Le May Doan in 2002. Golfer Marlene Streit finished top of the poll the most times, winning on five occasions between 1952 and 1963.
The 2023 winner was swimmer Summer McIntosh.
The CP first voted on a athletes of the year in 1932, the same year it inaugurated a poll that became the Lionel Conacher Award for the nation's top male athlete.[1] The poll is separate from the previously existing Velma Springstead Trophy, which also names a female athlete of the year and was first presented by the Women's Amateur Athletic Federation of Canada in 1932.[2]
Hilda Strike was selected the first winner on a straight vote of each writer's top choice. By 1935, the poll was conducted using a points system where voters ranked their top three choices. Each writer's top pick received three points, their second two, and their third one. A tie occurred in 1971 as pentathlete Debbie Van Kiekebelt and high jumper Debbie Brill finished with an identical 208 points. Van Kiekebelt had more first place votes, 55 to 38, however the two women were named co-winners of the award. Barbara Ann Scott was the first woman to unanimously win the award, doing so in 1947. Scott nearly duplicated the feat the following year, however the lone dissenting vote was given to a mare, Victory Gift.
No winner was selected for the year 1950, as the CP instead chose Bobbie Rosenfeld as Canada's female athlete of the half-century. Skier Nancy Greene was voted Canada's female athlete of the century in 1999. Greene was herself a two-time winner of the annual poll, and was also an Olympic gold medallist, six-time Canadian champion and twice won the Alpine World Cup. Voters selected their first disabled athlete as the winner in 2008, naming wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc the recipient of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award after she won five gold medals and set three world records at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. Golfers and swimmers have won the most awards with 14 each, followed by skiers (including biathlete Myriam Bédard) with 12. Figure skaters have 10 victories.
Year | Winner | Sport | Win # | Achievement | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1932 | 1 | Silver medallist at the 1932 Summer Olympics[3] | |||
1933 | 1 | Winner of Canadian Women's open and closed championships[4] | |||
1934 | 1 | Quadruple gold medallist at 1934 British Empire Games[5] | |||
1935 | 1 | Considered Canada's top female sprinter[6] | |||
1936 | 1 | Bronze medallist at 1936 Summer Olympics[7] | |||
1937 | 1 | Set Canadian record in the javelin throw[8] | |||
1938 | 1 | Captained her team to national championship.[9] | |||
1939 | 1 | Won North American championship[10] | |||
1940 | 1 | Toronto, Ontario and Canadian champion[11] | |||
1941 | 2 | Won North American championship for third consecutive year[12] | |||
1942 | |||||
1943 | |||||
1944 | |||||
1945 | |||||
1946 | 1 | Canadian and North American champion[13] | |||
1947 | 2 | European and world champion[14] | |||
1948 | 3 | Gold medallist at the 1948 Winter Olympics, European and world champion[15] | |||
1949 | 1 | Holder of numerous Canadian records[16] | |||
1950 | Athlete of the half-century | — | Gold and silver medallist at the 1928 Summer Olympics, set records in numerous athletics events, also played hockey, basketball and tennis[17] | ||
1951 | |||||
1952 | 1 | Winner of Canadian Women's closed championship[18] | |||
1953 | 2 | Winner of the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship[19] | |||
1954 | 1 | First person to swim across Lake Ontario | |||
1955 | 2 | Youngest person to swim across the English Channel[20] | |||
1956 | 3 | Winner of eight tournaments, including U.S. Women's Amateur[21] | |||
1957 | 4 | Winner of Canadian closed and Ontario amateur championships | |||
1958 | 1 | Winner of downhill and slalom world championships[22] | |||
1959 | 1 | Winner of multiple European events[23] | |||
1960 | 2 | Gold medallist at the 1960 Winter Olympics[24] | |||
1961 | 1 | Set world record in 110-yard butterfly[25] | |||
1962 | 2 | Gold medallist at 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games[26] | |||
1963 | 5 | Winner of three tournaments, including Canadian open and closed championships[27] | |||
1964 | 1 | Canadian champion and bronze medal winner at 1964 Winter Olympics[28] | |||
1965 | 2 | Winner of world championship[29] | |||
1966 | 1 | Quadruple gold medallist at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games[30] | |||
1967 | 1 | Winner of the 1967 Alpine Skiing World Cup[31] | |||
1968 | 2 | Gold and bronze medallist at 1968 Winter Olympics and winner of the 1968 Alpine Skiing World Cup[32] | |||
1969 | 1 | Canadian champion and winner of English diving championship[33] | |||
1970 | 2 | Double gold medallist at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games[34] | |||
1971 | 1 | Gold medallist at 1971 Pan American Games[35] | |||
1971 | 1 | Gold medallist at 1971 Pan American Games | |||
1972 | 1 | Top-20 finish in the LPGA Tour standings[36] | |||
1973 | 1 | Winner of world championship[37] | |||
1974 | 1 | Triple gold medallist at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games[38] | |||
1975 | 1 | Set world record in the 200 metre backstroke[39] | |||
