Thomas Hall (canoer)
Encyclopedia
Thomas Hall is an Olympic
sprint canoer
from Canada. Born in Montreal
, but raised in nearby Pointe Claire, Quebec, Hall is part of a water sport family that includes a mother who was an international kayaker and a sister who is a competitive canoer. He began his international career in 1999, winning a gold medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Junior World Championships. At the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics
, he had made a total of 44 top three finishes in international canoeing competitions, including 14 wins. Among these were a gold and a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games
. At the Beijing Olympic Games
, he won a bronze medal in the Men's C-1 1000 metres event. As of 2008, he was a student at McGill University
, pursuing a degree in physical education. He now is studying Business at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
, Quebec
. His mother was a kayak
er who had competed in the North American championships in her sport. His sister is a competitive kayaker as well. His father was an avid outdoorsman who kept fit, and his brother though a natural athlete is a musician who plays Bass in The Sam Roberts Band. For Thomas Steve Giles, Attila Buday
Tamas Buday Jr.
and Andreas Dittmer are among his role models. He claims that J. R. R. Tolkien
was a "key influence" for him growing up and he re-read The Lord of the Rings
every year for a number of years. As of 2008, he was a physical education student at McGill University
and he is now studying Business on the east coast, though living in Montreal ]. After joining the Pointe Claire
Canoe Club, his first major international victory was the Junior World Championships in August 1999 in Zagreb
, Croatia
, where he placed first in the C-1 1000 m event. Earlier that month, he had placed fifth in the C-1 20 km event at the Marathon Junior Cup in Hungary
.
, Germany, he took second, third and fifth place in the junior C-2 1000 m, C-4 500 m and C-1 1000 m events respectively. In August of that year, he finished second in the junior C-1 1000 m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, New York
.
Beginning with a first place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the World Cup in Paris, France, he acquired a total of six medals over the course of 2001, including first in the C-1 JrM 1000 m event at Canadian Sprint Canoe Championships in Lac-Beauport, Quebec
. In August 2002, he had a second place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the same tournament in Minnedosa, Manitoba
. That same year, he also took third place in the junior C-1 500 m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, and in the C-2 1000 m event at the Pan American Canoe Championships in Curitiba
, Brazil
. In August 2003, he came in first in the C-1 1000 m event and third in the C-1 500 m event at the Pan American Games
that were held in Santo Domingo
, Dominican Republic
.
After a third place finish at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Montreal, he earned seven additional top three finishes in 2004, including wins in the C-4 1000 m event at the World Cup in Račice
, Czech Republic and the Junior C-1 500 m event at the Canadian Championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
. In 2005, he placed first in the C-1 500 m event and second in the C-1 1000 m national team selection trials in Montreal. At that year's Canadian Championships, also held in Montreal, he placed second in the C-1 1000 m event. In 2006, he placed second and third in the C-1 500 m and C-1 1000 m events respectively at the National Team Trials in Lake Lanier
, Georgia
. That year, at the ICF
World Cup in Duisburg
, Germany, he placed first in the C-1 4 x 200 m event and finished the year a second place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the Senior World Championships in Szeged
, Hungary.
After five international top three finishes in 2007, he acquired an additional eight top three finishes in 2008 before the 2008 Summer Olympics
in Beijing. Included among these were first place finishes in events at the Continental Olympic Qualifier and the National Team Trials in Montreal and the IFC World Cup in Duisburg and Poznań
, Poland. The win in Poland solidified his winning of the 2008 overall World Cup Champion in the Canoe Discipline. He is the first Canadian to win this title. He then went on to win a bronze medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Olympic Games
in the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
, finishing half a second ahead of Vadim Menkov
of Uzbekistan
with a time of 3:53.653, but behind Attila Vajda
of Hungary and David Cal
of Spain. He credited his victory to "a sea change in [...] life" beginning in January, as well as a closer bond with his coach, Michael Creamer.
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
sprint canoer
Canoe racing
This article discusses canoe sprint and canoe marathon, competitive forms of canoeing and kayaking on more or less flat water. Both sports are governed by the International Canoe Federation ....
from Canada. Born in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, but raised in nearby Pointe Claire, Quebec, Hall is part of a water sport family that includes a mother who was an international kayaker and a sister who is a competitive canoer. He began his international career in 1999, winning a gold medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Junior World Championships. At the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, he had made a total of 44 top three finishes in international canoeing competitions, including 14 wins. Among these were a gold and a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games
2003 Pan American Games
The 14th Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from 1 to 17 August 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when this country had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America....
. At the Beijing Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
, he won a bronze medal in the Men's C-1 1000 metres event. As of 2008, he was a student at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, pursuing a degree in physical education. He now is studying Business at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Early life and biography
Hall was born in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. His mother was a kayak
Kayak
A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
er who had competed in the North American championships in her sport. His sister is a competitive kayaker as well. His father was an avid outdoorsman who kept fit, and his brother though a natural athlete is a musician who plays Bass in The Sam Roberts Band. For Thomas Steve Giles, Attila Buday
Attila Buday
Attila Buday is a Canadian sprint canoer who competed from 1996 to 2006. He won three silver medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships...
Tamas Buday Jr.
Tamas Buday Jr.
