Vancouver

Sports

Vancouver's most famous sporting event took place on August 7, 1954, when runners Roger Bannister and John Landy competed during the British Empire Games (an inter-Empire sports meet now known as the British Commonwealth Games). This was the first time two men had broken the four-minute mile in the same race.

Vancouver, a sporting town, is home to a number of professional sports teams. The Vancouver Canucks have played in the National Hockey League since 1968. The team draws crowds of up to 18,000 fans. The team came close to winning the Stanley Cup in 1994 when the series against the New York Rangers went to seven games.

The B.C. Lions have won three Grey Cups since joining the Canadian Football League in 1954. The Vancouver 86ers, the city's soccer team, compete in the American Professional Soccer League. The team has won the North American title once.

Annually during the last weekend in August, Pacific Boulevard in downtown Vancouver is turned into a Formula One racetrack while the city plays host to the Molson Indy Vancouver. Cars reach speeds upwards of 306 kilometers (190 miles) per hour during the two-hour, 290-kilometer (180-mile) race.

The Vancouver Grizzlies joined the ranks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1995–96 season as part of the league's expansion into Canada. Vancouver and Toronto became the first non-U.S. cities to join the league since 1946–47, when the Toronto Huskies were one-year members of the NBA's forerunner, the Basketball Association of America. After being officially accepted into the fold by the NBA's Board of Governors on April 27, 1994, Vancouver became the league's twenty-ninth franchise.

Water activities such as sailing can be enjoyed in Vancouver's natural harbor. ()