Pamela Rai: Difference between revisions

 

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”’Pamela Leila Rai”’ (born March 29, 1966, in New Westminster, BC, Canada) is a former [[Freestyle swimming|freestyle]] and [[Butterfly swimming|butterfly]] swimmer who swam for the University of Victoria, and represented Canada, capturing a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-metre medley relay at the 1984 Olympics. Rai successfully represented Canada at many international meets throughout her career.<ref name=Olympedia/>

”’Pamela Leila Rai”’ (born March 29, 1966, in New Westminster, BC, Canada) is a former [[Freestyle swimming|freestyle]] and [[Butterfly swimming|butterfly]] swimmer who swam for the University of Victoria, and represented Canada, capturing a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-metre medley relay at the 1984 Olympics. Rai successfully represented Canada at many international meets throughout her career.<ref name=Olympedia/>

Rai was born March 29, 1966 in New Westminster, British Columbia, to father Harinder and wife and raised in nearby Delta, B.C. With her father building a backyard pool, she and each of her three siblings were good swimmers from an early age. Starting to swim competitively by the age of six, she initially swam for the nearby Surrey Knights Swim Club for three years, and began swimming for Canadian Hall of Fame Coach [[Ron Jacks]] by age 9 with the Hyacks Swim Club. Jacks coached the Hyack Club in Westminster from the mid-1970’s through 1994.<ref name=Olympedia>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/45862|title=Olypedia Biogrphy, Ron Jacks|website=olypedia.org|access-date=September 14, 2025}}</ref> In January, 1982, swimming for the Hyack Club at 15, Rai won the 100-meter butterfly, the 50-meter freestyle, and the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 1:17.67 at the Hyack Invitational.<ref name=Invitational>”Rai Collects Third Win”, ”The Province”, Vancouver, British Columbia, January 17, 1982, pg. 3</ref><ref name=BCSPORTSHOF>{{cite web|url=https://bcsportshall.com/honoured_member/pamela-rai/|title=BC Sports Hall of Fame, Pamela Rai|website=bcsportshall.com|access-date=September 14, 2025}}</ref>

Rai was born March 29, 1966 in New Westminster, British Columbia, to father Harinder and wife and raised in nearby Delta, B.C. With her father building a backyard pool, she and each of her three siblings were good swimmers from an early age. Starting to swim competitively by the age of six, she initially swam for the nearby Surrey Knights Swim Club for three years, and began swimming for Canadian Hall of Fame Coach [[Ron Jacks]] by age 9 with the Hyacks Swim Club. Jacks coached the Hyack Club in Westminster from the mid-1970’s through 1994.<ref name=Olympedia>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/45862|title=Olypedia Biogrphy, Ron Jacks|website=olypedia.org|access-date=September 14, 2025}}</ref> In January, 1982, swimming for the Hyack Club at 15, Rai won the 100-meter butterfly, the 50-meter freestyle, and the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 1:17.67 at the Hyack Invitational.<ref name=Invitational>”Rai Collects Third Win”, ”The Province”, Vancouver, British Columbia, January 17, 1982, pg. 3</ref><ref name=BCSPORTSHOF>{{cite web|url=https://bcsportshall.com/honoured_member/pamela-rai/|title=BC Sports Hall of Fame, Pamela Rai|website=bcsportshall.com|access-date=September 14, 2025}}</ref>

===International swimming highlights===

===International swimming highlights===

Canadian swimmer (born 1966)

Pamela Leila Rai (born March 29, 1966, in New Westminster, BC, Canada) is a former freestyle and butterfly swimmer who swam for the University of Victoria, and represented Canada, capturing a bronze medal in the 4 × 100-metre medley relay at the 1984 Olympics. Rai successfully represented Canada at many international meets throughout her career.^[1]

