02/16/2026
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Robin Burwash - Canada’s Actual First Olympic Gold Medalist on Home Soil
I know if you Google that fact right now, it will say I am wrong. At the moment, that honour is credited to Alexandre Bilodeau for men’s moguls at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
However, I will die on the hill that while Alexandre may have won the first gold in a regularly scheduled Olympic discipline, rodeo was an Olympic event in 1988 and 2002. Just take curling. Despite being considered a demonstration or cultural event until it was officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 2006, the accomplishments of those men and women are honoured, and their medals are recorded in easily accessible records all the way back to the 1924 I Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, where Britain's men’s team won Gold, and Canada didn’t even compete.
When Robin won in 1988, it was in front of a massive crowd, and his medal was presented on the same Olympic podium every other athlete stood on that year.
That means Robin Burwash won Canada’s first Olympic Gold Medal on home soil at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
I’m working to have that history recorded where it belongs, so it’s properly documented in archives. Full transparency: Jean-Marc Rozon also won gold in moguls as a demonstration sport in 1988, but he's recognized by Canada's Olympic Team, Burwash is alphabetically before Rozon, AND I chose not to look up the dates because Robin is my pick, so I called the research there.
Maybe if I do it right, Robin’s moment–the one he sacrificed so much for–will even be properly credited on Google one day. It’s one of those battles that makes me think about adding “Rodeo Historian” to my tagline. Preserving these moments matter, and sometimes that little extra credibility would add to the Amber Hay brute force energy I generally utilize while I push rodeo into mainstream history.
In the meantime, I was lucky enough to have Robin share that historic moment with all its emotional weight, so I could write it down, share it, and give him the recognition he deserves, even if he may not want it.
The XV Olympic Winter Games Rodeo took place right in the middle of Texas’s rodeo run. Fortunately for the athletes competing in both, the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo worked with them to ensure they could enter Houston while still competing all seven required rounds over the six days at Calgary’s Saddledome.
Robin had one horse to get on in Houston, before heading to Calgary–a horse that he didn’t even want to ride.
His dad was in the hospital, and his days were numbered. Robin wanted to turn out, get on a plane and see him one last time. In one of their final conversations, though, his dad told him to get on the horse–the visit could wait.
So Robin did.
The day before the Olympic event began, he rode in Houston, grabbed his riggin’ from the stripping chute, and was en route to the airport before the round winner was even announced. His brother-in-law was waiting at the Calgary airport, and they went straight to the hospital. Tragically, his father passed just as Robin was walking through the doors.
The raw emotion left him in a unique headspace–one he believes turned into the best seven head he ever got on. A kind of focus that athletes dream of, though it often comes from places no one would ever choose.
After hearing the story, I can’t help but think his dad was still looking out for him. Parents have a way of doing that, and Robin’s dad was no different, a true fan of rodeo and his son. It feels like one final gift–the space to perform on the world stage and show just how incredible Canadian ba****ck riding truly is.
Anyway, as you can tell, hearing it left me emotional, too. Yet Robin balanced funeral preparations, seven head of stock demanding attention, and the added pressure of the Olympic spotlight with a composure that carried him all the way to the Olympic Plaza podium that Saturday night.
I found the entire last performance–and his historic moment–thanks to the great archival work done at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, which I linked at the end.
However, the video doesn’t capture what it felt like to stand before 90,000+ people packed into the plaza. Bodies crowded rooftops and balconies, trying to catch a glimpse of the historic moment marking Canada’s first Olympic Gold Medalist on home soil.
The lights were so bright he couldn’t see faces, just feel the sheer mass of people gathered for his medal presentation. Then, when he was announced as a Canadian Olympic Gold Medalist and stepped onto that podium–hat proudly waved with a suspiciously short feather, for the Robin Burwash I know–the energy was electric. It’s the kind of moment that sears itself into memory, the kind people dream about… and he got to live it.
Of course, I love hearing these moments so I can share the filtered versions, but he’s truly another humble cowboy who would rather talk about everyone else’s experiences before his own.
Most notably and in the kind of detail you expect from Robin? Sergei Mylnikov–Team USSR’s hockey goalie–came into the cowboys’ dressing room completely in awe of them. Their conversations happened through a translator, but here was a 5’-10” 172-lb athlete. The first Soviet goalie to play in the National Hockey League (for the Quebec Nordiques in the 1989-90 season), who wanted to know everything he could about rodeo and the cowboys.
At one point, they may have even debated which sport was tougher.
The cowboys couldn’t imagine working longer than eight seconds. A whole hockey game? Where’s the time for beer?
Sergei, on the other hand, couldn’t imagine a career where you share the arena with a 1,200-lb animal and genuinely believed rodeo athletes were top-tier.
Anyway, this has become long-winded, even for me, so I’m going to call it here. If you have time, watch the whole final performance and medal ceremony.
If not? Skip to 49:27, where the ba****ck medalists are announced, and Robin Burwash made his mark–not only on rodeo history as the first Olympic Gold Medalist in ba****ck riding, but on Canada’s history as well, as the very first Canadian to win Olympic Gold on home soil ~ Amber Hay, Rodeo Historian.
P.S. If anyone can put me in touch with the PRCA Hall of Fame, I’d like the video without a watermark if possible.
Olympic Series:
Story 1 - What were the Olympic Rodeos? A Quick History
Story 2 - Robin Burwash - Canada’s Actual First Olympic Gold Medalist on Home Soil
https://prorodeo.historyit.com/items/view/digitalhistory/85815/search #:~:text=Final%20performance%20of%20the%20Rodeo,all%20licensing%20and%20copyright%20laws
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