Norris Bowden

Norris Bowden
Personal information
Born(1926-08-13)August 13, 1926
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DiedApril 9, 1991(1991-04-09) (aged 64)
Figure skating career
Country Canada
Retired1956
Medal record
Representing Canada
Pairs' Figure skating
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Pairs
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 1956 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1955 Vienna Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1954 Oslo Pairs
Silver medal – second place 1953 Davos Pairs
North American Championships
Gold medal – first place 1955 Regina Pairs
Gold medal – first place 1953 Cleveland Pairs

Robert Norris Bowden (August 13, 1926 – April 9, 1991) was a Canadian figure skater.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Bowden won championships in every division of Canadian figure skating. He was national men's champion as a junior and senior (1947), national pairs (junior and senior), dance (1952), waltz, and 10-step champion with Frances Dafoe, and national fours champion.

Bowden and Dafoe captured four Canadian titles (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955) and two world championships (1954, 1955). They won the silver medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, where Bowden was Canada's flag bearer in the opening ceremonies. Norris and his partner were the first pair skaters to do the twist lift, throw jump, ‘leap of faith’ and overhead lasso.[1][2]

It was because of these two that some of the rules in pairs skating were changed.[1] According to figure skating historian James R. Hines, the results were "hotly debated" and indirectly led to the inclusion of the short program or technical program in pair skating, since it only included a free skating program at the time.[2]

Outside skating, Bowden graduated with an MBA and worked in the life insurance industry. He was founding president of the Centennial Nursery School for Retarded Children (now the Centennial Infant and Child Centre) in Toronto.

He has been inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1955), the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1958), and the Skate Canada Hall of Fame (1993). He was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1984.[2]

Results

(Men's singles)

Event 1943 1944 1946 1947
Canadian Championships 2nd J. 2nd J. 2nd 1st
  • J. = Junior level

(Pairs with Frances Dafoe)

Event 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956
Winter Olympic Games 5th 2nd
World Championships 4th 2nd 1st 1st 2nd
North American Championships 1st 1st
Canadian Championships 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st

(Pairs with Suzanne Morrow )

Event 1945 1946
Canadian Championships 1st J 2nd

(Ice dance with Frances Dafoe)

Event 1950 1951 1952
Canadian Championships 3rd 3rd 1st

References

  1. ^ a b "Where are they now: Dafoe and Bowden". TSN. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  2. ^ a b c Hines, James R. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Figure Skating. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8108-6859-5.
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