Salt Lake City, E Center, 11 February 2002, XIX Olympic Winter Games: Hayley WICKENHEISER of Canada in action during a preliminary ice hockey game against Kazakhstan. Credit: Getty Images/Elsa Hasch

Other names: WICKENHEISER, Hayley Marie

Born: 12 August 1978

Birthplace: Shaunavon (Canada)

Nationality: Canada

Sport: Ice Hockey / Softball

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Nagano 1998

Sydney 2000

Salt Lake City 2002

Turin 2006

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 2

Silver: 1

Other results:

World Championships

Gold: 5 (94, 97, 99, 00, 04)

Team player

Hayley Wickenheiser had the unusual distinction of having represented her nation, Canada, in a team sport in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. A prodigy, she joined the Canadian national ice hockey team at the age of 15. She would subsequently lead her team to four world championships. However, at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first at which women’s ice hockey was contested, Canada was defeated twice by the United States, the second time in the final. Wickenheiser did register a tournament-leading six assists. The Canadians made up for their 1998 disappointment at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. With Wickenheiser as their leader, they won all five of their games, outscoring their opponents 35-5. In the final they beat the United States 3-2. Wickenheiser (along with American Natalie Darwitz) led all scorers in the tournament with seven goals. As if her feats as an ice hockey player were not enough, Wickenheiser also represented Canada at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics in the sport of softball. She played left field, third base and right field. Returning to ice hockey, Wickenheiser joined the Kirkkonummi Salamat team in Finland and, on 11 January 2003, she became the first woman to score a goal in a men's professional league. She extended her Olympic career by winning the gold medal at the Turin Games in 2006 (Canada beat Sweden 4-1).