What is the best age to put a child on skis? I started skiing when I was three years old. My parents were founding members of the Red Mountain Ski Club in Rossland, BC where I grew up and so they got all us kids skiing very early. I think three is a good time to start - at leat it worked for me and for our sons. I know some people get their kids started earlier - it all depends on the parents interests and their patience.

I started ski racing when I was in Grade 8 (age 13). In Rossland one of the biggest events in our high school was the annual Inter High School ski meet with teams coming from all over BC and Washington State. Making the High School Ski Team was a big thing, and we got to go on ski trips to other races. A big motivation for me was to go on the school ski trips! Today most kids are introduced to ski racing before the age of ten.

When I was 14 our club hosted the Canadian Junior Ski Championships and all of a sudden I wanted to be in the race, but I didn't qualify. At the last minute several girls on the BC team got injured and so I got to race - and I did really well, placing third in the slalom and second in the downhill. My sister Elizabeth won both events. I guess we had the home town advantage - Red Mountain was a pretty tough hill and many of the other racers were psyched out. That same winter Lucile Wheeler of St. Jovite, Quebec won the World Ski Championships and there were two racers from Rossland on the team with her. I heard all about racing in Europe, and started to dream about racing in Europe.

I raced in three Olympics, the first in 1960 in Squaw Valley when I was 16 years old. I was fortunate to room with Anne Heggtveit of Ottawa and she won the gold medal in the slalom. Anne was the team veteran and I was the rookie. She was really kind to me, and taught me lots of things such as doing exercises every morning before breakfast. She had great technique, but I realized that if she could do it, I could do it. That's when I decided that one day I would win a gold medal too.

When I started racing I used wood skis and leather boots. Our bindings were called 'bear traps' with the boots pushed tightly into metal toe pieces and leather straps wrapped around and around and cinched up tight. There was no way they would release in a fall, so sometimes it was a choice between breaking a ski or breaking a leg. Fortunately a few years later 'safety' bindings were invented which reduced injuries. By the time I finished my racing career we were using fibreglass skis and plastic ski boots. Our clothing had gotten very streamlined, but with stretch wool not the Lycra suits they have today. For slalom we raced in stretch pants and we had a great looking red sweater with a strip of maple leafs down the sleeve.

I won my medal on Rossignol Strato giant slalom skis that were 207 cm long. Today women race that event on 188 cm skis. I used 200 cm skis for slalom and today they use 155 cm. We raced downhill on 215 cm skis and today they use 210s. I used Lange ski boots in 1967 and 1968 which were the first really successful all plastic boots. The Canadian Ski Team helped to design the boot in 1966.

I raced in all three events, slalom, giant slalom and downhill. I liked them all, and won World Cup races in all three, but I won more giant slaloms than anything else. When I raced there was no SuperG, and Giant Slalom had only one run but it was much longer. My winning time in the Olympics was 1:51.97. Today there are two runs and they are usually just over a minute.

No, it was started in 1968 in Ontario by Al Raine (now my husband) and Kell Antoft. I had won the World Cup the year before and so they asked if they could use my name on the program and I agreed. After I won the Olympics I visited Ontario and skied with the first winning Nancy Greene Ski League team. Steve Podborski was on that team, and he went on to be one of Canada's top downhill racers. The Nancy Greene Ski League is still going strong today and is offered by ski clubs across Canada. I have always been the Honourary Chairman but it is hundreds of volunteers all across the country who run the program.

Sun Peaks Resort! I live in our hotel right on the edge the slopes and ski almost every day. I never get tired of it. We have so much to choose from: long cruising runs, steep mogul pitches and wide open powder bowls. I love skiing in the glades and the powder is great! We have three high speed quad lifts up three different mountains, and there are no lift lines and the runs are never crowded. I'm spoiled.

I've skied all over the world and enjoyed so many places. When you get a magic day with fresh powder, sunshine, great trails and good friends to enjoy it with , you make memories that last a lifetim

The Olympics are much more commercial now, but I imagine the actual competition feels much the same. It's the one big event where the whole world is watching so it is very interesting to see who can handle the pressure and still per form their best.

