Norris Bowden

Robert Norris Bowden (August 13, 1926 – April 9, 1991) was a Canadian figure skater.

Born(1926-08-13)August 13, 1926

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

DiedApril 9, 1991(1991-04-09) (aged 64)

Country Canada

Retired1956

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Norris Bowden

Personal information
Born	(1926-08-13)August 13, 1926 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	April 9, 1991(1991-04-09) (aged 64)
Figure skating career
Country	Canada
Retired	1956
Medal record Representing Canada Pairs' Figure skating Olympic Games 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo Pairs World Championships 1956 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs 1955 Vienna Pairs 1954 Oslo Pairs 1953 Davos Pairs North American Championships 1955 Regina Pairs 1953 Cleveland Pairs

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Born in Toronto, Ontario, Bowden won championships in every division of Canadian figure skating. He was national men's champion as a junior and senior (1947), national pairs (junior and senior), dance (1952), waltz, and 10-step champion with Frances Dafoe, and national fours champion.

Bowden and Dafoe captured four Canadian titles (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955) and two world championships (1954, 1955). They won the silver medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, where Bowden was Canada's flag bearer in the opening ceremonies. Norris and his partner were the first pair skaters to do the twist lift, throw jump, ‘leap of faith’ and overhead lasso.^[1][2]

It was because of these two that some of the rules in pairs skating were changed.^[1] According to figure skating historian James R. Hines, the results were "hotly debated" and indirectly led to the inclusion of the short program or technical program in pair skating, since it only included a free skating program at the time.^[2]

Outside skating, Bowden graduated with an MBA and worked in the life insurance industry. He was founding president of the Centennial Nursery School for Retarded Children (now the Centennial Infant and Child Centre) in Toronto.

He has been inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1955), the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1958), and the Skate Canada Hall of Fame (1993).^{[citation needed]} He was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1984.^[2]