Dave Irwin
{{Short description|Canadian alpine skier (born 1954)}}
{{Infobox alpine ski racer
| name = Dave Irwin
| image = Dave Irwin 001.jpg
| caption = Dave Irwin at the 2006 Canada's Walk of Fame ceremony
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|07|12}}
| birth_place = Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
| death_date =
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| wcdebut = December 22, 1973
| retired = March, 1982
| website =
| olympicteams = 2
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| wcseasons = 8
| wcwins = 1
| wcpodiums = 2
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Dave Irwin (born July 12, 1954){{cite Sports-Reference|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ir/dave-irwin-1.html |accessdate=15 December 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214083714/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ir/dave-irwin-1.html|archivedate=14 December 2012}} is a former alpine ski racer who represented Canada at two Winter Olympic Games and won a World Cup downhill. He was one of the "Crazy Canucks", a group of Canadian downhill racers who rose to prominence on the World Cup circuit in the late 1970s. He lives in Canmore, Alberta, near the Rocky Mountains.
Biography
Dave Irwin was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada where he learned to ski at the age of three at his father's ski resort. By the age of 17, Irwin had been selected to be a member of the Canadian National Ski Team.{{cite web|url=http://www.skimuseum.ca/bios/Irwin_Dave.pdf|title=Dave Irwin|work=Canadian Ski Hall of Fame|publisher=Canadian Ski Museum|accessdate=September 15, 2011}} Originally picked for his ability as a slalom skier, he successfully switched to downhill when national team coach Scotty Henderson reoriented the squad and the team's resources towards the speed event.{{cite magazine |last=Ballard |first=Sarah |date=27 January 1988 |title=Wild and Crazy Guys |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1988/01/27/117039/alpine-skiing-wild-and-crazy-guys-canadian-downhillers-take-inspiration-from-a-quartet-of-daring-canucks-who-put-the-country-on-the-map-in-skiing |magazine=Sports Illustrated|access-date=12 March 2016 }}
Irwin's first World Cup race was the downhill at Schladming, Austria on December 22, 1973 where he placed 14th.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=p_dUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3TwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1519,4935067&dq=dave-irwin&hl=en|title=World Ski Record set, Hunter 4th|date=December 24, 1973|work=Regina Leader-Post|accessdate=September 15, 2011}} Two years later at Schladming, he won the downhill event in a time of 2:00.84 beating the second-place finisher, Klaus Eberhard by almost two seconds.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EvBLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c-0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4600,2406491&dq=dave-irwin&hl=en|title=Canadian Dave Irwin Takes World Cup Alpine Ski Lead|date=December 21, 1975|work=Spokesman-Review|accessdate=September 15, 2011|location=Spokane}} Irwin reached the podium again in 1982 with a third-place finish at the World Cup downhill in Whistler, B.C. behind winner Peter Müller, and team mate Steve Podborski.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fkEdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bacEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3155,8947145&dq=dave+irwin+whistler+downhill&hl=en|title=It's Mueller In The Downhill|date=February 28, 1982|work=Anchorage Daily News|page=B3|accessdate=16 September 2011}}
Irwin represented Canada at two Winter Olympic Games. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, Irwin finished eighth.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pjtVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-j0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=4478,123942&dq=dave-irwin+olympics&hl=en|title=Canadians Eleventh In Final Standings|date=February 16, 1976|work=Regina Leader-Post|accessdate=16 September 2011}} At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, USA, he placed eleventh.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=R71jAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mHoNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3115,2214826&dq=dave-irwin+olympics&hl=en|title=Canadian Projection Falls Short|date=February 22, 1980|work=The Phoenix|accessdate=16 September 2011}}
Traumatic brain injury
Iriwn sustained two severe concussions during his racing career, once before the 1976, Olympics, and a second concussion before the 1980 Olympics.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/downhillracer/|title=Skier Dave Irwin : Downhill Racer|work=CBC.ca|accessdate=16 September 2011}} The first concussion was sustained on January 10, 1976 at the downhill race in Wengen, Switzerland — two weeks after his sole World Cup win at Schladming — and resulted in five days in hospital. Less than two weeks later, Irwin was back training with the ski team.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19760123&id=xxMyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=46EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5672,1767088|title=Canada's Dave Irwin Back After Injuries|date=January 23, 1976|work=Montreal Gazette|page=20|accessdate=16 September 2011}} Canadian Corner a Section of the Lauberhorn near Wengen in Switzerland. The heavily twisting curve at the left-hand transition to the Alpweg is named after the Crazy Canucks, Ken Read and Dave Irwin who both fell there in 1976.
Irwin suffered a traumatic brain injury on a training run for an Export A Skier-Cross event on March 23, 2001 which put him in a coma for three days.{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=c5233696-6ad3-4bd1-bb4a-85811b4a8ed8&sponsor= |title=The long way home: A freak accident may have taken Dave Irwin's memory, but it couldn't touch his spirit |date=March 16, 2007 |work=National Post |accessdate=16 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110165824/http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=c5233696-6ad3-4bd1-bb4a-85811b4a8ed8&sponsor= |archivedate=10 November 2012 }} He recovered slowly from the injury with severe memory loss. He and his fiancée Lynne Harrison later created the Dave Irwin Foundation for Brain Injury. The foundation was dissolved in 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/cc/CorporationsCanada/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=4164407|title=Federal Corporation Information - 416440-7|publisher=Government of Canada|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043923/https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/cc/CorporationsCanada/fdrlCrpDtls.html?corpId=4164407|archivedate=6 March 2019|access-date=5 March 2019|url-status=live}}
See also
References
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