Claire Backhouse

Claire Backhouse-Sharpe ( Backhouse; born May 13, 1958) is a Canadian badminton player and coach. Between 1978 and 1994, she competed in five editions of the Commonwealth Games for Canada, winning a single gold medal and five silver medals. Backhouse-Sharpe also participated in the World Badminton Championships and Uber Cup on five occasions each as part of the Canada national badminton team. She won multiple national and regional titles and was assistant coach and manager of the British Columbia Badminton team at the 1994 Canada Winter Games and the 1995 Western Canada Games. Backhouse-Sharpe was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Badminton Canada Hall of Fame.

Personal background On May 13, 1958, Backhouse-Sharpe was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and her hometown was listed as Burnaby. In mid-1985, she married vice-president of the British Columbia Badminton Association Doug Sharp. They have three children. Backhouse-Sharpe trained while pregnant with her third child, and frequently took her children to worldwide badminton events. She also worked in the federal government clerical department full-time outside of badminton. and was listed at and . As a rookie and an unseeded entrant, Backhouse-Sharpe reached the semi-finals of the women's doubles at the 1978 All England Open Badminton Championships with her partner Jane Youngberg, defeating the Dutch and English sides in the preceding rounds before losing to the Japanese squad. She went on to claim silver medals in both the women's doubles with Youngberg and the mixed team event with five other Canadian players at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Backhouse-Sharpe went on to win two gold medals in the doubles and mixed doubles at the 1979 Pan American Games. There, she and Johanne Falardeau won the gold medal by defeating the No. 1 seeded English team in the final in the women's doubles and the silver medal with five other Canadians in the team competition. At the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Backhouse-Sharpe won the silver medal for the mixed team competition in a side of six as well as competing in three other events without winning any medals. She was one of two representatives of Canada to be invited by the International Badminton Federation to enter the exhibition badminton tournament at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. At the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, Backhouse-Sharpe was part of the six-player silver medal winning squad of the mixed team competition. Backhouse-Sharpe was elected to the board of directors of Badminton Canada on a one-year term starting in July 2018. She is a inductee of the Badminton Canada Hall of Fame for her playing career.

Playing style She played left-handed and had a strong smash that was improved upon when she commenced weight training. Backhouse-Sharpe trained six days a week and twice each day when possible; her training included aerobics classes, running and practice with fellow player Sandra Skillings.