Five memorable Canadian moments from the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics
With three years to go until Milano Cortina 2026, let's look back on last time the Olympics were held in Italy
There are exactly three years to go until the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics begin.
Scheduled for February 6-22, 2026 in Italy — Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo the two main host cities — it will be the fourth time the country has hosted the Olympic Games. Cortina d'Ampezzo hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics, Rome hosted the summer games four years later, and Turin hosted the winter edition in 2006.
With the 2026 Games on the horizon, let’s take a look back on some of the most memorable Canadian moments from the last time the Games were held in Italy, just 17 years ago.
Cindy Klassen steals the show
Undoubtedly the most impressive Canadian performance at a single Olympics came at Torino 2006, with long track speed skater Cindy Klassen winning five medals.
Seen today as one of Canada’s greatest Olympians, Klassen won gold in the women’s 1,500m event, silver in the 1,000m and team pursuit, and bronze in both the 5,000m and 3,000m events. The only women’s long track event she didn’t medal in was the 500m, which she didn’t take part in.
Those five medals, along with the 3000m bronze she won in Salt Lake four years prior, contributed to her total of six medals, which was the joint-record for Canadian Olympians until swimmer Penny Oleksiak broke that record at Tokyo 2020 with her seventh.
Clara Hughes also has six medals, four of which came in long track speed skating (the others in cycling), as do sprinter Andre De Grasse and short track speed skater Charles Hamelin.
Nobody has been able to match her record of five in one single Games, however.
Recognized for her achievements throughout the competition, Klassen was named Canada’s closing ceremony flag bearer, and won the Northern Star Award as Canada’s top athlete.
Canada impress in skeleton events
Before Torino 2006, Canada had never won a medal in skeleton before.
Contested in 1928 and 1948 by men before being re-instated for the Salt Lake City games in 2002, where women also competed in it for the first time, it was a rare winter event that Canada had never found success in (Nordic combined is now the only current winter sport they have never won a medal in.)
That changed in 2006, as Canada won three of the available six medals, just barely missing out on another. Duff Gibson won gold in the men’s event, followed by compatriot Jeff Pain. Canada nearly had a podium sweep, with Paul Boehm finishing fourth, just 0.26 seconds back of Swiss bronze medalist Gregor Stähli.
In the women’s event, Mellisa Hollingsworth won the bronze medal with a time of 2:01.41, about a second and a half behind the winner, Maya Pedersen-Bieri of Switzerland.
Four years later Canada would win gold in skeleton again, as Jon Montgomery triumphantly won gold at Vancouver 2010. Hollingsworth finished fifth in Vancouver, just 0.24 seconds off the bronze medal and 0.96 away from the gold.
Women’s hockey dynasty continues
After the Americans beat them in the gold medal game of the very first women’s ice hockey tournament back in 1998, Canada went on a tear, winning the next four tournaments. They evened the score in 2002, so the 2006 tournament was a chance for one to pull ahead again, which Canada did in convincing fashion.
Canada dominated Group A, winning all three matches by a combined score of 36-1, including a 16-0 win in their tournament opener against the hosts Italy. Following that they beat Russia 12-0 and Sweden 8-1, advancing to the knockout round with ease. They were drawn against Group B runners up Finland in the semifinal, who they beat 6-0 to advance to a third consecutive championship game.
Sweden, who finished second in Group A, upset the Group B winners from the United States in the semifinal, winning in a shootout, setting up a rematch with Canada for the gold medal.
The Canadians were again at their best, beating Sweden 4-1 to remain atop the Olympic podium. The Americans finished third, beating Finland 4-0.
It was the second of four consecutive Olympic golds for the Canadian women, a streak broken by their neighbours to the south in 2018. As they did in 2002, however, Canada responded by climbing from second place back into first at the next time of asking, winning the Olympic gold again last year in Beijing.
Team Gushue’s golden curling performance
On the pebbled ice, Brad Gushue and his men’s curling team were beginning a Canadian dynasty of their own.
Gushue — joined by teammates Mark Nichols, Russ Howard, Jamie Korab, and Mike Adam — was Canada’s representative at the Games after winning the Olympic Trials, and would lead the team all the way to the gold medal.
After Kevin Martin’s team was held to a silver at Salt Lake City 2002, Gushue put Canada back on top with a 6-3 record in the round robin, an 11-5 victory over the United States in the semifinal, and a 10-4 win over Finland in the gold medal game.
Martin’s rink would be the Canadian representatives four years later, this time winning the Olympic gold at Vancouver 2010 — the second of three consecutive gold medals in the men’s events for Canada, the third won by Brad Jacobs’ team at Pyeongchang 2018.
Gushue’s team started the threepeat in 2006, but couldn’t make it four in a row when he again wore the maple leaf last year in Beijing. He and Nichols returned to the Olympic podium together, however, winning the bronze medal at Beijing 2022 sixteen years after their gold in Torino — this time alongside Brett Gallant, Geoff Walker and Marc Kennedy.
A record-breaking Canadian performance makes way for Vancouver 2010
Canada won a national record 24 medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics, seven more than their previous record set four years earlier in Salt Lake City.
That number has been surpassed at every Winter Olympics since — with 29 at Pyeongchang 2018 the new record — but at the time 24 was a huge leap forward. The Own The Podium program was funding Canadian athletes like never before in the years leading up to the 2010 Games at home in Vancouver, and the benefits of that were clear to see.
Canada won a medal in ten of the 15 sport disciplines, including at least one gold in six of them, something that no other nation could boast in 2006. Canada led the way with 14 fourth-place finishes and nine fifth-place finishes as well, coming close to having an even more impressive haul. That includes a few fourth-place finishes in alpine skiing, one of the disciplines they didn’t medal in.
Several future Canadian stars competed at their first Games in 2006, including Charles Hamelin, Alexandre Bilodeau, Joannie Rochette and Rick Nash.
When the sports were all said and done, the push toward Vancouver 2010 really began. It started with the playing of O Canada and the handoff of the Olympic flag to then-Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan at the closing ceremony.
To watch the Canadian presentations, begin the video below around the 1:30:40 mark.
The Olympics were on their way back to Canada, a pivotal moment in this country’s sporting history.
You can read/listen to a lot more about that below.
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I think that this era of the games - 1992 to 2012 - was the best ever. The Games still had some innocence, and Torino 2006 was definitely a part of that golden era. Setting the stage for the Games at home was always going to be massive, and I think they did a very good job. It's crazy to me that some people like Brad Gushue are still going. I can't wait for Milano-Cortina 2026, the Italian passion for sport is incredible!