Samuel "Sam" Edney (born June 29, 1984) is a retired Canadian luger who has competed since 2000. Competing in four

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

Career

Early start and Olympic debut

Edney got into the sport at the age of 14 and began competing at the 2000 Canadian Junior Championship in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

. In 2004, Edney would return to Calgary to win second place in doubles at the Junior World Cup Champs. In 2006, he made his Olympic debut in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

, finishing nineteenth overall. At the

Vancouver Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May Doan Nancy Greene Wayne ...

, Edney placed seventh. In 2012, Edney was part of the Canadian team that won Bronze at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. A year later, he would have his best placement, earning Silver at the 2013 World Championships.

2014 Sochi Olympics

In 2014, Edney was part of the team that placed fourth in the team relay at the

Sochi Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

. In late 2017, the Russian team that placed seconded was stripped of its medals due to the

doping scandal In competitive sports, doping is the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs by athletic competitors as a way of cheating in sports. The term ''doping'' is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. The use of ...

. This temporarily promoted the Canadian team's finish to Bronze. In early 2018, the

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental Sports governing body, sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an associ ...

's decision to strip the Russians of their medals was overturned, thus placing the Canadian team back in fourth place. Later in 2014, Edney would place first male singles at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, securing Canada's first World Cup win. In 2015, he would win another Bronze at the

2018 Pyeongchang Olympics

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of S ...

, Sam contended for a medal, but ended up sixth, the best ever Men's Singles Olympic showing for Canada. He was less than a tenth of a second outside of a medal, a few days later however, he along with teammates Alex Gough, Tristan Walker, and Justin Snith took home silver in the Team relay.

References

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2006 luge men's singles resultsCanoe.ca profileLuge Canada profile
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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edney, Samuel 1984 births Living people Canadian male lugers Olympic lugers of Canada Lugers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Lugers from Calgary Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in luge