In my day all the athletes were supposed to be amateurs, that is they were not supposed to earn any money from their sport. In reality even then many athletes were being paid (under the table) and the Russians and some other countries were being supported by their governments. I think it is much better today in that anyone who qualifies can compete, even if they are professional athletes.

The other change is quite negative. Today there are performance enhancing drugs available and some athletes succumb to the temptation and cheat. I am very hopeful that the new World Anti Doping Agency will do everything in their power to stop the use of these drugs because not only is it cheating, but they can be very harmful to your health.

I was fortunate to grow up eating a pretty uncomplicated diet with good, healthy foods, oatmeal for breakfast and fresh vegetables, meat, potatoes, etc. for dinner. The temptations of sugar laden soft drinks and unhealthy snack foods was not part of the average family's diets when I was young. I raised our sons with the same type of diet, knowing by then that it really is important for your health. I will admit, however, that I'm like everyone else and sometimes have a 'snack attack' so I find it easier not to have junk food in the house. When I was in the Senate I tried to pass legislation to restrict the marketing of unhealthy foods to children – it makes it hard for parents when junk food is so heavily promoted to kids.

My favorite movies are definitely ones with a good story and often reflecting events that actually happened. Chariots of Fire, Invictus, The Boys in the Boat, and also classics like "The Sound of Music" would be my picks over horror movies or movies with lots of violence. I like to see beautiful scenery in the movies, and loved the movie "Seven Years in Tibet" starring Brad Pitt.

Right now my favorite sport apart from skiing, is golf which I find to be a big challenge. My husband and I enjoyed playing tennis over the years, and we've also enjoyed cycling and hiking, especially here in Sun Peaks during the alpine blossom season. I like watching major sports events on TV, especially tennis and of course ski racing. It's great when a sport can combine exercise and social activity — especially as you get older.

It's interesting how kids do research — and hopefully they learn that not everything on the internet is factual. Many years ago I began to get questions about 'breaking the timing clock' at the Olympics and at first I couldn't figure out where it came from. I tracked the story down and found it on a Sports Illustrated for Kids website. It definitely was not true.

Here's what actually happened. I skied the race of my life in the Olympic giant slalom and when I crossed the finish line and looked up at the scoreboard, my time wasn't there. I knew I'd had a great run, but for a few seconds my time did not go up on the electronic scoreboard. In the place where my time should have been there were numbers that didn't make sense. I thought they had somehow missed my time! Then all of a sudden all the lights on the board started to change and I saw 09 (my start number) then C-A-N go up at the top of the board and I knew I'd won. I was 2.65 seconds ahead of the next best time. Later I asked a man from Omega why there was a delay in showing my time and he told me that because I was so far ahead some sort of 'over-ride' kicked in and the time had to be confirmed by the Omega folks, which of course they did right away. Meanwhile, of course, my heart almost stopped! I've told this story many times, because people often ask what I felt like in the finish area and I tell them my biggest emotion was relief!

I've worked with the Rossignol ski company ever since I won the Olympics, so naturally that's the company that I recommend. Their products are among the best and they are not the most expensive. Their website is www.rossignol.com and many specialty ski shops carry Rossignol.

In your case, I would recommend that you concentrate on purchasing your own ski boots and making sure that they are properly fitted. This is where an experienced boot fitter really pays off since everyone's feet are different and getting a perfect fit is really important. It is good to purchase ski boots in a mountain ski shop rather than in the city. The mountain shops usually have experienced boot fitters and if anything is not perfect when you go out on the slopes you can easily go back to the shop for minor adjustments.

It may be better to rent skis for the first few years so that you can try out different kinds of skis and see what you like best. Shops sometimes rent and then give you a discount when you purchase — especially in resorts. When you do purchase skis and are looking for a bargain, a good used ski may be much more cost effective than a low priced ski of less quality. Some people always feel they need the latest and greatest which is fine if you can afford it. I prefer to get something that is good and then look after it. The skis I am currently using have well over 100 days on them and they are still in perfect shape.