Figure skater Barbara Wagner, alongside her partner Robert Paul, was the dominant Canadian female pair skater in the late 1950s and into the 1960s. They had begun skating together when Wagner was 12 and they were Canadian champions for five consecutive years (1955-1960), North American champions for three (1957-1959), world champions for four (1957-1960) and, after finishing 6th at the 1956 Winter Olympics, capped off their career with a gold medal in pairs at the 1960 Games. They also competed at the 1955 and 1956 editions of the World Championships, placing 5th both times. She retired after these Olympics, having won Canada’s top athlete award, the Lou Marsh Trophy, in 1959 with Paul. The duo continued their partnership from 1961 through 1964, however, as professional skaters with the Ice Capades. She married several years after the Olympics and had a son, but continued to be involved in figure skating as a coach. She was made a member of the Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 1957, the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1980, and the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1994.
Canada