Norris Bowden
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | August 13, 1926 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | April 9, 1991 (aged 64) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1956 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Robert Norris Bowden (August 13, 1926 – April 9, 1991) was a Canadian figure skater.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Bowden won championships in every division of Canadian figure skating. He was national men's champion as a junior and senior (1947), national pairs (junior and senior), dance (1952), waltz, and 10-step champion with Frances Dafoe, and national fours champion.
Bowden and Dafoe captured four Canadian titles (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955) and two world championships (1954, 1955). They won the silver medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, where Bowden was Canada's flag bearer in the opening ceremonies. Norris and his partner were the first pair skaters to do the twist lift, throw jump, ‘leap of faith’ and overhead lasso.[1][2]
It was because of these two that some of the rules in pairs skating were changed.[1] According to figure skating historian James R. Hines, the results were "hotly debated" and indirectly led to the inclusion of the short program or technical program in pair skating, since it only included a free skating program at the time.[2]
Outside skating, Bowden graduated with an MBA and worked in the life insurance industry. He was founding president of the Centennial Nursery School for Retarded Children (now the Centennial Infant and Child Centre) in Toronto.
He has been inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1955), the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1958), and the Skate Canada Hall of Fame (1993).[citation needed] He was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1984.[2]
Results
[edit](Men's singles)
| Event | 1943 | 1944 | 1946 | 1947 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Championships | 2nd J. | 2nd J. | 2nd | 1st |
- J. = Junior level
(Pairs with Frances Dafoe)
| Event | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympic Games | 5th | 2nd | ||||
| World Championships | 4th | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 2nd | |
| North American Championships | 1st | 1st | ||||
| Canadian Championships | 2nd | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
(Pairs with Suzanne Morrow )
| Event | 1945 |
|---|---|
| Canadian Championships | 1st J |
(Ice dance with Frances Dafoe)
| Event | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Championships | 3rd | 3rd | 1st |
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Where are they now: Dafoe and Bowden". TSN. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
- ^ a b c Hines, James R. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Figure Skating. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8108-6859-5.
