Thomas Hall

Thomas Hall (born February 21, 1982) is an Olympic sprint canoeist from Pointe Claire, Quebec, Canada. Training with the Pointe-Claire Canoe Club, he began his international career in 1999, winning a gold medal in the C-1 1000 m event at the Junior World Championships. By the time of the 2008 Summer Olympics, he had made a total of 44 top three finishes in international canoeing competitions, including 14 wins. Among these were a gold and a bronze medal at the 2003 Pan American Games. At the Beijing Olympic Games, he won a bronze medal in the Men's C-1 1000 metres event.

Early life and biography Born in Montreal, he grew up in suburban Pointe-Claire. His mother had competed in the North American kayak championships. His sister is a competitive kayaker as well, while his brother James is a musician in The Sam Roberts Band. For Thomas Steve Giles, Attila Buday Tamas Buday Jr. and Andreas Dittmer are among his role models. He also claims that J. R. R. Tolkien was a "key influence" for him growing up and he re-read The Lord of the Rings every year for a number of years. As of 2008, he was a physical education student at McGill University and, as of 2011 he was studying business at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, although still living in Montreal.

International competition After joining the Pointe Claire Canoe Club, his first major international victory was the Junior World Championships in August 1999 in Zagreb, Croatia, where he placed first in the C-1 1000 m event. Earlier that month he had placed fifth in the C-1 20 km event at the Marathon Junior Cup in Hungary. He credited his victory to "a sea change in [...] life" beginning in January, as well as a closer bond with his coach, Michael Creamer.