1932 Canadian Olympic Men’s Speed Skating Team

With the Olympics in full swing, I thought I’d share a postcard from my family photo collection, of the 1932 Canadian Olympic Men’s Speed Skating Team.

The third man from the left was my great-uncle, Harry Smyth. He was the husband of my paternal grandmother’s half-sister.

The full team was (left to right in the photo):

• Marion McCarthy
• Leopold Sylvester
• Harry Smyth
• Herb Flack
• Frank Stack
• Alex Hurd
• Willy Logan

At the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, 31 men competed in 4 speed skating events. They represented 6 countries: Canada, Finland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, United States. What? No Netherlands? Imagine!

The Canadian men took home 1 silver and 4 bronze medals, won by:

• Frank Stack – Bronze, 10,000m
• Alex Hurd – Bronze, 500m; Silver, 1500m
• Willy Logan – Bronze, 1500m; Bronze, 5000m

I wonder what my Uncle Harry and his fellow Olympians would think of the 2018 Olympics? It’s a different world than they experienced 86 years ago. The outfits sure have changed! And there are a lot more women – in the 1932 Olympics, there were 21 female athletes (figure skaters) and 234 male athletes.