- Elizabeth Manley
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Elizabeth Manley 
Elizabeth Manley at the 2010 Winter OlympicsPersonal information Country represented 
CanadaBorn August 7, 1965
Trenton, OntarioMedal recordCompetitor for CanadaLadies' Figure skating Olympic Games Silver 1988 Calgary Ladies' singles World Championships Silver 1988 Budapest Ladies' singles World Junior Championships Bronze 1981 London, ON Ladies' singles Olympic medal record Figure skating Silver 1988 Calgary Ladies' singles Elizabeth Ann Manley, CM (born August 7, 1965) is a Canadian figure skater. She is the 1988 Olympic silver medalist, 1988 World silver medalist, and three-time Canadian champion.
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Early life and training
Born in 1965 in Trenton, Ontario, the fourth child and only daughter in her family, Manley began skating at an early age. Her father's military career necessitated occasionally moving, and when Manley was nine years old, her family moved from Trenton to Ottawa.[1] Her parents divorced in the 1970s, and Manley was henceforth raised by her mother Joan, who invested much time and money in her daughter's figure skating career.[2]
Amateur career
Manley finished in 13th place at the 1982 World Championships, but the 1982-83 skating season proved disastrous for her. Relocating from Ottawa to Lake Placid, New York to receive more intensive training, Manley became depressed and homesick, which resulted in her hair falling out and weight gain. She failed to win a medal at the 1983 Canadian National Championships and briefly dropped out of the sport, but she agreed to resume her skating career upon receiving a coaching offer by Peter and Sonya Dunfield. Manley competed in the 1984 Winter Olympics, placing 13th, and the World Figure Skating Championships between 1984 and 1987. At the 1987 World Championships, she was in a position to vie for the world title after compulsory figures and the short program, but she skated a disastrous long program which left her in 4th place overall in the competition.
Entering the 1988 Winter Olympics, few skating pundits and media analysts considered Manley to be a contender for an Olympic medal, and she received no offers of sponsorships. Battling illness, she nevertheless did well in compulsory figures and the short program. Heading into the long program, she was in third place behind the East German skater Katarina Witt and the American skater Debi Thomas. Witt and Thomas were both favourites for the gold medal, and the media had dubbed their rivalry as the "Battle of the Carmens," as both women chose to skate to music from the opera Carmen. Witt skated her long program cleanly but conservatively, and Thomas fell apart in her long program. Elizabeth Manley, however, gave the performance of her life, winning the long program and coming within a fraction of a point of beating Witt for the Olympic title. Her come-from-behind victory made her a national celebrity in Canada.
After the Olympics
After winning the silver medal at the 1988 World Championships, Manley retired from amateur skating. She performed in ice shows and television specials, and competed in professional events, for a number of years afterwards, being notable for her unusually imaginative programs. She now works as a figure skating coach and occasional media commentator.
In 1988, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada.
In 1990, Manley published an autobiography: Thumbs Up!; a second volume of autobiography, As I Am: My Life After the Olympics, followed in 1999.
Manley has been popular at ice shows, and even professional competitions, for a rather unusual trademark: she jumps off the ice, in mid-performance, and onto the lap of a randomly-selected male spectator.
In September 1990, radio personality The Real Darren Stevens as a radio stunt, admitted that he suffered from a rare affliction: being a Canadian who can't skate. While on the air, he openly "stalked" fellow Ottawa native Manley to teach him how to skate. Finally, after about 150 days, in January 1991, Manley put the skates on Stevens, and taught him how to skate.
She starred as Red Riding Hood in CBC's 1992 television film The Trial of Red Riding Hood which premiered on the Disney Channel two years later.
