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Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object ID |
2013.55.28 B |
Object Name |
Video Recording |
Title |
Laurie Graham Interview |
Interview Summary / Résumé d'entrevue |
Laurie Graham, Order of Sport recipient, inducted in 1993, born in Orangeville, Ontario, recalls her career in alpine skiing. Laurie explains how she began skiing with her local ski club and was drawn to both the excitement of skiing fast downhill and the social aspects of the sport. Laurie explains how she joined the National Team between 13 and 14 years old and how coaches recognized her talent. Laurie describes how memorable her first World Cup podium finish (Bronze) was and her preference for dynamic downhill courses. She recounts her different experiences at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympic Winter Games and how they were all unique and memorable. Laurie describes 1986 as her best and favourite year racing, achieving podium wins in 7 out of 10 races. Reflecting on handling pressure at the 1988 Olympic Winter Games when she was favoured to win a medal on home soil, Laurie emphasizes concentrating on the race process. Laurie explains how transitioning from retiring as an athlete to becoming a commentator was a smooth transition. Laurie explains how her career was relatively injury-free, describes her life lessons as an athlete, and how losing forces you to reflect on mistakes and motivations. Entrevue avec Laurie Graham, 4 novembre 2008. MP4 numérisé à partir d'une DVCAM 40 Advanced ME de Sony. Temps de visionnement : 00:29:02. Laurie Graham, récipiendaire de l'Ordre du sport, a été intronisée en 1993 et est née à Orangeville, en Ontario. Elle se remémore sa carrière de ski alpin. Laurie explique qu'elle a commencé à skier avec son club de ski local et que ce qui l'a attirée vers le sport, c'était à la fois l'engouement pour la vitesse des descentes et les dimensions sociales du ski. Laurie explique qu'elle a rejoint l'équipe nationale vers l'âge de 13 ou 14 ans et que les entraîneurs ont reconnu son talent. Laurie décrit combien son premier podium en Coupe du monde (bronze) a été mémorable et sa préférence pour les pistes de descente dynamiques. Elle raconte ses différentes expériences aux Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 1980, 1984 et 1988. Chacune de ces expériences était unique et inoubliable. Laurie affirme que l'année 1986, où elle a gravi le podium au terme de sept courses sur dix, a été sa meilleure année en compétition, ainsi que sa préférée. En réfléchissant à la gestion de la pression aux Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 1988, où elle était favorite pour remporter une médaille sur son sol natal, Laurie évoque l'importance de la concentration sur le processus de course. Laurie explique qu'après sa retraite en tant qu'athlète, sa transition vers le métier de commentatrice s'est faite aisément. Elle explique comment sa carrière a été relativement exempte de blessures, décrit les leçons de vie apprises en tant qu'athlète et ajoute que la défaite vous oblige à réfléchir à vos erreurs et à votre motivation. |
Scope & Content |
Laurie Graham interview, 11 November 2006. Digitized MP4 from Sony 40 Advanced ME DVCAM. Viewing time 00:29:02. 01:15What sport did you play? Grew up in a small town where the main sport was baseball; did school sports such as track and field, small but good competitor; liked to be active 01:49Sports idols as a youth: At school looked up to whoever was winning and how she could learn from what they were doing and how she could be more like them; recalls Kathy Kreiner winning the Gold Medal in 1976 Olympic Winter Games 02:33When did you start skiing? About age 5, family activity in the winter, tried to keep up with her older siblings (youngest of five); the family had a winter cabin so it was the winter sport. Eventually joined ski programmes 03:09Did you take to skiing right away? Took to it right away, skiing is exciting, fast, social side with friends, freedom and exhilaration of going fast, suited her temperament 03:36Became more competitive - good, structured ski programmes were available through her ski club, at age 13-14 started doing more provincial races and started to take it more seriously 04:49As a junior competed in all alpine ski events: did not specialize until she got to the National Team and World Cup level, decided to go for the speed events (downhill and super-G) rather than the technical ones. Trained in giant slalom as well. 05:33What was easy, what was difficult when developing as a skier? Was a good glider, good feel on the snow, but early on not technically perfect so did a lot of drills, exercises and basic technical practices 06:36On adjusting from smaller hills to larger ones: the size of the hill not huge factor in slalom or giant slalom; harder to find larger hills for the downhill so went to