Siken Laumann was born in Mississauga Starting in 1976, Laumann won a number of awards, including a gold medal in quadruple sculls at the U.S. Championships, two gold medals in single sculls at the Pan American Games, a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics in the double sculls with her sister Daniele. At the 1988 Olympics Laumann finished seventh in the double scull and won a silver medal in single sculls at the 1990 World Championships and the gold medal at the following year's World Championships.
A serious training injury on May 15, 1992, necessitated five operations and a total stay in the hospital of approximately three weeks, Laumann was back on the water training by late June. Her efforts paid off with a bronze medal, and she was subsequently named Canadian of the Year by the Canadian Club in recognition and was selected to carry the Canadian Flag in the closing ceremonies of the Olympics.
After a one-year absence to allow the injury to heal further, Laumann resumed competing in 1994, and she won a silver at the 1995 World Championships. She also won a gold medal as part of a quad sculls team at the 1995 Pan American Games but was subsequently stripped of the medals after testing positive for pseudoephedrine (which she claimed to have accidentally ingested due to a mix-up in what cold medicine she could safely use). In 2004 pseudoephedrine was removed from the International Olympic Committee's banned substances list. Her final competitive race was at the 1996 Summer Olympics, where Silken won a silver medal in single sculls. She formally announced her retirement three years later.
Laumann was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and was awarded the Thomas Keller Medal in 1999 for her outstanding international rowing career. In 2004, she was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
FTF prize is a toonie!