As you may have gathered, I have made the decision to retire from competitive skicross. I chose to make the announcement at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, because it became my home away from home throughout the festivities after the Olympics in Vancouver and being there brought back a lot of great memories.
I’ve realized retirement would be a difficult decision at any stage, and this timing just makes the most sense as far as making the transition into the next phase of my career, and making the most of the opportunities that have presented themselves thanks to the success I've had as a skicross athlete. Skiing is a way of life for me. I will always be a skier. I’m just shifting my focus from racing to freeskiing, allowing myself the freedom and flexibility to focus on other life endeavours. When I hurt my knee at the X Games a year after the Olympics, I promised my coaches, and I promised myself that I would do everything in my power to rehabilitate it, and once it was all healed up, I would see if the mental drive to continue racing would come back. I am reeaaaally good at coming back from injuries, as I’ve had many… most from sports other than skicross. In the past, as soon as my injuries had healed up, I’d be dying to get back out there again, and I didn’t think this time would be any different. I have recovered decently, finally, from the 3rd surgery on this knee, but I’ve decided that it’s more important to me to be able to ski recreationally for the rest of my life than it is to risk hurting it further on a race course through this Olympic cycle, especially if my heart isn’t in it. I want to thank my teammates who were with me from the very beginning. Davey Barr, Chris Del Bosco, Brian Bennett, Dave Duncan and Stanley Hayer were always there to push me to keep at it and to let me follow them down the course in training runs. Nik Zoricic was good like that too, and I could always count on him for incredibly pragmatic advice on anything from skicross to my love life. I can’t thank Brian Bennett and Stan Rey enough for all the work they did leading up to the Olympics to make sure that course was built right, and built for us, and of course my ski tech, Josh Wiltz for making sure my Stocklis were lightning fast. On the women's side, Julia Murray, Danie Poleschuck and Kelsey Serwa who all had more than enough ability to take that Olympic Gold, when it just turned out to be my day. I want to thank my skicross coaches, Eric Archer, Brent Kehl, and Willy Raine too, of course, all there to help us get out there and perform, thanks to the Own the Podium Initiative. I realized over the last couple of months, that the driving factors that were keeping me in the sport were a bit questionable. A huge part of my motivation to continue racing beyond the 2010 Games was that I felt like I had a responsibility to take on that role as a leader on the Canada Skicross Team, and make sure the up and come-ers -- the future of our beloved sport -- had me to learn from. As I said in that video, the emotion I felt at the end of the Gold Medal Run at the Olympics was relief, and that was purely because I recognized everything that everyone had done to help me along the way, and how much support I had, from family, to teachers, to coaches, leaders within the team, ski techs, to physiotherapists. I was relieved that I hadn’t let them down at the Olympics, and I didn’t want to let anyone down going forward. I felt like we had finally put our sport on the map, and I couldn’t just quit. I have learned, over the years, that you can't have success if you don't have that support, but I also know that you won't have success if you aren't in it for the right reasons. There are many good reasons to continue racing and as much as I feel like I have a responsibility to keep at it as long as I still have a shot at wining more medals for Canada, I have to do what’s right for ME. My sport has been my life for the past 20-something years, but there is more to life than competitive sport, and I’ve realized that I also have a responsibility to be a positive role model when it comes to what’s truly important in life, and to know when enough’s enough and that it’s time to move forward and chase different dreams. And there IS something to be said for going out on top... as reigning Olympic Champion. When I think back on why I got into skicross, and what I’d hoped to get out of it, it leaves me wondering “what’s left”? I’ve already accomplished everything I’ve ever dreamed I would and so much more, and a few Gold medals and podium results are just the icing on the cake. As my Mom says, her goal in getting my sister and me into skiing was to see us grow up to love skiing. For me, it was never about competing or achieving great results until the opportunity came to represent our country in this sport that was built for people like me. Athletes who love racing their buddies from the top of the mountain to the bottom through gullies, off cliffs, over jumps, all for the thrill of it. For me it has always been about having fun, and pushing myself. I have learned a lot about myself throughout the years of ski racing. I’ve learned a lot of valuable life lessons that I will have with me forever. My career has taught me a lot about persevering and chasing your dreams, tackling goals one step at a time and avoiding getting too overwhelmed by that end result that you're after. Working with a team has taught me a lot about group dynamics and relationships, and has allowed me to make lifelong friends and create memories that I will cherish forever. Competing in an individual sport with those teammates and against those teammates has taught me a lot about leadership and the concept of working together for the greater good of a group, in turn creating a more favourable environment for that the entire group of individuals. My career has taken me to beautiful places all over the world and given me the opportunity to participate in all sorts of fun events, and to meet a ton of amazing people, including my fiance (thanks to our then mutual sponsor, Bell!). For these things, I will be forever grateful. Most of all, I have learned how to take challenges on and I have learned what I’m capable of. What I’ve realized is that I don’t need to be racing to continue representing what’s important to me. I can’t wait to take on new challenges and inspire the people who care most about me in other ways. I can’t wait to see the No. 1 team in the world go out there an dominate this season. Look out for that Kelsey Serwa… she’s back from her knee injury and hungry for results! I will be at Nakiska next weekend cheering them on, and will always be the sports’ biggest fan. I wish them all the best. As I said, Of course, I will always be a skier. I look forward to continuing to represent everything I stood for as a skicross athlete through all sorts of other endeavours, on and off the Mountain, following my heart, chasing new dreams. Thank you so much for your ongoing support. Special thanks to my partners who were supporting me even before the Olympics… Oakley Whistler Blackcomb Stockli Skis Bell iSign Media COLD-FX And of course, thanks to my sister, my Parents, and my amazing fiance, Jay DeMerit. #Teammates4Life
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I can't believe that I can contribute to incredible charities by just showing up! The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation supports a variety of local Sea to Sky non-profits including several programs that I came up through as a Whistler kid. Steve Podborski, Julia Murray, Devun Walsh and I were all auctioned off as 'celebrity caddies'.
