It’s been 20 years since the official start of the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg, and despite standout performances by a number of Canadian athletes over the course of competition, the biggest buzz in the city was created by a homegrown hero, cyclist Tanya Dubnicoff.
Dubnicoff, Canada’s flag-bearer, won two gold medals in short-track cycling at the Red River Exhibition Park velodrome in 1999, and was one of the best success stories in a memorable few weeks of competition.
The cyclist, who also represented Canada at three consecutive Summer Olympics and was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, told 680 CJOB her Pan Am 1999 experience resulted in lifelong memories.
“Part of it seems like it was yesterday, but at the same time, it does seem like a distant memory,” Dubnicoff said.
“Having it at home in Winnipeg, being the flag-bearer, winning two gold medals was something that’s pretty hard to reproduce in an athlete’s life.”
Dubnicoff, who retired from competition in 2000 after an illustrious career at the Olympics, Pan Am Games, Commonwealth Games, and World Championships, said her two gold medals in Winnipeg came at the peak of her abilities as an athlete.
“The one thing I remember about that was that everything felt so right. It almost seemed like it was effortless. Everything went so well,” she said.
“The training went so well, the training, the coaches, the teammates. It was just something about everything coming together and it just felt like it was effortless… I was sort of in that flow state and I was able to enjoy it as well.”
Although it’s been 20 years since her gold-medal triumph, Dubnicoff said she still remembers a lot of celebrating – with her Canadian teammates and with fellow athletes representing other nations – as well as her increased media profile as a homegrown celebrity.
“I think the most famous person in Winnipeg was my dad,” she said, “because he was the one doing all the talking.”
To mark the 20th anniversary of the 1999 Pan American Games, 680 CJOB is doing a deep dive looking at the legacy left behind by games by speaking with the athletes who took part and the organizers who helped make the event a success.
Listen to the live coverage here over the next few weeks.
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