Elizabeth manley biography

Elizabeth Manley

Canadian figure skater

Elizabeth Manley

Elizabeth Manley at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Born (1965-08-07) August 7, 1965 (age 59)
Belleville, Ontario
Height1.52 m (5 ft 0 in)
CountryCanada
Retired1988

Elizabeth Ann Manley, CM (born August 7, 1965) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. She is the 1988 Olympic silver medallist, the 1988 World silver medalist and a three-time Canadian national champion.

Early life and training

Manley was born in 1965 in Belleville, Ontario, and raised in Trenton. She is the fourth child and only daughter in her family. Her father's military career necessitated occasionally moving, and when Manley was eight years old, her family moved from Trenton to Ottawa.[1] After her parents' divorce in the 1970s, she was raised by her mother, Joan.[2]

Competitive career

Manley began skating at an early age. Her mother invested time and money in her daughter's figure skating career.[2]

Manley won the bronze medal at the 1982 World J

When Figure Skating and Mental Health Collide: Perspectives from Olympic Silver Medalist Elizabeth Manley

Canada’s sweetheart, Elizabeth (Liz) Manley, is a decorated figure skater – she is a 1988 Olympic silver medalist, a 3-time Canadian champion, and inductee in the Canada Sports Hall of Fame. Throughout her skating career, Liz has publicly shared her difficult journey with mental health, and she is now using this personal experience to advocate for mental health.

I first heard Liz’s story as a second-year medical student in the introduction of my psychiatry block. It greatly resonated with me – I was inspired by how Liz found purpose from her struggles and has dedicated her post-skating career to mental health advocacy. Wanting to learn more about experience, I reached out to her for a detailed interview about her advocacy efforts - here is how it went!


Liz’s Struggle with Mental Health

My interview with Liz started with a discussion on how her clinical diagnosis of depression and anxiety affected her during the peak of her skating career. She described the day when sh

Thumbs Up: The Elizabeth Manley Story

Elizabeth Manley made Canadian hearts soar by winning a silver medal in
figure skating at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Her outstanding performance
made her an overnight sensation. But of course it had taken her a lot
longer than overnight to reach the standards demanded by the Olympics;
this book tells how (and sometimes why) she did it.

An army brat born in Belleville, Ontario, and raised in Ottawa, Manley
went through many ups and downs, falls, injuries, love affairs
(including a liaison with a Soviet skater) disasters, and triumphs on
her way to becoming a world-class athlete. Most are detailed in Thumbs
Up.

In perusing the story of Manley’s first 24 years, the reader comes to
appreciate that figure skating at its most intense is not very
forgiving. One of Manley’s American rivals, for example, was a nearly
successful suicide. Manley herself at one point suffered such emotional
pressure that her hair fell out and she had to compete wearing a wig.
She also gained a very obvious 20 pounds.

Having overcome such obstacles and emerged an Ol

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