The 2005 list of the Most Influential Canadian Women in Sport and Physical Activity includes women new to the list, returnees from previous years, and a new feature called "the ones to watch." Former Rowing Olympians Tricia Smith and Laryssa Biesenthal are among those featured this year. Twenty women were named, and two emerging leaders were added to the list compiled by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS).
Tricia Smith was recognized for national level volunteer work in sport. A member of four Olympic Teams, competing in rowing, during her 13-year international career, Tricia Smith won a silver Olympic medal in Los Angeles in 1984, gold at the Commonwealth Games in 1986 and seven World Championship medals. When her rowing career was complete, she practiced law in Vancouver, and is now a Partner at Barnes, Craig & Associates. Tricia is the founder and past president of Olympians BC, vice president of Olympians Canada, a member of the Board of Legacies Now, a member of the Executive Committee of the International Rowing Federation (FISA) and Chair of the Women's Commission and a Board Member of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) which oversees the International Court of Arbitration. She was elected as a member of the Executive Board of the Canadian Olympic Committee to serve a four-year term (2005-2008), and was was also selected as the Chef de Mission for the Canadian team at the 2007 Pan American Games.
The two women named to the new category of Ones to Watch both moved into new coaching positions in 2005, Biesenthal with Rowing Canada Aviron, and Tanya Dubnicoff in BMX cycling.
A two-time Olympic bronze medalist, Laryssa Biesenthal of Victoria (originally from Walkerton, Ont.) is Rowing Canada's full-time Assistant National Team coach. In 2005 she coached the lightweight women's quad to the first ever gold medal at the 2005 World Championships. She previously coached the lightweight double to gold at the Lucerne World Cup in 2004, as well as the 2003 Pan Am rowing team and development crews. She is currently focusing on preparing Canada's lightweight women rowers for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
This is the fourth time CAAWS has announced its Most Influential Women list. In presenting the 2005 names, Winnipeg's Theresa Harvey Pruden Chair of the CAAWS Board of Directors reflected on the spectrum of women named. "This impressive group certainly demonstrates the diversity of roles that women fulfill in sport and physical activity in Canada. These women exercise their influence in many different ways, and in many different types of organizations from Special Olympics to International Olympic involvement, and from parks and recreation to the elite level of sport. They are a blend of volunteers, athletes and career women, who have inspired others with their accomplishments and made an indelible mark to improve both the participation in and leadership of Canadian sport and physical activity."