1976 | 1 | Gold medallist at the 1976 Winter Olympics[40] | |||
1977 | 1 | First woman and fastest person to complete a double crossing of the English Channel[41] | |||
1978 | 1 | Gold medallist at the 1978 Commonwealth Games[42] | |||
1979 | 1 | Second on the LPGA Tour, earned more prize money in a single year than any previous Canadian golfer[43] | |||
1980 | 2 | Earned over US$100,000 on LPGA Tour[44] | |||
1981 | 1 | Winner of the St. Ivel International[45] | |||
1982 | 1 | Winner of the downhill world championship[46] | |||
1983 | 1 | Winner of one tournament and finalist in two others as first year professional[47] | |||
1984 | 1 | Gold medallist at the 1984 Summer Olympics[48] | |||
1985 | 2 | Ranked 17th in the world by the Women's Tennis Association[49] | |||
1986 | 1 | Seven top-three finishes and third overall in downhill[50] | |||
1987 | 1 | Double gold medallist at World Aquatic Championships[51] | |||
1988 | 2 | Double gold medallist at the 1988 Summer Olympics[52] | |||
1989 | 1 | Ranked 13th in the world by the Women's Tennis Association[53] | |||
1990 | 2 | First woman to win four consecutive national senior championships[54] | |||
1991 | 1 | World champion in single skulls and World Cup winner[55] | |||
1992 | 2 | Won bronze medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics, less than three months after serious accident that doctors predicted would end her career[56] [57] | |||
1993 | 1 | Winner of the downhill world championship[58] | |||
1994 | 1 | Double gold medallist at 1994 Winter Olympics[59] | |||
1995 | 1 | Won silver and bronze medals at world championships, second overall in World Cup[60] | |||
1996 | 1 | Silver medallist at 1996 Summer Olympics, world champion and World Cup winner[61] | |||
1997 | 1 | Earned Canadian record of US$426,000 on LPGA Tour[62] | |||
1998 | 1 | Gold and bronze medallist at 1998 Winter Olympics, leader in the World Cup at both 500 and 1000 metres[63] | |||
1999 | Athlete of the century | — | Olympic gold medallist, two-time Alpine World Cup champion, six-time Canadian champion[64] | ||
2000 | 2 | Winner of three LPGA Tour events[65] | |||
2001 | 2 | Canadian and world champion, set world record at 500 metres[66] | |||
2002 | 3 | Gold medallist at 2002 Winter Olympics, world champion, overall champion and set Olympic record at 500 metres[67] | |||
2003 | 1 | World champion in the 100 metres hurdles.[68] | |||
2004 | 1 | Gold medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics.[69] | |||
2005 | 1 | Set four world records en route to winning eight medals on World Cup circuit.[70] | |||
2006 | 2 | Won five medals (one gold, two silver, two bronze – Canadian record) at the 2006 Winter Olympics.[71] | |||
2007 | 1 | Captained Team Canada to world championship gold and named the most valuable player of the tournament.[72] | |||
2008 | 1 | Won five gold medals and set three world records at 2008 Summer Paralympics.[73] | |||
2009 | 1 | First Canadian in ten years to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam event.[74] | |||
2010 | 1 | Won the bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics days after her mother died of a heart attack.[75] | |||
2011 | 1 | Finished her career by winning two gold medals in women's moguls at the Freestyle Skiing World Championships.[76] | |||
2012 | 1 | Led Team Canada to a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, winning the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer.[77] | |||
2013 | 1 | Climbed to number 32 in the WTA rankings, was named Newcomer of the Year.[78] | |||
2014 | 2 | Reached number 5 in the WTA rankings, was named Most Improved Player, reached Wimbledon Finals.[79] | |||
2015 | 1 | First Canadian to win on the LPGA Tour in more than a decade.[80] | |||
2016 | 1 | Won four medals (including one gold) at the 2016 Summer Olympics in swimming[81] | |||
2017 | 2 | Won two LPGA Tour events, finishing 6th on the money list.[82] | |||
2018 | 3 | Won two LPGA Tour events, first Canadian winner of the Canadian Women's Open title in 45 years, 4th on the money list.[83] | |||
2019 | 1 | Became the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title by capturing the US Open women's singles championship[84] | |||
2020 | 2 | Became the all-time leading goal scorer in international play.[85] | |||
2021 | 1 | Winner of the 2021 Monterrey Open and finalist at the 2021 US Open.[86] | |||
2022 | 1 | Captained Team Canada to gold medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2022 World Championship, scoring her third Olympic game-winning goal at the former.[87] | |||
2023 | 1 | Won two gold medals at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships and set two world records.[88] |
According to the Canadian Press, the award was discontinued between 1942 and 1945 because "sports writers decided athletes cannot rate as heroes while young Canadian pilots, paratroopers and corvette gunners fought for freedom in the shadow of death".[89]
Denotes athlete also won the Northern Star Award as Canadian athlete of the year[90]
No winner was announced for the years 1950 or 1999 as the Canadian Press instead voted for athlete of the half-century and century, respectively.[91]
Joint winners named in 1971