Posted: March 5, 2006

Athletics: Doug Clement Inducted Into COC Hall Of Fame

Dr. Douglas Clement will be inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in the Coach Category on April 29th in Quebec City during the Canadian Olympic Committee’s annual congress.

>Biography
Doug emerged as an outstanding track athlete in high school, selecting the University of Oregon from among schools offering him a track scholarship. Doug attended Oregon from 1952 to 1955, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree.

It was while at Oregon that Clement was selected to Canada's 4x400 relay team, representing his country at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. Two years later he was a member of Canada's national team at the 1954 British Empire Games in Vancouver, winning the silver medal as a member of the 4x400 team.

In 1962, Doug along with his wife, co-founded one of the premier track clubs in Canada; the Richmond Kajaks. Clement would go on to coach top ranking track athletes in Canada and on the international stage for the next 31 years. The Kajaks mission was producing the right kind of conditions for groups and individuals to excel to the best of their abilities. From 1980 to 1987, in addition to his teaching and medical practice, Clement was UBC's middle distance track coach. He coached a number of athletes at the Olympics including UBC's Simon Hoogewerf, Tom Howard and Ken Elmer. His success as a coach with both the Richmond Kajaks and UBC earned him the Longines Wittnauer Award (awarded for coaching one of the top three athletes in the world).

As an athlete Douglas represented Canada at two Olympics and two British Empire Games. He was also selected to represent Canada at over 30 international sporting events (as coach general manager or member of the medical staff) including the Olympics, Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships.

Over the past 25 years Clement has authored or co-authored 65 articles published in medical and sports journals. He has contributed to books and films in addition to TV and radio presentations. He has been a guest lecturer in five different countries, and to this day still orchestrates many of Vancouver and Canada's most important track meets.

Dr. Clement, athlete, coach, educator, medical innovator, Olympian and mentor, has been acknowledged with the Sports Medicine Council Lifetime Achievement Award, the Vanier Outstanding Young Men Award, the Sport BC Coach of the Year Award and the Order of Canada. He has already been inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame (1995) and the BC Sports Hall of Fame (2000); both in the builder category. Dr. Douglas Clement will now be inducted into the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Hall of Fame in the coach category.

This article was posted with the permission of Athletics Canada. Subscribe to their free newsletter at: www.athletics.ca

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