Growing up in Saskatoon, Kelsie Hendry dreamed of being an Olympian.
She attended the 1989 Jeux du Canada Games in Saskatoon and the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, B.C. which fueled her love of multi-sport games. Hendry also wrote essays to try to become an Olympic youth ambassador.
Initially a gymnast, Hendry competed nationally, but it was when she tried pole vaulting that she knew she may have found the sport that was going to make her dream come true.
Hendry knew she didn’t have the build to be an elite gymnast, but her hard work and talent earned her a spot on the provincial team. She won a silver medal on the balance beam at the 1999 Jeux du Canada Games in Cornerbrook, B.C.
In Grade 12, a friend and fellow gymnast tried pole vault and Hendry quickly followed suit. She earned a place on the junior national team less than a year into her career and Hendry knew she had found her sport. In her second year competing she set a Canadian junior record and finished second at the Pan American Junior Championships in Argentina. She also won a silver medal in the pole vault at the 2001 Jeux du Canada Games in London, Ont.
At the University of Saskatchewan (U of S), Hendry put together an incredible five-year career. She was the Canada West pole vault champion each year. She was also named the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Track & Field Athlete of the Year and the Mary Ethel Cartwright Trophy as the U of S’s Female Athlete of the Year for three straight years. She was also a finalist for the CIS Female Athlete of the Year in 2005.
Hendry cleared 4.55 metres to break the national women’s pole vault record in 2008 at the Saskatchewan provincial championships in Prince Albert and matched it at a meet in Provo, Utah which ensured she met the Olympic standard. She also set the Canadian indoor pole vault record (4.60 metres) in 2012 in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Hendry won the national pole vault title at the Canadian Track and Field Championships in 2007 & 2008. The second title earned her a trip to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. There she finished 18th after clearing 4.30 metres.
In 2010, she finished sixth at the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Hendry also competed in a wide array of multi-sport games. She won a bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India and also competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia finishing 10th. She won gold at the Jeux de la Francophonie in Niamey, Niger in 2005 and also competed at the 2003 Universiade in South Korea (finishing 10th) and in 2007 in Thailand (finishing fourth).
She was inducted into the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Hall of Fame (2011), the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame (2016), and the Canada West Hall of Fame (2020).
Installed in the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame on September 24, 2022.
