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Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2015.5.3 |
Object Name |
Video Recording |
Title |
Rhoda Wurtele Interview |
Interview Summary / Résumé d'entrevue |
Rhoda Wurtele, Order of Sport recipient, inducted in 2015 with her sister, Rhona, born in St. Lambert, Quebec, talks about skiing with her twin sister, their early skiing career, the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Winter Games, memorable races, becoming a ski instructor, and advice to youth. Rhoda recalls that there were a lot of kids in her neighbourhood growing up, and they were all active together. Her father, a former McGill University ice hockey player, encouraged them to be active. Rhoda recalls how she and her sister juggled school, work, and skiing. They also assisted with the war efforts by looking after British Guest Children. Rhoda recounts how she and her sister were injured at various points in their career. She describes her favourite race: in 1948, after the Olympic Winter Games, she competed in the Arlberg-Kandahar (A-K) alpine skiing event at Chamonix, France. Rhoda is most proud of and honoured by the wonderful people she and her sister met along the way and the life-long friendships created while they were competing. She describes the close relationship with her sister as "something that other people do not have." Rhoda describes how she and her sister were prevented from receiving the highest level of instructor credentials because men refused to allow women to hold these credentials at the time. However, it did not prevent the sisters from learning the courses and instructing students. Her advice to youth is to "be honest and be fair to other kids, and respect them." Entrevue avec Rhoda Wurtele, 16 juin 2015. MP4 d'origine numérique, temps de visionnement : 00:19:58. Rhoda Wurtele, récipiendaire de l'Ordre du sport, a été intronisée en 2015 en même temps que sa sœur Rhona, et est née à St-Lambert, au Québec. Elle parle de l'expérience de faire du ski avec sa sœur jumelle, du début de leur carrière de ski, des Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 1948 et 1952, de courses mémorables, de comment elle est devenue instructrice de ski et elle partage ses conseils avec les jeunes. Rhoda se souvient que lorsqu'elle était enfant, il y avait beaucoup d'enfants dans son quartier, et qu'ils étaient tous très actifs ensemble. Son père, un ancien joueur de hockey sur glace de l'Université McGill, les encourageait à être actives. Rhoda se souvient comment elle et sa sœur jonglaient l'école, le travail et le ski. Elles ont également participé aux efforts de guerre en s'occupant des " enfants invités " britanniques. Rhoda raconte comment elle et sa sœur ont été blessées à divers moments de leur carrière. Elle décrit sa course préférée : en 1948, après les Jeux olympiques d'hiver, elle a participé à l'épreuve de ski alpin Arlberg-Kandahar (A-K) à Chamonix, en France. Ce qui procure le plus de fierté à Rhoda, ce sont les personnes formidables qu'elle et sa sœur ont rencontrées en cours de route et les amitiés durables qu'elles ont créées pendant leur carrière. Elle décrit la relation étroite avec sa sœur comme " quelque chose que d'autres personnes n'ont pas ". Rhoda explique comment elle et sa sœur ont été empêchées d'obtenir le plus haut niveau de qualifications d'instructrice parce que les hommes refusaient aux femmes d'obtenir ces qualifications à l'époque. Cependant, cela n'a pas empêché les sœurs d'apprendre la matière des cours et de l'enseigner à des étudiants. Son conseil aux jeunes est d' " être honnête et équitable envers les autres enfants et de les respecter ". |
Scope & Content |
Rhoda Wurtele interview, 16 June 2015. Born digital MP4, viewing time 00:19:58. 00:00:35Rhoda Wurtele - what got her interested in sports: her and her identical twin, Rhona Wurtele, were very active right the beginning; there were a lot of kids in the neighbourhood where they grew up in Quebec and they always had a lot of active things to do 00:01:11Her father encouraged her and her sister to be active all the time; she considers herself and her twin very fortunate growing up 00:02:19Some of the biggest challenges that she encountered in her career was that it was costly; the war came along as well so they were always busy doing other things and they had to work as well to support themselves 00:03:58They had to watch children in the summer during the war; they "adopted" three children for the summer and one of them stayed with them for years 00:04:45Between her and her sister, they won 120 victories in skiing races and competitions 00:05:01During one of their skiing competitions, another skier had run into her which caused her to break her ankle; in another event during 1948 Winter Olympics, a ski flew and hit her sister, Rhona, on the back of her head, which caused her to be sent to the hospital and that was the end of the Olympic dream for her 00:05:46Rhoda competed at the 1952 Olympic Winter Games, unfortunately she hit a stump ¾ of the way down and she ended up finishing in ninth place; that was the biggest disappointment for her 00:07:41Her most memorable victory was during a skiing competition in France, in which she finished third in the race 00:10:30 What she is most proud of in her athletic career: she is grateful for all the people and athletes she met along the way; she is still friends with some of them to this day; she likes to maintain those great relationships 00:11:24On her close relationship with her sister: "it was something that other people did not have"; they inspired each other and each came up with an idea that they could both do 00:13:15She and her sister represented the first women on the national ski team; she was never concerned about the gender boundaries in the sport at the time because they trained and raced with the men; she believed working alongside the men made it better because it made them work harder 00:14:07She and Rhona took on a role as ski instructors after retiring from competition; they took some classes and several years of training in order to teach; they did very well and they passed the exams, however the examiner refused to let them move on from the highest level of training because they were women; they ignored the examiner and continued on with the courses 00:17:05What it means to be a legendary ongoing source of inspiration: they do not think much about being an inspiration; they had fun and they loved what they did as well as the people that they worked with 00:17:42Values that were most important to her during her journey: "to try and inspire people and get them going and make them move" 00:18:37What she can say to children about being active in sports: "Be honest and be fair to other kids, and respect them. Help other people if you have to. It is nice to compete and win, but there is more to just winning" 00:19:02Advice to children who are experiencing bullying: she never really experienced bullying growing up; "keep away…steer into something else because they don't need that" 00:19:30What it means to her to be inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame: "It is a very great deal…I am terribly pleased" |
Date |
2015/06/16 |
Year Range from |
1948 |
Year Range to |
1952 |
People |
Wurtele, Rhoda Wurtele, Rhona |
Search Terms |
Rhoda Wurtele Alpine Skiing Interview Women in sport 1948 Olympic Winter Games 1952 Olympic Winter Games National Ski Team |