University of British Columbia student Laurie West won the 1954 Canadian Championships in the coxed eights (alongside (Douglas McDonald, Robert Wilson and the non-Olympians Ken Drummond, Mike Harris, Ray Sierpina, Glen Smith, Tom Toynbee, and Herman Zloklikovits) and, in doing so, was selected to represent his nation at that year’s British Empire and Commonwealth Games, where he and his crew brought home the gold medal. The team split up after coming in second at the 1955 Henley Royal Regatta, but West stayed at UBC and earned his second national title in 1956, qualifying him to attend that year’s Summer Olympics. There, alongside McDonald, Wilson, David Helliwell, Philip Kueber, Richard McClure, Bill McKerlich, Carlton Ogawa, Donald Pretty, he won a silver medal in the eights. After graduating from UBC, he took up coaching at his alma mater, replacing his own coach, Frank Read. He has been inducted into the University of British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame (1999) with his 1954 gold medal-winning crew and the Canadian Olympic (1958), British Columbia Sports (1976), and UBC Sports (2010) Halls of Fame as a member of his silver medal-winning crew.
Canada