Tamás Buday Jr. is a Canadian sprint canoer who competed from 1996 to 2006. He won three silver medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships...
and Andreas Dittmer are among his role models. He claims that J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
was a "key influence" for him growing up and he re-read The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
every year for a number of years. As of 2008, he was a physical education student at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
and he is now studying Business on the east coast, though living in Montreal ]. After joining the Pointe Claire
Pointe-Claire, Quebec
Pointe-Claire is a municipality located on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. As of 2006, it had a population of 30,161. On January 1, 2002, it, along with all other separate municipalities on the Island of Montreal were merged into the city of Montreal by the provincial...
Canoe Club, his first major international victory was the Junior World Championships in August 1999 in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, where he placed first in the C-1 1000 m event. Earlier that month, he had placed fifth in the C-1 20 km event at the Marathon Junior Cup in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
.
International competition
Beginning in 2000, Hall began competing in an increasing amount of international tournaments. In June 2000, at the Bochum International Regatta in BochumBochum
Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr area and is surrounded by the cities of Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Castrop-Rauxel, Dortmund, Witten and Hattingen.-History:...
, Germany, he took second, third and fifth place in the junior C-2 1000 m, C-4 500 m and C-1 1000 m events respectively. In August of that year, he finished second in the junior C-1 1000 m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
.
Beginning with a first place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the World Cup in Paris, France, he acquired a total of six medals over the course of 2001, including first in the C-1 JrM 1000 m event at Canadian Sprint Canoe Championships in Lac-Beauport, Quebec
Lac-Beauport, Quebec
Lac-Beauport is a little town in the Capitale-Nationale region of Quebec, Canada, located on the eponymous Lake Beauport. It has a population of about 6010 people, and lies about 25 kilometers north from downtown Quebec City....
. In August 2002, he had a second place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the same tournament in Minnedosa, Manitoba
Minnedosa, Manitoba
Minnedosa is a town in the southwestern part of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Situated 50 kilometres north of Brandon, Manitoba on the Little Saskatchewan River, the name means "flowing water" in Sioux. The population of Minnedosa reported in the 2006 Statistics Canada Census was 2,474...
. That same year, he also took third place in the junior C-1 500 m event at the Pan American Sprint Canoe Championships in Lake Placid, and in the C-2 1000 m event at the Pan American Canoe Championships in Curitiba
Curitiba
Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is the largest city with the biggest economy of both Paraná and southern Brazil. The population of Curitiba numbers approximately 1.75 million people and the latest GDP figures for the city surpass US$61 billion according to...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. In August 2003, he came in first in the C-1 1000 m event and third in the C-1 500 m event at the Pan American Games
2003 Pan American Games
The 14th Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from 1 to 17 August 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when this country had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America....
that were held in Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
.
After a third place finish at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Montreal, he earned seven additional top three finishes in 2004, including wins in the C-4 1000 m event at the World Cup in Račice
Racice
Račice is a village in Ústí nad Labem Region, Czech Republic. It is located 8 km northeast of Roudnice nad Labem or 41 km north of Prague and has a population of 308. It is the major rowing and flatwater canoeing venue in the Czech Republic. Račice hosted the 1993 World Rowing...
, Czech Republic and the Junior C-1 500 m event at the Canadian Championships in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Dartmouth founded in 1750, is a community and planning area of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of Lakes after the large number of lakes located in the city.On April 1, 1996, the provincial...
. In 2005, he placed first in the C-1 500 m event and second in the C-1 1000 m national team selection trials in Montreal. At that year's Canadian Championships, also held in Montreal, he placed second in the C-1 1000 m event. In 2006, he placed second and third in the C-1 500 m and C-1 1000 m events respectively at the National Team Trials in Lake Lanier
Lake Lanier
Lake Lanier is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River. The lake encompasses of water, and of shoreline at normal level, a "full...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. That year, at the ICF
International Canoe Federation
The International Canoe Federation is the umbrella organization of all national canoe organizations worldwide. It is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and administers all aspects of canoe sport worldwide...
World Cup in Duisburg
Duisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
, Germany, he placed first in the C-1 4 x 200 m event and finished the year a second place finish in the C-4 1000 m event at the Senior World Championships in Szeged
Szeged
' is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county town of Csongrád county. The University of Szeged is one of the most distinguished universities in Hungary....
, Hungary.
After five international top three finishes in 2007, he acquired an additional eight top three finishes in 2008 before the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
in Beijing. Included among these were first place finishes in events at the Continental Olympic Qualifier and the National Team Trials in Montreal and the IFC World Cup in Duisburg and Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, Poland. The win in Poland solidified his winning of the 2008 overall World Cup Champion in the Canoe Discipline. He is the first Canadian to win this title. He then went on to win a bronze medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
in the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
The Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park is the new, purpose-built venue for the rowing, canoeing and 10 km open-water swimming events in the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is located in Mapo Village in the Shunyi District in Beijing....
, finishing half a second ahead of Vadim Menkov
Vadim Menkov
Vadim Menkov is an Uzbek sprint canoer who has competed since the late 2000s. He won three medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with two golds and a bronze...
of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
with a time of 3:53.653, but behind Attila Vajda
Attila Vajda
Attila Vajda is a Hungarian sprint canoer who has competed since the early 2000s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he has won two medals in the C-1 1000 m event with a gold in 2008 and a bronze in 2004....
of Hungary and David Cal
David Cal
David Cal Figueroa is a Spanish sprint canoer who has competed since 1999. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he has won four medals with a gold and three silvers .Cal was a junior world championship bronze medallist in Zagreb in 1999...
of Spain. He credited his victory to "a sea change in [...] life" beginning in January, as well as a closer bond with his coach, Michael Creamer.