Sara Renner (born April 10, 1976) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

cross-country skier who competed from 1994 to 2010. With Beckie Scott, she won the silver medal in the team sprint event at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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. The city is main ...

and earned her best individual finish of eight in the 10 km classical event in those same games. She was born in

Golden, British Columbia Golden is a town in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, west of Calgary, Alberta, and east of Vancouver. History In 1807, David Thompsonrenowned fur trader, surveyor, and map makerwas tasked by the North West Company to open a trading rou ...

2006 Winter Olympics

Norwegian coach

Bjørnar Håkensmoen Bjørnar Håkensmoen (or ''Bjoernar Haakensmoen'', born July 18, 1969) was the head coach of the Norway, Norwegian cross-country skiing team at the 2006 Winter Olympics. He rose to fame after offering Canadian skier Sara Renner his ski pole aft ...

gave Sara Renner a

ski pole Ski poles, also referred to as poles (in North America), sticks (UK), or stocks (Australia), are used by skiing, skiers for balance and propulsion. Modern ski poles are most commonly made from Aluminium, aluminum and Carbon fibers, carbon fiber, ...

after hers was broken when a competitor stepped on it during the cross-country team sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Norway's athlete ended up fourth, implying that this selfless act of

sportsmanship Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, and with proper consideration for wikt:fairness, fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors. A "sore loser" r ...

may well have cost the Norwegian team a medal. Renner gave Håkensmoen a bottle of wine as a thank you, while other Canadians responded with phone calls and letters to the Norwegian Embassy and sent 7,400 cans of maple syrup to Håkensmoen. The incident was immortalized in a

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

Retirement

She announced her retirement in Vancouver following her finish in the Women's 30 km, Mass Start event. She said: "I just left everything out there today," Renner said after carrying her three-year-old daughter, Aria, in her arms through a series of TV interviews. "It was a beautiful race in the pouring rain — quite the way to go out. To hear everyone cheering for me, it was absolutely inspiring."

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 1 medal – (1 silver)

World Championships

* 1 medal – (1 bronze) :a. Cancelled due to extremely cold weather.

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 4 podiums – (4 )

Team podiums

* 2 podiums – (1 , 1 )

Personal life

Renner grew up at remote Mount Assiniboine Lodge, the oldest backcountry ski lodge in the Canadian Rockies, located southwest of Banff and

Canmore, Alberta Canmore is a List of towns in Alberta, town in Alberta, Canada, located approximately west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park. It is located in the Bow Valley within Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains. The to ...

, just across the

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

provincial border. Her parents ran the high-altitude lodge for three decades, and she credits her youth there for her skiing success. In 2001 Renner posed nude in a calendar called "Nordic Nudes" to help raise money for the Canadian women's Nordic ski team. Teammates Beckie Scott, Milaine Thériault, Jaime Fortier and sister Amanda Fortier also posed nude for the calendar. Renner is married to retired Italian-Canadian alpine skier

Thomas Grandi Thomas Grandi (born 27 December 1972 in Bolzano, Italy) is a Canadian retired alpine skier. He specialized in technical skiing giant slalom and slalom. Skiing career Grandi started in the Alpine Skiing World Cup in the 1992-93 season. His fi ...

. Grandi had family support out for himself and his wife during the Turin Olympics. On September 18, 2006, Renner announced that she was taking the year off to have a baby with husband Thomas Grandi. Renner came back after her baby was born, and lead the women's team to Vancouver 2010. On February 2, 2007, Renner gave birth to a girl named Aria at a hospital in

Banff, Alberta Banff is a resort town in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Calgary, east of Lake Louise, Alberta, Lake Louise, and above Banff was the first municipality to incorporate within ...

. She and Grandi live in

.FIS Newsflash 143. September 5, 2007.

Notes

References

*
Biography

Cross Country Canada
– Canada's Cross Country Ski Program

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renner, Sara 1976 births Canadian female cross-country skiers Canadian people of German descent Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Living people Skiing people from British Columbia Olympic cross-country skiers for Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada People from the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Skiing people from Alberta 20th-century Canadian sportswomen 21st-century Canadian sportswomen