Milt Ottey, Dave Steen, and Fred Foot have been announced as members of the Athletics Canada 2012 Hall of Fame class.

The Class of 2012 will officially be inducted in conjunction with the Canadian Track and Field Trials taking place in Calgary, Alta., June 27-30.  CBC Sports Weekends’ Scott Russell will serve as host of the official induction which will kick off “Hall of Fame Friday” at the Trials on June 29.   

Milton “Milt” Ottey finished the 1982 competitive season as the number one world ranked high jumper.  Ottey was a finalist at the Olympic Games and World Championships; he retired with a personal best of 2.33-metres.  Ottey is a triple Commonwealth Games medallist (gold in 1982 and 1986, bronze in 1990), won Pan American Games bronze in 1979 and was eight-time national champion. 

Dave Steen won bronze in the decathlon at the 1988 Olympic Games.  The 1983 Pan American Games gold medallist was the first Canadian to ever surpass the magic mark of 8000 points in the decathlon.  Steen was awarded the Canadian Track and Field Associations’ (now Athletics Canada) most outstanding athlete in field events award on four occasions.  Steen remains active in Canadian sport as Ambassador for Canada’s Fair Play Commission.

Fred Foot, (1917-2002) is responsible for having developed some of the world’s best middle distance runners in the 1950’s and 1960’s, athletes such as Bruce Kidd, Bill Crothers, and George Sheppard.  In 1956 Foot was named head coach of the Canadian Track and Field Olympic team and coached at least one athlete on every Olympic Games team between 1948 and 1984.  Foot recruited a bevy of current successful coaches such as Andy Higgins, Carl Georgevski and Molly Killingbeck.  Foot coached at the East York Track Club for 25 years and at the University of Toronto for 15 years.

For more information visit www.athletics.ca/halloffame.

Source: Athletics Canada