Pierre Harvey
Quick Facts
Biography
Pierre Harvey, CM CQ (born March 24, 1957) is a Canadian sports athlete. He was the first Canadian male athlete to compete in both the 1984 Summer Olympics (cycling) and 1984 Winter Olympics (cross-country skiing).
Born in Rimouski, Quebec, he won three gold medals in cross country skiing in the 1979 Canada Winter Games.
First competing as a cyclist at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Harvey finished 24th in the individual road race event. He was also a silver medallist in the Road Race at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton.
Competing in cross country skiing from 1982 to 1988, Harvey's best finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was 16th in the 15 km event at Oslo in 1982. He would earn a total of three victories in his career, including a victory in the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 1988. As of 2010, he is the only Canadian to win any event at that prestigious competition.
At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics cycling road race event his job was to act as wind breaker to his team mate Steve Bauer who went on to win Olympic silver.
At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, he took the Athlete's Oath and finished 14th in the 30 km event.
He won the prestigious 54 km Birkebeinerrennet ski marathon in Norway in 1987, the first non-Scandinavian to do so.
In 1988, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1992, he was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame. Harvey was inducted in the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2011, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec.
His son, Alex Harvey, made the Canadian team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver as well as the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.