Hugh FISHER

New Zealand-born Hugh Fisher moved to Canada at the age of 10 and took up canoeing as a teenager. By 1976 he was Canadian champion in the K2-500 and K4-500 and a member of the national team, eliminated in the semifinals of the K4-1000 at the 1976 Summer Olympics (alongside Jean Fournel, Peter Patasi, and Lou Tollas. He set his sights on the 1980 Summer Olympics, but Canada’s boycott of the Games forced him to stay home, while a wrist injury took him out of contention during the 1981 season. He returned in 1982 with Alwyn Morris and took silver in the K2-1000 at the World Championships. They captured bronze in the K2-500 at the tournament the following year and then travelled to the 1984 Summer Olympics, where they won gold in the K2-1000 and bronze in the K2-500.

Following the Games Fisher entered medical school, but this did not stop the duo from qualifying for the 1988 Summer Olympics, where they were eliminated in the semifinals of the K2-500. Fisher retired from active competition shortly after, but made a brief comeback in the early 1990s in an attempt to qualify for the 1992 Games. When he failed to do so, he retired for good and became a practicing physician, although he also found time to take on coaching at the provincial level. In addition to being named a Member of the Order of Canada in 1985, he was inducted into the British Columbia (1985) and Canada’s (2000) Sports Halls of Fame.