Bulau named to Sports Hall of Fame

June 4, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner

After a storied career as one of Canada’s all-time best ski jumpers, King Township’s Horst Bulau was recently given the country’s top sporting honour by being named to the Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2014.
“It’s the big one and it’s great,” he said. “Any time you get inducted into something like this, it’s huge. It’s the Canada Sport Hall of Fame. There’s no bigger honour than that one, so it’s pretty exciting and I’m very honoured and pleased about it all.”
This year Bulau was named as part of a stellar class that includes freestyle skiing pioneer Sarah Burke, summer and winter Olympian Pierre Harvey, hockey player Geraldine Heaney, figure skater Elizabeth Manley and rugby player Gareth Rees. Tim Frick (coach of the women’s wheelchair basketball team) and Kathy Shields (basketball athlete and coach) went in as builders.
“It’s a great group. I know a few of them, obviously through the Olympics,” he said. “Elizabeth Manley is from Ottawa as well, so we know each other from there. Sarah Burke, which is a story on its own, is amazing. They’re all as excited as I was and it’s really a special time and it’ll be fun when the official night happens.”
The class learned about their induction in April, but the official ceremony will take place in October.
Originally from Ottawa, Bulau is Canada’s best decorated ski jumper.
He participated in four Olympics (1980 in Lake Placid, 1984 in Sarajevo, 1988 in Calgary and 1992 in Albertville) and racked up an astonishing 25 top three finish’s in his career.
Although he wasn’t able to capture an Olympic medal, he carved out an incredible amount of success on the World Cup circuit over a 13-year career from 1979 to 1992.
He first won a World Cup Championship in 1981 and then racked up seven World Cup wins on the circuit in 1983, which put him at the second best ski jumper on the planet at that time.
His 13 World Cup wins and 26 podium finishes raised the profile of ski jumping in the country and put Canada on the map in international competition.
After his retirement from the sport in 1992 the recognition started coming in.
In 1993 he was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame in 1994 and then the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.
“Anytime you get invitations to be an inductee, it’s always something you can be proud of for what you’ve done and your accomplishments and those are always things that you remember and can share with your family and friends,” he said.
Since his retirement he has focused on spending time with his family and now works in sales of high-end automobiles.
As successful as his career was, Bulau was humble in saying that it was something he never really expected to happen, but added he is looking forward to the ceremony.
“You never think about these things when you’re competing and after the career is over you don’t think about it,” he said. “It just comes along and it makes it more exciting. I’ve never really ever thought about it, but it’s a great thrill.”