In August 2006, Manley married Brent Theobald, a former junior ice hockey player from Cochrane, Ontario.[3] They currently live in Orleans, Ottawa, Ontario.[1]
As of 2009, Manley is an official spokesperson for Ovarian Cancer Canada's Winners Walk of Hope. Her personal connection to the disease is her mother, who died from the disease in July 2008; her father died of Alzheimer's disease in 2010.[2] She is also a spokesperson for Herbal Magic weight loss.[4]
Results
Event 1980-81 1981-82 1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86 1986-87 1987-88 Winter Olympics 13th 2nd World Championships 13th 8th 9th 5th 4th 2nd Junior World Championships 3rd Canadian Championships 3rd 2nd 4th 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 1st Skate America 8th Skate Canada International 6th 2nd 1st 2nd NHK Trophy 5th Nebelhorn Trophy 3rd References
- ^ a b Jackson, Emma (August 25, 2011). "Elizabeth Manley visits namesake park". YourOttawaRegion.com. http://www.yourottawaregion.com/news/article/1070768--elizabeth-manley-visits-namesake-park. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ^ a b Ruicci, Peter (June 17, 2011). "Manley overcoming tough times". Toronto Sun. http://www.torontosun.com/2011/06/17/manley-overcoming-tough-times. Retrieved June 18, 2011.
- ^ Cleary, Martin (26 July 2007). "Life brings Ottawa's ice princess full circle". Ottawa Citizen. p. A1. http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=b39a7c51-6e4a-4baa-9d98-4d684a81bffc. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
- ^ "Herbal Magic Weight Loss". Herbal Magic. http://www.herbalmagic.com/?cid=1300. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
Canadian champions in figure skating – Ladies' singles 1905: Anne Ewan • 1906: Aimee Haycock • 1908: Aimee Haycock • 1910: Iris Mudge • 1911: Lady Evelyn Grey • 1912–13: Eleanor Kingsford • 1914: Muriel Maunsell • 1920–21: Jeanne Chevalier • 1922–23: Dorothy Jenkins • 1924: Constance Wilson-Samuel • 1925–26: Cecil Smith • 1927: Constance Wilson-Samuel • 1928: Margot Barclay • 1929–35: Constance Wilson-Samuel • 1936: Eleanor O'Meara • 1937: Dorothy Caley • 1938: Eleanor O'Meara • 1939: Mary Rose Thacker • 1940: Norah McCarthy • 1941–42: Mary Rose Thacker • 1944–46: Barbara Ann Scott • 1947: Marilyn Ruth Take • 1948: Barbara Ann Scott • 1949–51: Suzanne Morrow • 1952: Marlene Smith • 1953–54: Barbara Gratton • 1955–57: Carole Jane Pachl • 1958–59: Margaret Crosland • 1960–63: Wendy Griner • 1964–66: Petra Burka • 1967: Valerie Jones • 1968: Karen Magnussen • 1969: Linda Carbonetto • 1970–73: Karen Magnussen • 1974–77: Lynn Nightingale • 1978: Heather Kemkaran • 1979: Janet Morrissey • 1980: Heather Kemkaran • 1981: Tracey Wainman • 1982–84: Kay Thomson • 1985: Elizabeth Manley • 1986: Tracey Wainman • 1987–88: Elizabeth Manley • 1989: Karen Preston • 1990: Lisa Sargeant • 1991: Josée Chouinard • 1992: Karen Preston • 1993–94: Josée Chouinard • 1995: Netty Kim • 1996: Jennifer Robinson • 1997: Susan Humphreys • 1998: Angela Derochie • 1999–2003: Jennifer Robinson • 2004: Cynthia Phaneuf • 2005–10: Joannie Rochette • 2011: Cynthia Phaneuf
Categories:- 1965 births
- Living people
- Military brats
- Canadian female single skaters
- Olympic figure skaters of Canada
- Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics
- Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics
- Members of the Order of Canada
- Sportspeople from Ontario
- People from Hastings County, Ontario
- People from Ottawa
- Olympic silver medalists for Canada
- Canadian sportswomen
- Olympic medalists in figure skating
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