Canadian Olympic hall welcomes 6

Six new members were inducted to the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in Calgary on Saturday, with several taking the opportunity to comment on the controversy surrounding the upcoming Summer Games in Beijing.

Speedskating double gold medallist Catriona LeMay Doan and Guillaume Leblanc, a silver medallist in the 1992 20-kilometre race walk, were inducted in the athlete category.

Daniele Sauvageau, who led Canada women's hockey team to gold in 2002, was honoured in the coaching category while the RCAF Flyers team that won hockey gold in 1948 was inducted as a team.

Frank King and Bill Warren entered the hall in the builder category.

Barbara Ann Scott was inducted in 1949, the year following her gold-medal win in figure skating, but on Saturday, she was a recipient of the Canadian Olympic Order.

Scott, 79, also used the opportunity to speak out about those calling for a boycott of either the opening ceremonies or the Games themselves.

"I think that's wicked," she said flatly.

"These athletes have trained day after day, year after year and this is their chance to compete in the Olympics. If you take that away from them, they may not be able to compete in four years."

Scott, who won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete three consecutive years from 1945-48, said politics and the Olympics should never mix.

"I think it's just dreadful that politics has entered into this," Scott said. "This is the Olympic Games for athletes. They should have all the support of the world and not have politics try and mess it up."

LeMay Doan said the idea of a boycott "saddens" her and that following through on that idea would only hurt the athletes.

"We knew seven years ago that China was going to get the Olympics and we knew there would be a little bit of controversy but in the next four months nothing will be solved," said LeMay Doan, who earned her gold medals in 1998 and 2002.

"We have to go back to the Olympic ideals. It's about the athletes. By dousing a flame that is close to every athlete's heart — that is not the way to do it."

Murray Dowey, the goaltender for the Flyers during the 1948 Games in St.Moritz, Switzerland, echoed the sentiments of his fellow inductees.

"I guess we have no control of that. But the event is for the athletes and they shouldn't boycott," he said. "They should get the opportunity to go.

"It doesn't seem right that all these people who have trained for years and years shouldn't get the opportunity to compete."

Scott reunites with Flyers

For Scott, being named a member of the Olympic order was not only an honour, but also a chance to reunite with familiar faces.

"I cried," she said. "I was so thrilled because for an athlete to be recognized is just a dream come to true and to be here in Calgary with my boys, those wonderful Flyers — the hockey team — we haven't really been together since 1948 and I believe that's 60 years."

The Flyers, one of Canada's most unheralded gold medal-winning teams, were all serving and returning members of the Canadian Forces.

Dowey looked back fondly on his Olympic experience with his teammates, who were thrown together mere weeks before the Games began.

"We had a good bunch of guys," he said. "We weren't the best hockey players in the world but we had a good team effort and at that particular time I guess we were the better team."

LeMay Doan was especially thrilled to receive the honour among the other members of Saturday's induction class.

"They love the Olympics and they understand the power of sport and to celebrate in that way is incredible," she said. "This is very special for me because there's nothing I love more than sports and the Olympics."