Lucien Laferté

Canadian Lucien Laferté began ski jumping in Quebec the late 1930s, where his large jumps, as well as his nerve and style, earned him the nickname “The Flying Cowboy”. Although he quickly became well-known in his home province, he also had a reputation for finishing third in tournaments and his athletic career did not gain national attention until after World War II. The selection committee for the 1948 Winter Olympics took notice of his achievements and chose him for a spot following his performance at the 1947 Canadian National Championships. Less than a month before the Games, however, he suffered a fracture and a sprain in accident at a local tournament in Switzerland and was forced to drop out.

Laferté came back big in 1949 by winning that year’s Canadian National Championships and was then selected to represent his nation, and coach the jumping delegation, at the 1950 World Championships, where he injured an ankle and failed to place. He rebounded and won the Canadian National Championships in 1951, in addition to making the longest jump of the tournament at 160 feet, which edged him closer to a spot on the Canadian Olympic squad for the 1952 Games. He earned this spot at the Olympic trials, but sprained his knees shortly prior to the event and finished only 41st in a field of 44 competitors. He recovered in time to attempt to defend his title at the 1952 Canadian Championships, but fractured his arm in practice and bowed out of the tournament. He tried to make the Olympic team once more in 1955, when the Canadian Championships and Olympic trials merged into one event, but failed to make the cut. He continued to compete in tournaments until retiring in the mid-1960s.