After a glorious career that allowed her to fill out her sports CV in a substantial way, Marianne St-Gelais is now an immortal of Speed Skating Canada (SSC). The only inductee of the 2024 cohort into the Hall of Fame, she built her reputation on the foundations of hard work, never thinking that all this would materialize in more than 100 medals on an international scale.
The Saint-Félicien athlete was able to look back once the news was confirmed by PVC in a press release on Tuesday. While this is the highest distinction for an athlete, whether professional or amateur, it is not for this recognition that Marianne St-Gelais has worked so hard during her long career.
A journey marked by a “late” start, at the age of 10, in a rural area to boot. Finally, everything became possible and, above all, concrete.
“Go ahead, your dreams are never too big,” Marianne St-Gelais said at the other end of the line Wednesday morning. “On the other hand, I never dreamed of that; the Hall of Fame, the Olympic Games. I never had ideas of grandeur when I started practicing my sport, so it’s also okay to feel that way when you start doing a sport or a hobby. It may be that you don’t feel the immediate need to reach the highest peak and it may also be that it comes with time.”
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Marianne St-Gelais, in 2021
It’s perhaps for this reason that the 34-year-old retiree is more or less comfortable with the idol, or even immortal, status that comes with such great recognition as that offered by Speed Skating Canada.
The fact is that St-Gelais has none of the rigid personality often displayed by big stars, but which rarely sticks to amateur athletes, and even less so when they are local products. In fact, she is rather easy to approach.
“I have a hard time with this role and this title of idol or model, and I explain: it often comes with a certain resistance, people are afraid to approach you and they are embarrassed to ask you for advice, because of the name above your head, she said. Ultimately, I am not embarrassing and I like it when people approach me to start a conversation. I love sharing my experience, in a way that people will be inspired to make their own path.”
Rewarding work done
Throughout her career, Marianne St-Gelais has accumulated no fewer than 114 medals on the international stage, including 93 on the World Cup circuit and 15 at the World Championships. She has added three Olympic medals, all silver.
Her second place in the 500m at the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 made an impression. The bubbly young woman would then seduce an entire country.
Vancouver is definitely hard to beat. It was February 17, 2010, my birthday. I turned 20 that day, I won my first Olympic medal, on Canadian soil. There is absolutely nothing that can beat that moment, and to this day, there is nothing that has ever been able to match it.
Marianne St-Gelais
But that’s not all. St-Gelais also thinks about that gold medal in the 1500 m at the World Championships at the end of the 2016 season. A triumph that came to define what short track speed skating represents for the main person concerned.
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Marianne St-Gelais with the coach of the women’s speed skating team, Frédéric Blackburn, in 2016
“I remember taking Frédéric Blackburn [entraîneur de l’équipe féminine à ce moment] in my arms and hearing him tell me that I had succeeded, but if that man had not believed in me before I believed myself that I could succeed, we would never have had this hug, said the friendly young woman while diving back into her memories. It is not so much the medal that shines, but rather the moment behind it. When I look at my medals, it is at all those moments of not taking a step back and working as a team.
Inducted “into her second home”
Since the pandemic, Speed Skating Canada has ended its Hall of Fame induction nights. Marianne St-Gelais will instead be honoured during the Short Track World Cup in Montreal, from October 25 to 27, at the Maurice-Richard Arena. A place that saw her grow up, during her years at the National Training Centre, when she left Saint-Félicien at the age of 17.
“It’s even more the fun because I skated for the 12 years I was part of the national team, St-Gelais confirmed. It’s going to be a great crowd bath. It’s been six years since I’ve experienced that, it’s going to be funny!”
Now based in Saguenay, Marianne St-Gelais will return to the airwaves of Rythme FM 98.3 at the end of her maternity leave in April 2025, where she will play the role of host of the morning show. She will also be heard analyzing the first stages of the World Cup this fall for Radio-Canada Sports.
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