Pierre Lueders
Bobsleigh Athlete - Inducted 1999
Pierre Lueders is an outstanding athlete who has represented both Alberta and Canada at the highest levels of competition. He became interested in bobsleigh at the age of 20 and joined the World Circuit in 1990. In 1994-95, Pierre Lueders made bobsleigh history by winning World Cup gold in all three categories (two-man, four-man, and combined) in the same season.
Pierre Lueders, with his brakeman Dave MacEachern, captured gold at the World Cup Championships in 1996-97 and 1997-98. The duo followed up consecutive World Cup Championship seasons by winning the gold medal in the two-man bobsleigh at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Their win was even more remarkable in that they tied the Italian team on their final run. The chances of posting at the exact same time are about 1,000,000 - 1 and Lueders and MacEachern did just that to capture the gold medal. Pierre Lueders, a native of Edmonton who now lives in Calgary, is one of Alberta's great ambassadors of the sport.
After Induction
Pierre announced his retirement from the competition in July 2010. He was a five-time Olympian and two-time Olympic medalist - gold in 1998 and then he won a silver at the 2006 Torino Olympic games in the two-man bobsleigh with Lascelles Brown. At the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, he finished fifth in both the two-man and the four-man events.
Timeline:
• 2006 - Torino Olympic Winter Games two-man bobsleigh - silver medal
• 2010 - Vancouver Olympic Winter Games - fifth in both the two-man and four-man.
• 2010 - Announced his retirement
• 2010 - 2012 - became the pilot coach for Canada's World Cup and Europa Cup teams. He resigned from this position in May 2012.
• 2012 – became head coach of the Russian Bobsleigh program and team.
• 2012 - Canada's Sports Hall of Fame inductee - Oct. 18, 2012
