On Monday, November 22, 1999, Nancy Catherine Greene was declared Canada’s female athlete of the 20th century. The newspaper editors and broadcasters surveyed by Canadian Press and Broadcast News cited her outstanding record of two Olympic medals and two World Cup titles in placing her at the head of an illustrious field.

Born in 1943, in Ottawa, Ontario, Nancy was the second of six children of Robert Kenneth Wollaston Greene and Helen Catherine Sutherland. “I just skied for fun” she noted in her autobiography. She underwent a change of heart in 1958 when injuries to two members of British Columbia’s junior ski team afforded her the opportunity to compete in the Canadian Junior Championships that were held in Rossland. Despite her lack of experience in racing, she finished third in the slalom and second in the downhill, behind her sister Liz, who finished first in both events. From then on, Nancy was a racing skier in earnest!

In 1960, Nancy made her first trip to the Olympics in Squaw Valley. Nicknamed “the tiger” because of her aggressive skiing style, Greene’s results were erratic until she learned an important lesson in control: “I learned that I could come up with better results and more consistent finishes if I held myself slightly in check, if I really concentrated on a course instead of almost blindly assaulting it.”

In 1968, her dream of Olympic success came true as she won a gold medal in the giant slalom and a silver medal in the slalom in Grenoble, France. Nancy and Billy Kidd were winners during Aspen’s first World Cup in March 1968. Nancy was no newcomer to Aspen as she had won the women’s equivalent of the Roch Cup, the Bingham Cup, in a race series in Aspen in 1965. Nancy’s 1968 victories in all three events during World Cup week in Aspen — downhill, slalom, giant slalom — secured her first-place standings in the World Cup point chart. She also defended her World Cup title, winning ten races in a row. With a deep sense of satisfaction, she retired later that year.

Nancy and her husband, Al Raine, have made skiing their life’s work. They built a ski cabin in Whistler in 1970 and spent their summers there coaching on the glacier. When Al retired from the ski team in 1975 they moved back to British Columbia full time. Both Al and Nancy believe that British Columbia has some of the best mountains and snow in the world, and they worked hard to help Whistler become a major international ski destination. Al was responsible for the planning of Whistler Village and the expansion of both Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains in the early 80’s. Nancy became the unofficial ‘Whistler Ambassador’ promoting the area to investors, skiers and the media.

In December 1994, Nancy and Al decided to leave Whistler and turn their energies and talents once again to the development of a new destination ski area, Sun Peaks Resort near Kamloops in the interior of British Columbia. Nancy is Sun Peaks’ Director of Skiing and together they have developed a new condominium hotel — Nancy Greene’s Cahilty Lodge — named after a local pioneer ranching family. Nancy and Al make their home in the lodge, which opened for business in December 1995.