Quebec, remembers seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time, scary and in awe of the scale, different snow conditions 07:57On joining the National Team - at age 13 or 14 starting to stand out as a leader at her level, coaches pushed her to aim higher, they saw her potential, at this point she started summer camps and more intense training 09:21How do you know where you stand against other competitors in a race? Had a sense of how the run is going, how to have the correct line, gauge yourself more against the training run, since you have a time for that, don't know how you did until you cross the finish line 10:17What do you remember about your first World Cup win? The most memorable was actually the first World Cup podium, winning the Bronze Medal in Val d'Isere, France. It was an overwhelming, exciting feeling and favourite World Cup race 11:35On race courses - Laurie was considered a technical downhiller because she didn't have the size and weight to be a glider, " I liked courses that constantly moved, that had a good flow, but you were always having to turn or look ahead or have a jump"; did not like the long, straight run; liked steeper courses with more curves 12:251980 Olympic Winter Games - first Olympic Winter Games for Laurie so the goal was make Team Canada, happy to be there, the downhill was her first Olympic event and recalls starting fourth, which is the lowest number she had started before; wasn't trying to win 13:201984 Olympic Winter Games - had won a World Cup by then so had wanted to do well, but had been having a bad season in general, did not ski well but it was wonderful to participate in the Games overall in Sarajevo; it was a great experience to be there 14:251986 Winter - best year, everything good, right, good equipment, great shape, when things are going well, things are easy. 7 out of 10 races were podium wins. Ended 3rd overall in the season; it was a very competitive year. 15:281988 Olympic Winter Games - knew it was her last year and was thinking of retirement, was 28 years old and had been on the team for 11 years. A lot of pressure being the Canadian favourite while Canada was the Olympic Winter Games host. Came in 5th in downhill; it was work, fun and wonderful 16:49On dealing with pressure in 1988: thought about it like it was another day's work, perhaps downplayed it too much; know how much to pump yourself up: concentrate on the race, on the process and not the results 18:26The perfect race - during the 1986 season she had back-to-back wins in Val d'Isere coming in second on the first day and first on the second day; it was a fast course that she enjoyed 19:14On the transition between the downhill and the super G: easiest transition among the events; know the terrain since the super G is on the same hill, there are more gates, slower but still fast. A transition from downhill to slalom would be much harder since it is so different, with different skis. 20:33On retirement and becoming a commentator: easy transition, ready to retire, looked forward to the media side because she had done so many interviews as an athlete, comfortable in front of the camera, ready for a new challenge 21:22What would you have done if skiing hadn't worked out for you? Would have done more academically, would have wanted the challenge and feedback; "That's what sport gives you, immediate measureable results." 22:11Did you have an injury-free career? Relatively speaking, 1981 injured ankle and shoulder but her knees were good throughout her career 23:08Life lesson learned from skiing: to enjoy what you are doing, it has to be fun; (23:33) "the most important life lesson for me was whenever I was winning, I was having fun. This is what I trained for." 24:15Learning more from winning or losing: "Losing stays with you a lot longer than the wins because you have to accept imperfection. Winning is the easy side. Winning continuously is difficult. From losing you can reassess what you did wrong. You can also look at as this as is this what I really want to be doing? In can make you re-evaluate why you are doing what you are doing. And when you decide to move forward it strengthens your resolve because you want to go out and do better and not lose." 25:16When you lose do you analyze it more critically? When you win a race, you bask in the fun; when losing you are more critical and ask 'where did I go wrong?' 27:14On becoming a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame: elite group of Canadians, the further I get from career the prouder I am of it and I did accomplish a lot |
Date |
2006/11/11 |
Year Range from |
1977 |
Year Range to |
1988 |
People |
Graham, Laurie Kreiner, Kathy |
Search Terms |
Laurie Graham Interview Alpine Skiing Skiing 1980 Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1984 Olympic Winter Games Sarajevo 1988 Olympic Winter Games Calgary 1982 World Championships World Cup Giant Slalom title |