David Bissett:Mormon Olympian
David Bissett is a Canadian bobsledder, World Championship silver medalist, and Olympic bronze medalist. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Bissett is one of eight children born to Ron and Kim Bissett. He was born on September 26, 1979, in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. He is a former Canadian football star at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. He was also a sprinter on the university’s track team. He and his wife, Jenni, and their two children currently reside in Edmonton.
He began competing in the bobsled event in 2005, a few short months after Pierre Lueders, one of the most celebrated athletes in bobsledding, approached him at a track meet to see if he would consider pushing for Lueders. In the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, he finished 11th in the two-man event and 18th in the four-man event. He debuted as a brakeman. In the 2010 Vancouver Games, he won a bronze medal in the four-man event. He competed in the 2014 Sochi Olympics as pusher for the four-man team. In four heats they placed 11th, 10th, 9th, and 9th. The winner is the sled with the lowest combined time. They placed 9th overall.
Bissett won a silver medal in the four-man event at the 2007 Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Bissett comes from an athletic family: his mother, Kim, was a champion speed skater in her youth. His grandfather Gordon Strate played as a defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings in the 1950s, and his great-aunt Doreen Ryan was a two-time Olympian, competing as a speed skater in the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics.
