Brockville’s Summer Olympic Connections

This bicycle was owned and ridden by Les Cozens during the 1976 Montreal Olympics Torch relay when it passed through Brockville. An attachment was added to the bike’s handle bars to hold the torch.

This is an official Olympic Torch for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. This torch was carried by bicycle through Brockville by Les Cozens. The torch has been converted to a lamp with a “flickering” lightbulb, electric cord, and a black metal base.

These boxing shorts worn by local boxer, Harold Hamelin, who started boxing in 1941 with the Brockville Rifles. Hamelin also boxed in the army during World War II and rejoined the Brockville Boxing Club after the war. In 1948 Hamelin joined three other men (Don Blair, Cobby Coville, and Norm Thompson) to travel to Ottawa for the Olympic trials ahead of the 1948 London Olympics (none of the men made the team).

Betty Craig started rowing at the Brockville Rowing Club in 1973 at the age of 15. She trained alongside other future Brockville Olympians Dolores Young (1976 and 1984) and Jane Pal (spare at the 1976 Olympics). Craig and rowing partner Tricia Smith (from British Columbia) placed fifth at the 1976 Montreal Olympics (the first year women’s rowing was included). At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics she and Smith won silver in women’s pairs.
Conlin McCabe was born in Brockville in 1990. Three generations of his family had been rowers at Brockville’s Rowing Club. He started competing internationally by 15. At the London 2012 Olympics, McCabe was part of Team Canada’s silver medal winning men’s eight crew. McCabe also competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics (men’s four) coming in sixth, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (men’s pair) coming in fourth.

Ben TeKamp (a former Brockville mayor) was heavily involved in rowing in Brockville for over thirty years. Most notably, he was the Canadian rowing team manager at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, but he was also a judge at international rowing competitions including the Pan American Games regattas in Puerto Rico in 1979 and the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

In 1957, Eve Mainwaring started St. Alban’s Stables in Brockville. In the 1970s she befriended up-and-coming equestrian show jumper, Ian Millar of Perth, Ontario and the two traveled to Belgium in search of a horse. There, they found Big Ben. Big Ben became not only Ian Millar’s most famous horse, but through the 80s and 90s became a Canadian icon. Ian Millar and Big Ben competed at both the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, contributing to a team 4th place finish at both games.
Throughout Eve Mainwaring’s career she was an international coach, trainer and judge; notably, she served as an equestrian judge at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Post card from Canadian Show Jumping Team (including Ian Millar) to Brockville’s St. Alban’s Stables (Eve Mainwaring) during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Mainwaring was part owner of Ian Millar’s horse at the 1984 Games, Big Ben.

In the 1960s, cousins Gwynneth Bedford-Jones and Faith Berghuis took over the family’s property, Franklands Farm, and started a small horse breeding operation. In the 1980s the women expanded operations into the buying and selling of imported horses. In 1990, they brought Canadian Dressage champion, Gina Smith to the farm to oversee operations. In 1992 Smith was part of Canada’s gold medal-winning Dressage Team at the Pan American Games; her horse, Dutch Treat, was owned by Franklands Farm. The horse, Future Vision, ridden by Ian Miller (from Perth, Ontario) at the same Pan American Games, was a member of Canada’s silver medal winning jumping team and was part-owned by Franklands Farm.

In 2024, Franklands Farms is still owned by Faith Berghuis, and Gina Smith continues to run her business, Franklands Equine Services, there, just east of the city.

Gina Smith was born in Saskatoon in 1957. After spending several years training in Germany, she moved to Brockville in 1990 to work and train at Franklands Farm. She competed for Team Canada in Equestrian Dressage in the 1988 and 1996 Olympic Games. She was part of the Bronze-winning dressage team at the Seoul 1988 Olympics and the 10th place team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Gina also served as Chef d’Equipe (Team Manager) of the Canadian Olympic Team for Dressage for the London 2012 Olympics.

This Team Canada jacket was worn by Equestrian Dressage Olympian, Gina Smith, of Franklands Farm, Brockville, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

On loan