How Doreen Ryan paved the way for Isabelle Weidemann at the Olympics

Doreen Ryan was one of the first two female speed skaters to represent Canada at the 1960 Winter Olympics where she wore handed down skates.

Speed skating was included on the women's programme for the first time at the Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California.

She and teammate Margaret Robb blazed a trail for Canadian women, with her experience 62 years ago a world away from that enjoyed by Isabelle Weidemann who claimed three medals at Beijing 2022 including team pursuit gold.

Ryan was camping when she heard on the radio that women's speed skating would be contested at the Winter Olympics.

She told the National Post: “And what a wonderful and challenging surprise. I was totally awestruck. Because I had always wanted to compete internationally, but there was never money.”

Ryan, who grew up skating on hockey rinks and racing at carnivals, returned to skating after the birth of her second child dislocated her pelvis.

By the time of the 1960 Games, she had won several national titles and competed in continental championships.

Due to lack of finances, she once rode for three days and three nights on a Greyhound bus to the North American Championships in Alpena, Michigan.

She did not have a coach and would skate in winter and run in the summer. While there was a speed skating club in Edmonton, Ryan would train alone as she juggled skating and motherhood.

The 90-year-old said: “I had to get out when it was appropriate, when I could. I guess I had to be supermom."

Once she arrived at the Winter Olympics, Ryan was confronted by the skills of some of her rivals.

"[I] soon realised that I was lacking in a lot of techniques that I could see in the Russian and German skaters, particularly, and some of the U.S., but I have a