Sandy Hott (née Alexandra Smith; born 1974) is a Canadian physician and

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

competitor Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

. During her active career, she became North American and Canadian Champion, and represented Canada in 22 events at nine

World Orienteering Championships The World Orienteering Championships (often abbreviated as WOC) is an international orienteering competition which has been organized by the International Orienteering Federation (IOF) since 1966. The World Orienteering Championships is considere ...

between 1997 and 2010. As of 2009, she was the highest placed competitor ever from the North American continent at the World Orienteering Championships.

Personal life

Sandy Smith grew up in

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

as the daughter of psychiatrist Edwin Smith and emergency medicine physician Luella Smith. Her brothers Wil and Mike, and sisters Heather and Victoria have all represented the Canadian team at the World Championships. She studied medicine at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

, and later moved to

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

, Norway where she worked as a physician. She is married to Norwegian orienteer

Holger Hott Holger Hott, formerly Holger Hott Johansen, (born 8 April 1974) is a Norway, Norwegian orienteering Competition, competitor who has won two individual long-distance bronze medals in the World Championships in 2004 and 2005. He was part of Norway ...

, and their son was born in June 2007.

Orienteering career

Sandy Hott represents the Canadian club ''Falcon OC'', and the Norwegian club ''Kristiansand OK'', and former

Bækkelagets SK Bækkelagets Sportsklub is a Norwegian sports club from Bekkelaget in southern Oslo, founded in 1909. The club has sections for skiing (including ski jumping and biathlon), orienteering, handball, football, floorball and track and field athletics ...

. She has been North American and Canadian champion, becoming Canadian Champion in the short distance in 1996, and in the classic distance in 1998 and 2000, and North American Champion in 1998. She competed for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

at all seven

from 1997 to 2006. Her best placement at the World Championships was in Japan in 2005, when she placed ninth in the middle distance. This result was the best ever placement at the World Orienteering Championships by a person from the North American continent. In 2007, she gave birth to a son, and in

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

she again represented Canada at the World Championships, being in the finals of both the long and middle distances. In 2008 in addition to Sandy also her two brothers Wil and Mike, as well as her two sisters Heather and Victoria, all participated at the World Championships. Hott also participated on the Canadian relay team at the 2010 World Orienteering Championships in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

References

External links

*
Sandy Hott
at World of O Runners * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hott, Sandy 1974 births Living people Canadian orienteers Female orienteers Foot orienteers Dalhousie University alumni Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Sportspeople from New Brunswick