Olympian sprinter Diane Clement named to the Order of Canada

On Friday, Olympian sprinter Diane Clement, 83, of Vancouver was named a member of the Order of Canada. Born in Moncton, Clement was the first athlete from New Brunswick ever to compete in an Olympic Games, according to a report by cbc.ca. Clement raced the 100-yard dash, the 220-yard dash and the 4 x 100m relay at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, and won a bronze medal in the 4 x 110-yard relay at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff.

According to the citation on the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame’s website (Clement was inducted in 2016), she had already proven herself by breaking the world record in the 220 yards and holding two Canadian sprint records.  Clement would continue to participate in the Olympics as a Canadian team manager and media liaison for many years.

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The Order of Canada has three levels–member, officer and companion. Clement is named as a member “for her contributions to sports and recreation and as an advocate for athletic excellent, fitness and healthy living among all Canadians,” and she is in good company. Other Canadian athletes similarly honoured in the past include sprinter Charmaine Crooks, Running Room founder John Stanton and clean sport advocate and Olympian Beckie Scott (who was named an Officer in 2019).

Photo: BC Sports Hall of Fame

Clement says she learned to run fast trying to outrun the mosquitoes on the track where she trained next to the Moncton’s Petitcodiac River. After the Olympics were done and she was training for the Commonwealth Games, she moved to Vancouver to train at UBC. After helping her team to a bronze medal, she became the first woman to coach the women’s team at UBC. Sometime after she and Doug got married and moved to Richmond, the local municipality offered to finance the building of a track if they would start a club, and the Kajaks Track and Field Club was born in the late 1960s.

Clement served as the first female president of Athletics Canada from 1973 to 1976. Meanwhile, Diane and Doug raised a family, co-founded the Vancouver Sun Run in 1985 (now one of the biggest and most successful 10K runs in North America), and Diane somehow found time also to pursue her culinary interests, publishing eight bestselling cookbooks in a series entitled Chef on the Run. In addition to her many other contributions and accomplishments, Clement also served on the board of directors for Vancouver’s bid for the 2010 Olympics and the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.