Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld

Fanny “Bobbie” Rosenfeld. , Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld was one of Canada's greatest Olympic athletes. She helped pave the way for women in sport., Around 1905, Rosenfeld's family immigrated to Canada from Yekaterinoslav, Russia (today Dnipro, Ukraine), to escape antisemitism and settled in Barrie, Ontario. She showed talents for basketball, hockey, softball, and track and field, at a time when society often deemed sports inappropriate for women., Seeking a larger Jewish community, the Rosenfeld family moved to Toronto in 1922. Rosenfeld excelled in sports and organized competitions for women. At the 1928 Olympics, as a member of the "Matchless Six," Canada's first national women's track team, Rosenfeld won gold in the 4 x 100-metre relay and silver in the 100-metre dash., Only a year after the Olympics, Rosenfeld was diagnosed with severe arthritis. As a result, she retired four years later, aged 29. In 1937, she became a columnist for The Globe and Mail - a rare job for a woman at the time. For 20 years, she advocated for women in sport through her writing., In 1950, the Canadian Press voted Rosenfeld Canada's Female Athlete of the Half-Century. She was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1955. Each year, the Canadian Press presents the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award to the top Canadian female athlete.,