Rai was born March 29, 1966 in New Westminster, British Columbia, to father Harinder and wife and raised in nearby Delta, B.C. With her father building a backyard pool, she and each of her three siblings were good swimmers from an early age. She attended North Delta Secondary School in Delta, B.C.^[2] Starting to swim competitively by the age of six, she initially swam for the nearby Surrey Knights Swim Club for three years, and began swimming for Canadian Hall of Fame Coach Ron Jacks by age 9 with the Hyacks Swim Club. Jacks coached the Hyack Club in Westminster from the mid-1970’s through 1994.^[1] In January, 1982, swimming for the Hyack Club at 15, Rai won the 100-meter butterfly, the 50-meter freestyle, and the 100-meter breaststroke in a time of 1:17.67 at the Hyack Invitational.^[3][4]

Rai swam seven years for the Canadian National Team, and placed third in the 50-meter freestyle at the 1980 Canadian Olympic trial finals in Toronto. She did not qualify for the Canadian team, as only the top two finishers were selected to represent Canada at the Olympics. In 1981, she won six medals including a gold medal at the Canada games in the 50m freestyle.^[5]

Among her most significant accomplishments on the international swimming scene, Rai won a silver medal in the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, at the 1983 Pan American Games. She won a silver medal at the 1983 Hapoel Games. At the 1985 Pan Pacific Championships, she captured silver in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, and later at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, won a gold medal in the same event.^[1]

Representing Canada, Rai competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California where she won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 100-metre medley relay with a new Canadian record time of 4:12.98, with teammates Anne Ottenbrite, Reema Abdo and Michelle MacPherson. Rai swam the freestyle leg of the medley with a time of 56.64, improving on her time in the preliminaries. In a very close race for the bronze, the Canadian team finished only a second behind the German team that took the silver medal with a time of 4:11.97. The American team took the gold with a time of 4:08.34.^[1][6]

At the 1984 Olympics she also swam with Canada’s 4×100 m freestyle relay team which finished fifth with a time of 3:49.50 with Jane Kerr, Carol Klimpel, Cheryl McArton, and Maureen New. Rai placed twelfth in the 100 metre freestyle event at the 1984 games with a time of 57.56.^[1]

From 1984 to 1987 Rai swam for the University of Victoria, where she dominated Canadian university women’s swimming. At the University of Victoria, she trained primarily with Head Coach Dr. Peter Vizsolyi who would coach 10 Canadian Olympic swimmers during his long coaching tenure.^[7] While swimming for the University, she set five Canadian Interscholastic Athletic Union (CIAU) records in two years and was subsequently recognized as the 1985 Canadian University Swimmer of the Year.^[1]

Before a 1986 retirement from competitive swimming, Pamela competed on Canada’s 4x100m freestyle relay team, capturing a gold medal at Edinburgh Scotland’s Commonwealth Games. She and her teammates established a new Canadian and Commonwealth record of 3:48.45 for the event.^[4]

From 1985 through 2005, Rai worked coaching swimming to youth at clubs in Delta, North Vancouver, Courtenay, and Manama, Bahrain.^[4]

Rai was a University of Victoria Athlete of the Year in 1986, and a City of Victoria Athlete of the Year in 1985. She has been inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, the 2005 University of Victoria Vikings Hall of Fame, the Delta Sports Hall of Fame, and the British Columbia Swimming Hall of Fame. Rai is the first Indo-Canadian to win an Olympic medal.^[1]

Rai is a retired high school math and social justice teacher and a certified yoga instructor trained in India of the Sivananda lineage.^[6]

In 1964, Rai’s father, Harinder Jit Singh Rai, a field hockey competitor, was the first Indo-Canadian to qualify for an Olympic Games. His stellar skills led him to score the only goal at the qualifying match enabling Canada’s field hockey team entry to the Olympic games for the first time. Just prior to the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, he was removed from the team by officials who favoured an all-white contingent. Rai dedicated her 1984 Olympic success to her father who died from leukemia 3 months prior to her competing in the games.^[4]