Cheryl Pounder

Defenseman Cheryl Pounder owns gold medals from two Olympic, five World and seven National Championships. Her first gold medal came in 1994, but she failed to make the Team Canada roster for 1997 or 1998. Overcoming this setback — through hard work — she returned and won in 1999, and was also there for victories in 2000, 2001 and 2004. Her Olympic gold medals were won at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City and at the 2006 Games in Torino. Cheryl comes from a fine hockey pedigree. Her grandfather, Phil Wimmer, was GM of the Montreal Jr. Canadiens team that won back-to-back Memorial Cups in 1968-69 and 1969-70.

Pounder started skating in her back yard on a home-made rink. She initially played with her two brothers, Kirk and Gary, before switching to a girls hockey league in Mississauga. She also played ringette — a hockey-like game on ice, played usually by girls, using sticks with no blades and a ring instead of a puck. Pounder graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with honours in kinesiology in the summer of 2000. Also a national champion in softball and flatwater canoeing, ‘Pounds” says her sporting role model has been three-time Olympic rowing medallist Silken Laumann, who also hails from Mississauga.