Sig Ohlemann

Sig Ohlemann emigrated from Germany to Canada in 1953, and along with his family, settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. He attended King Edward High School there, and first served notice of his outstanding track and field career to come, by running a high school record setting one mile relay team. Upon graduation in 1958 he accepted a scholarship to attend the University of Oregon, where he was a valuable member of the Ducks men’s track and field team over the next four years. He was one of their top runners in his specialties, the 440 and 880 yard events, reaching the finals of the latter in the 1962 NCAA Championships. That team was later inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame. Following his graduation in 1962 with a degree in foreign languages, Ohlemann continued to compete in amateur track and field events as a member of the Emerald Empire Athletic Association.

In major international competition, Ohlemann first represented Canada at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, Illinois, where he participated in the 800 metres. In 1960, he was selected to be a member of the Canadian track and field team at the Roma Olympics, where he ran in the 800, as well as on the 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams. After not being chosen for the Canadian men’s track and field team at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, despite having run the second-best time of Commonwealth runners that year in the 800, Ohlemann represented Canada at the Pan-American Games in São Paulo, Brazil, where he had his best international result, winning a silver medal in the 800 metres. Ohlemann won Canadian titles in the 440 yards in 1963 and the 880 yards in 1959-60.

After failing to earn his way onto the Canadian Olympic team in 1964, being chosen only as an alternate, Ohlemann retired from competitive track and field. He settled in his adopted state of Oregon, where he worked in the wood products business, holding positions with both Boise Cascade and Eagle Forest Products, major western United States companies.

Personal Bests: 100 – unknown; 400 – 48.4y (1961); 800 – 1:48.0y (1964).