Canoeist Laurence Vincent Lapointe, two-time medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, announced her retirement from competition on Monday.
Posted at 12:59 p.m.
“Winning two Olympic medals is quite an achievement. I gave everything for these Olympics, physically, mentally and emotionally. Today is the time for me to move on as I feel like I have achieved my dream and achieved my ultimate goal in the sport,” she said in a statement.
On the eve of her 30th birthday, Laurence Vincent Lapointe said she wanted to focus on her next job, physiotherapy.
In the summer of 2021, the athlete from Trois-Rivières demonstrated his resilience by mounting the podium twice in Tokyo, winning silver in the C1 500m before taking bronze in the C2 500m with his Ontario partner Katie vincent. She is the only representative of Quebec who has achieved this feat of arms.
A year earlier, the multiple world champion experienced trauma when she failed an anti-doping test, which earned her a provisional suspension and caused her to miss the World Championships.
After a long legal battle, she succeeded in convincing the Court of Arbitration for Sport that the prohibited substance discovered in her urine – ligandrol – came from an exchange of bodily fluids with her spouse at the time. The CAS completely cleared her. She thanked her lawyer Adam Klevinas “for his incredible help” and her agent Marie-Anik L’Allier “for her expert advice” in what has been a real “saga”.
“I’m super proud of my journey, my accomplishments and the person I’ve become thanks to the learning I’ve learned over the years,” she said. I am also particularly proud to have participated in the development of the female side of my sport, which I loved so much. »
Laurence Vincent Lapointe was a pioneer in women’s canoeing who made her Olympic debut in Tokyo. In total, she won 12 world titles and a gold medal at the U23 Worlds in 2013. She also won gold at the 2015 Pan American Games.