Ken Read, CM (born November 6, 1955) is a retired Canadian Olympic alpine ski racer, Corporate Director, sport advocate and international sports leader.
Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Read was raised in Vancouver, Kingston and Calgary and began skiing at age 3 and competing at age 8. He is an alumnus of the Ottawa Ski Club and Lake Louise Ski Club. The Read family currently are members of the Banff Alpine Racers, located at Banff Mount Norquay, Alberta.
Ken Read was a member of the Canadian Ski Team, known colloquially as the "Crazy Canucks", from 1974 to 1983, and competed in two Winter Olympics. He won five Canadian Championships. He won at Val-d'Isère, France in December 1975, becoming the first Canadian and North American male to win an World Cup downhill event. He won two World Cup downhill races in both 1978 and 1980. His 1980 point total placed him second in downhill in the World Cup competition. Read was the first non-European to win both the famed Austrian downhill, the Hahnenkamm,[1] and the equally storied Swiss race, the Lauberhorn at Wengen. These two victories complimented his 1978 win at Chamonix, France in the historic Arlberg-Kandahar, ski racing's oldest classic event.
Ken Read was named Canada's Athlete of the Year in 1978 (Lou Marsh Award) and Canadian Male Amateur Athlete of the Year in 1980.
Following his retirement from competition in 1983, Read became a broadcaster with CBC TV Sports, columnist with Skiing Magazine, Ski Canada Magazine and the Calgary Herald and started the "Breath of Life" Ski Challenge which over the next 23 years raised over $3.8 million for Cystic Fibrosis research.
He also was active with athlete advocacy, as a member of the IOC Athletes Commission (1985 to 1998), member of the FIS Alpine Committee Executive Board (1988 to present), Chef de Mission for the 1992 Olympic Team to Barcelona and Chair of the Canadian Olympic Committee Athletes Commission.
Two movies have been produced covering the careers of the Crazy Canucks - the documentary "The Dream Never Dies" (1980),[2] and a TV movie called "Crazy Canucks" (2004),[3] which is based on a novel he and Matthew Fisher wrote called "White Circus" (1987).
From June 2002 to July 2008 he served as President and susquently CEO of Alpine Canada Alpin, the National Sport Organization for alpine skiing in Canada. Under his direction, the management team, coaches and athletes moved Canada's ranking on the FIS World Cup from 14th (2002) to 6th (2008), fully integrated the alpine skiing disabled program (Canadian Para-Alpine Ski Team) which is now ranked #1 in the world, secured the finances of the organization including a substantial reserve fund for future athlete development, created a long-range athlete development plan (Aim-2-Win) and published a long-range strategic plan. Over this six year period, under his leadership Alpine Canada established three National Training Centres, worked closely with Winsport Canada to establish the first glacier training venue in North America (Camp Green at Farnham Glacier), established a snow testing lab, was a leader within "Own The Podium" program aiming to put Canada 1st in the medal count for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, introduces the Long Term Athlete Development Plan (LTAD) and established numerous athlete development programs to create a high-performance stream for athletes at all levels.
In September 2008 he moved to the Alberta Alpine Ski Association to work with younger athletes and athlete development programs, to be focused on post-2010 Games projects.
In May 2010, Read was named Director, Winter Sport for Own The Podium (OTP), Canada's high performance program supporting athletes and National Sport Organizations in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In 1991 he was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Read has been active within Canadian and international sport for over 30 years, initially as the founding Chair of the Canadian Olympic Association Athletes Council and subsequently member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes Commission (1985–1998). He served as Chef de Mission for the 1992 Canadian Team to Barcelona, where the Canadian Team won 18 medals including a record 7 gold medals. In 1988, Read was named to the International Ski Federation's (FIS) Alpine Committee Executive Board, overseeing the discipline of alpine skiing. More recently Read was named to lead the FIS Youth and Children's Coordination Group and Alpine Youth & Children's committee.
As of October 2006, Read is a co-owner of the Mount Norquay ski resort in Banff National Park.[4] Read currently resides in Calgary with his wife (also a former racer) and three sons.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Guy Lafleur |
(Tied with Graham Smith) Lou Marsh Trophy winner 1978 |
Succeeded by Sandra Post |