catriona le may doan
...d became the Canadian Midget Girls Champion. At this time Catriona was becoming aware of the word ‘Olympics’. However, she wasn’t really concerned with any of that quite yet, for she was just about to enter high school and still enjoyed playing other sports such as soccer and track and field in the spring and summer. It was autumn and winter when Catriona really focused on her speed skating. When she was fifteen, Catriona traveled to Lake Placid, for a Canadian-American competition. Catriona had some good and not so good races but overall finished fourth. In 1985, Catriona held the North American records in the 300, 500, and 1,00 meter races, and when she turned sixteen Catriona joined the Canadian up-and-comers team, that was based in Quebec. While all this was occurring, an Olympic skating oval was being built in Calgary, providing some of the fastest ice in the world. In her grade twelve year Catriona went to Calgary every two weeks to skate on the oval. During the trials for the Olympic team, at the national championships, Catriona came fourth in the 500 meters. The standard mark to make the team was 42.30, and Catriona finished in 42.37. Not knowing she had the chance to re-skate the event, Catriona left and realizing days later that she had a chance to make the Canadian team. In June of 1981, Catriona had graduated high school at Holy Cross. That summer, she had received a letter from the Canadian Amateur Skating Association, stating that she had made the national team. Catriona had a big decision to make. Being part of the national team would mean moving away from home to Calgary where she would train. After talking it over with her parents, and just a few months before her eighteenth birthday, Catriona went away to Calgary. During her first season with the national team, Catriona decided to stay with the long track. She had set three provincial records, and broke two of her old records. In 1989, in the World Sprint Championship, Catriona was made an alternate. On the way to Kiev, where the Junior World Championships were being held, they had stopped in Heerenveen, Holland. Being only eighteen years old, this was Catriona’s first international skating experience. Afterwards, Catriona had skated in Kiev at the Junior World’s and then the following December jumped to the World Cup Competition. Finally in 1992 something great happened to Catriona. She was finally able to cope with her nerves while racing in front of other countries and could skate the same way she trained. It was at this time that Catriona had skated in her first Olympics in Albertville, France. Albertville was an eye opener for Catriona, simply because it was the Olympics. Catriona had realized that little things in her races make huge differences. Catriona had a good race finishing fifth, and she states that it was neat just to jump to that level, where she suddenly felt more inclined to work harder and do better at the next Olympic games. Not long after the Olympics, in December of 1992, Catriona was skating at the World Cup in Karuizawa, Japan. It was at this time that he had one her first international medal, that being a bronze. Late in 1993, during the buildup of the Lillehammer Olympics, Catriona had been training hard and feeling great. She had finished the previous World Cup season ranked fifth in the world for the 500-meter and one month before the Olympics she had won a World Cup Bronze medal in Milwaukee. Catriona’s main goal was to stand on the podium at the end of the Lillehammer Olympics. During the final weeks before the 1994 games, Catriona was full of confidence and told herself that she was skating to win an Olympic medal. On February 19, 1994, the big day had come. It was Catriona’s time to shine in her 500-meter race. Her race started great, with a quick start and picking up speed intensely down the front stretch. While rounding the first corner, just after her second crossover, Catriona had fell and was out of the race. Feeling overly disappointed and sorry for herself, Catriona decided to take some time off skating for a while and travel with her boyfriend Bart, who she had been dating for over a year. During this time they had both gotten to know each other extremely well. Bart had helped Catriona cope with her mistake at the Lillehammer Olympics and they were falling in love. On September 23, 1995, Bart and Catriona were married. It was also in this year that Catriona went back to her skating and began her hard work and training once again. Stating in autumn of 1995, Catriona began analyzing her races and realized she was skating well for the first 300 meters and decided to work on the last 200 meters. In December of 1995 Catriona put all her hard work over the past year on the line and skated in the World Sprint Championships that were again held in Heerenveen. Putting her perfect race together, Catriona had pulled it off and won not only herself, but also her country and gold medal. She had become the first women to win a speed skating gold medal since 1977. That season having won gold and silver medals, Catriona had become the Canadian Sprint Champion. By October 1996, the newspapers described her as the leader of the Canadian women’s speed skating team. Next came the Nagano Olympics, which were the games that Catriona had been building towards. In January of 1998 Catriona arrived in Nagano, Japan as one of the favorites to win the gold at 500 meters. The pressure was definitely on Catriona but she knew that she could do it. After finishing her race she knew it wasn’t one of her best times ever. She took a seat on the bench and then before her eyes she realized that her time was good enough and she not only set a new Olympic record, but also captured the gold medal. Catriona skated her victory lap and then stood on the podium proudly and listened to her national anthem playing. The following da...