Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

Local Sports

2024 marks two milestones for Peace Country athlete history at the summer games

Aug 11, 2024 | 6:00 AM

August 11 marks an important anniversary for followers of Olympic sports in the Peace Country.

In 1984, August 11 fell on a Saturday and was the day Grande Prairie’s Willie de Wit took on American Henry Tillman in the heavyweight boxing gold medal bout at the 1984 summer games in Los Angeles.

de Wit ended up taking home the silver medal.

He went on to a professional boxing career before going to law school and is now a Court of King’s Bench justice in Calgary.

This year also marks 20 years since women’s wrestling was added to the summer games.

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Valhalla’s Christine Nordhagen was part of the first Team Canada that competed in Athens.

Nordhagen finished fifth. Her career also included six world championships.

The Wrestling Canada website says that Canada has won six medals in women’s wrestling, two of each colour, since the sport was added to the games program.

Both Nordhagen and de Wit have been inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

de Wit also has a street in Grande Prairie named after him.

Willie de Wit Drive, also known as 105 Street, is in the Avondale area.

This road led to where the old Leisure Centre sat before it was demolished.