Deborah Van Kiekebelt (born March 1, 1954 in Kitchener, Ontario

Kitchener, Ontario

The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

) is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 athlete and sports broadcaster. She was a gold medallist in the pentathlon

Pentathlon

A pentathlon is a contest featuring five different events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words pente and -athlon . The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Ancient Olympic Games...

 at the 1971 Pan American Games

1971 Pan American Games

The 6th Pan American Games were held in Cali, Colombia, from July 30 to August 13, 1971. The then called "Salsa World Capital", located at the foot of the Andes Mountains, hosted a total of 2,935 athletes from 32 countries, who participated in seventeen sports...

, and was named that year's Canadian Woman Athlete of the year. Later, she became Canada's first female sports broadcaster.

Biography

Van Kiekebelt attended Clarkson Secondary School

Clarkson Secondary School

Clarkson Secondary School is a high school located in the Clarkson community of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; designated by the Peel District School Board. Clarkson is an average school in both population Clarkson Secondary School is a high school located in the Clarkson community of Mississauga,...

 in Mississauga, Ontario

Mississauga, Ontario

Mississauga is a city in Southern Ontario located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, and in the western part of the Greater Toronto Area. With an estimated population of 734,000, it is Canada's sixth-most populous municipality, and has almost doubled in population in each of the last two decades...

. During her high school days at Clarkson, she not only captured many Peel regional titles, but set records in several events.

After her Pan-Am gold medal win in Cali, Colombia, she was appointed to the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame in 1977. She became the first female Canadian sports broadcaster, appearing on Citytv

Citytv

Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...

 and NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, and was host of six television series.

Van Kiekebelt was a director for the See You In Athens Fund which supported Canadian athletes attending the 2004 Summer Olympics

2004 Summer Olympics

The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

.