Over the last 2 years $7,000 have been donated to the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation for my caddying services --which don't really go beyond cruising around in a golf cart chatting and taking pictures with a bunch of Telus' key partners, because I'm not good enough at golf to provide any useful caddying tips! Thanks to Oakley for donating some top of the line sunglasses to the cause. The weather was amazing, and the Chateau Golf Course and it's scenery were absolutely stunning. When I got the call from Sue Griffin that I was to be inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame, I was shocked...to say the least. I don't think I quite realized what an honour that was until I spent some time in the Hall, reading stories seeing images of all of my own sports heroes. At the induction ceremony in the absolutely gorgeous Vancouver Convention Centre, it actually started to sink in.
It's just still so hard for me to comprehend the true meaning of what I've done, in winning my Olympic Gold Medal. I'm still me, and I was just out there doing what I do. As I said in my short acceptance speech, I really feel that anybody, given the opportunities that I've been given having grown up in this wonderful province, could have gone and done what I've done. I'm just the lucky one who got to go and represent what we are all about. I mean, obviously it takes discipline and courage to seize those opportunities, and I certainly had to fight hard to make the most of all of them, all I'm saying is that I have had so many amazing coaches, teachers, friends, friends' parents, teammates, etc... who all made the journey to Olympic Gold seem like the natural path for me, every step of the way. My parents had me on skis when I was less than 2 years old. We had these three carpeted steps that dropped down into our sunken living room in Whistler's newest neighbourhood at the time, Tapley's Farm. The area was full of young families who had been encouraged to move to Whistler and start building the local community and the local economy by being offered affordable lots, subsidized by the resort and set up as a type of strata, where the financing was acquired as a group so that very little capital had to be provided by each member. My earliest memories of skiing are underneath the Magic Chair, at the bottom of Blackcomb, skiing between my Dad's legs holding on to his poles which were across his knees, my skis in a snowplow between his much bigger snowplow so that if they started to take me in the wrong direction I couldn't go more than a few inches. My parents spent countless days waiting for me as a kid, choosing to allow my sister and me to ski with them instead of putting us in ski school like most of the other hardcore ski bum parents did. I remember this when I'm waiting for them these days! I also remember my Mom's "keep it positive" approach, and often tell people teaching their partners how to ski to be sure to adopt that mentality. If I wanted to go in for hot chocolate, we went in for hot chocolate. I didn't turn out to be a worse skier for it. Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for waiting so patiently for me. Thanks, also, to: Denis Ebacher Jason Blair Maria Cederholm Bob Deeks Craig Glenday Willy Raine Jordan Williams Wayne Holm Jose Sparovic Leslie Clark Eric Archer Brent Kehl Josh Wiltz Dave Ellis Mathieu Melancon Walter Reusser John Roffey Keith & Tracy McIvor Dawn Titus Loring Phinney Megan Enns Catherine Mudie James Perks Rod Thompson Mitch Sulkers ...and all of the other supportive Teachers and Principles at Myrtle Philip Elementary, Whistler Secondary, and UBC as well as all of my teammates and my friends who have supported me, and pushed me all the way through I've never ridden such a light nimble, 5" all-mountain bike. It's insane. I can't say enough about how much I love Stockli. Best skis in the world, AND best bikes in the world, as it turns out. Those Swiss just know what's up. We went on a big ride today that was mostly DH on a buffed out rolling trail through the woods at the base of Mt. Hood with serious flow. Our lovely coaches picked most of the team up way down the road toward Portland where the trail ended while my teammate Georgia... she's a machine, by the way... and I rode back up the highway toward Government Camp... yes, that's actually the name of the town we stay in. My new bike is so efficient, and the geometry has it set up so nicely for both climbing and downhilling that I felt like I needed more of a workout at the end of our big ride, and I was glad Georgia was keen to pedal up with me. And I was totally happy to let her lead (there was a bit of a headwind). ;)
My knee is feeling good... one day on, one day off, one day on...you get the gist. Everything has been progressing just as it should with my knee. Two days of skiing and it's feeling solid. I'll be fine to race this season. The goal is to get a good result at World Champs in Norway, in order to set myself up well going into the Olympic Season. Feels good to be back on snow, pulling starts, and getting my legs back!
