Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Winter 2009/2010 Outback | Page 29

FEATURE

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Canadian Olympic athlete in history with a total of six Olympic
medals. She was also named “Woman of the Games” in 2006 by
IOC President Jacques Rogge.
Clara Hughes’ Olympic dream began in 1988 as she watched
the Calgary Winter Games on TV. Watching those speed skaters
she wondered if one day she could represent Canada in that
same sport. Little did she know that in pursuing that dream, she
would first compete and win cycling medals in two Summer
Olympic Games before she would actually strike gold at the
Winter Olympics.
After winning a bronze medal in 2002, Hughes took the gold
in the 5000 m race in Torino in 2006, becoming the only athlete
in history to win multiple medals in the Winter and Summer
Olympics. Now, after a near-death slip high atop a mountain and a
car accident that left her fortunate to walk away, Hughes is more
determined than ever to compete in Vancouver.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW...
Not surprisingly, many of the athletes on the Top 10 Canadian
Olympic Winter Moments are now retired from Olympic competition.
The man Clara Hughes credits for sparking her interest in speed
skating is Gaétan Boucher, a four-time Olympic speed skating
medalist. Boucher had already won a speed skating silver in the
1000 m event in Lake Placid in 1980 when he arrived at the 1984
Sarajevo Winter Games. He earned a bronze in the 500 m and
then this first gold medal in the 1000 m. Two days later, Boucher

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Photos courtesy of Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium

won a second gold medal in the 1500 m.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Boucher will likely
be present as a speed skating commentator. More unexpectedly,
though, his handiwork may also be present on a different ice
surface. The former Olympian now designs skates for Bauer and
has been hard at work putting the final touches on goalie skates
he is hoping to see hit the ice in Vancouver.
No athletes have had as much impact on the way subjective
scoring is viewed as Jamie Salé and David Pelletier. This pair, now
pro skaters, won gold at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics but it
may have been the hardest-fought medal ever in figure skating.
Canada had only ever won two golds in figure skating, in 1948
and 1960, so there was a lot of pressure on Salé and Pelletier to
bring home the top prize. A beautiful, error-free long program by
the Canadians and a slip by the Russians had everyone believing
Canada was dipped in gold. Unfortunately the scoring did not
reflect this expectation and the couple was awarded the silver. An
outcry ensued and the next day the judge from France admitted
she had been pressured into awarding the long program to
the Russians in exchange for a first-place vote for France's ice
dancing team. In the end this vote was discarded, leaving the long
program a tie. Salé and Pelletier, who are now married and have a
son, were finally awarded gold.
Catriona Le May Doan won the Olympic speed skating 500 m
title at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano and again at the 2002 Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City. Add to that the bronze she also won in

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