Doug Rogers, the first Canadian to win an Olympic medal in judo and a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame passed away at the age of 79. Moving to Japan in 1960 at the age of 19 to improve his judo, Rogers trained with many of the era's top judoka including Japanese legend Masahiko Kimura and American Donn Draeger.

With judo making its initial Olympic appearance in the 1964 Tokyo games, Rogers made the finals of the heavyweight division losing a close contest to all-Japan champion Isao Inokuma to take home a silver medal. Eventually becoming an airline pilot, Rogers also earned a bronze medal at the 1965 world championships and a gold at the 1967 Pan-American games.