My Mom and I had the pleasure of joining the lovely Eve Adams, one of our Canadian MPs on a private tour of the Churchill War Rooms, and the Houses of Parliament. We even got to go in some of the typically glassed-off Churchill War Rooms, which sheltered the people at the heart of Britain's wartime government during the Blitz in the early 1940s, and they let me sit in the very chair that Winston Churchill ran the war cabinet from. Once our touristy activities were done, we made our way back to Canada House to hit up the Proctor & Gamble Spa Room to get our hair done! Just as I was about to go in for some pampering, my new friend Rob from P&G offered us tickets to the Gold Medal Beach Volleyball happening just a few minutes later! So off we went, my Mom and I, to watch the Germans defeat Brazil. What an atmosphere! It was like a giant party at some tropical beach resort. They had these awesome dancers with all sorts of different routines and outfits between each set, and the DJs were throwing down. All of my favorite tracks were played... tracks that you would rarely hear in public scenarios here in North America with heavy basslines and remixed lyrics. The highlight of our day, of course, was running into some Canadian friends: namely Brett Wilson (wow, what a cool guy, and what a cool WEBSITE) as well as our good friend Sean Wilson (from Whistler), and Vancouverite James Curleigh of Innovative Sports Limited (the company operating the auction for all London 2012 Memorabilia). They graciously invited us out for dinner with them. I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant because it was incredible. That, along with the awe-inspiring, all-star line-up of dinner guests made for one of the best nights we had in London. We had Mark Oldershaw with his shiny new bronze medal in canoeing, and Annamay Pierse, Olympic swimmer, who just missed the 2012 Canadian Olympic Team, and 5 time Olympian Charmaine Crooks. I sat next to Mark and learned a bit about his family history. His grandfather, Bert Oldershaw, was a national canoeing champion and represented Canada at the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games. His father Scott, who is also his coach, paddled for Canada at the 1984 Olympic Games. His uncles, Reed and Dean, competed at the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games in canoe-kayak flatwater. Other highlights included my favorite evening/latenight hangout... the Omega House in Soho. Omega are the official timekeepers of the Olympic Games and their timing systems have been used for ski and bike races throughout my whole life. They had a beautiful old mansion prettied up to host their athletes, partners and other guests every night for the duration of the Olympics, and my Mom and I couldn't seem to find any reason to go anywhere else! Their Sports Marketing Manager, Alain Zobrist took very good care of us, and the experience they provided was unparalleled. Being at the Olympics as a spectator was obviously very different than competing in our Home Games. The biggest thing I took from it was that even though we are all out there trying to accomplish our own goals, it really is all about the bigger picture. I think I recognized this better than most athletes going into our last Olympics, and that contributed to my success, but watching from a relatively objective Canadian perspective reaffirmed that view...I barely even knew any of the athletes names. I just knew to cheer for the Canadians. And if a Canadian didn't have a good race or performance, I thought "oh well, on to the next". I didn't lose respect for them and their athletic abilities; I almost gained respect for how tough it was. It was just a shift of focus on to the next Canadian competing in the next event. When you realize you are just out there trying to accomplish a relatively small task in the grand scheme of things, it eases the pressure. It makes me realize that if you don't achieve your own goals, it's not going to derail the entire train or kill the momentum the team has as a whole, it just really helps when you can go out there and do your job. The job I had set out to do in our Winter Olympics didn't go much beyond inspiring our Nation's youth to get outside and lead a healthy, active lifestyle, and I knew that I had already won, whether I got a good result in the race or not. I've put an interactive photo album together for you with some captions and comments along with the photos you see on the right. Just click PLAY below. If you click on the pictures within, they will each blow up so you may have a closer look. Enjoy!
Yesterday started with a fancy event with London High Commissioner Gordon Campbell and the Minister of International Trade, Ed Fast. I had the privilege being joined by Canadian hockey star Jayna Hefford and together we shared our Gold Medal stories with all of the business delegates, government officials, and other guests -meet and greet, and a LOT of photos! The event was put on by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and Financial Times to encourage guests to bring their business to Canada and I met a lot of lovely people. Later in the day I was back in the Larking Club for a less formal meet and greet with guests of the Larkin Club. We watched the women's soccer semifinal, where, unfortunately, the US beat our Canadians.
Today I realized that triathlon is one of my favorite sports to watch. It was SO exciting! The British Brownlee brothers, took gold and silver with Jonathan having to step to the side of the track to serve a 15 second penalty for hopping on his bike a tiny little bit too early in the transition. Simon Whitfield had a crash and pulled out of the race, and Brent McMahon and fellow Canadian Kyle Jones placed 27th and 25th respectively. Click here to listen to today's interview with Mountain FM with regards to my trip - Checking in August 7th |
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