Douglas McDonald

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameDouglas John•McDonald
Used nameDouglas•McDonald
Born11 May 1935 in Thorsby, Ontario (CAN)
AffiliationsUBC Thunderbirds, Vancouver (CAN)
NOC Canada
Medals OG
Gold 0
Silver 1
Bronze 0
Total 1

Biography

While studying at the University of British Columbia, Douglas McDonald and his coxed eights crew (Lawrence West, Robert Wilson, and the non-Olympians Ken Drummond, Mike Harris, Ray Sierpina, Glen Smith, Tom Toynbee, and Herman Zloklikovits) won the 1954 Canadian Championships and earned a trip to that year’s British Empire and Commonwealth Games, where they brought home the gold medal. The team split up after coming in second at the 1955 Henley Royal Regatta, but McDonald was among those who remained and earned a second national title in 1956. This qualified him to attend that year’s Summer Olympics where, alongside West, Wilson, David Helliwell, Philip Kueber, Richard McClure, Bill McKerlich, Carlton Ogawa, Donald Pretty, he won a silver medal in the eights. He has been inducted into the University of British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame (1999) with his 1954 gold medal-winning crew and the Canadian Olympic (1958), British Columbia Sports (1976), and UBC Sports (2010) Halls of Fame as a member of his silver medal-winning crew.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1956 Summer Olympics Rowing CAN Douglas McDonald
Eights, Men (Olympic) Canada 2 Silver

Special Notes