Alexandre Bilodeau | “I fell on my X”

“Alex, I’m sure if you give yourself three or four months of training, you’ll be back on the podium!” “, launched Mikaël Kingsbury to Alexandre Bilodeau around a glass of wine about two years ago. “We were cringing. But in the end, I have too much to lose,” says Bilodeau in an interview with The Press.

On this Thursday morning in January, we enter a chic office tower in Westmount Square. The elevator takes us to 18^e floor, where the elegant offices of Walter Capital Partenaires are located. Alexandre Bilodeau, Vice President of Direct Investments, welcomes us.

From the top of the conference room in which we sit down for our interview, the panorama is sublime. “We are pampered! “Agrees the former Olympic skier.

Olympic skier, yes. We almost have to remember it, so Bilodeau seems to be in his element. His post-career, or rather his second career, is where it takes place. Away from snow, bumps and planes for eight years already.

” I love that. I ran into my X while being here. This is what I want to do all my life,” he suggests.

The life of a top athlete is unique in that it only lasts a few years. Bilodeau was 26 when he ended his own in 2014. His studies in accounting were already underway. “An athlete, it’s not true that he doesn’t have time to study! “, he assures.

At the time, studies allowed him to have “other problems than just skiing”.

Bilodeau chose to study accounting knowing full well that he would one day move into finance. The transactional environment, “which is an environment with a little more adrenaline”, intrigued him. After almost five years in accounting positions, he was hired in 2019 at Walter Capital Partners, “which really makes direct investments in portfolio companies”. And here he is today, happier than ever.

Highs and lows

Contrary to what one might think, however, the passage of the double Olympic gold medalist to the so-called “normal” life has not always been smooth.

The Montrealer, who grew up in Saint-Sauveur, often questioned himself.

“It’s in phases. At the beginning, when I had to finish my studies… You say to yourself: I am 26 years old, I am in class with younger people who are 22 years old and I don’t understand any more than them. And you say to yourself: I was the best in the world at what I did. »

“When you start your first internships, you are with people who are younger than you and who are your bosses. As an athlete, I have been the center of attention for my team for about ten years. Everyone’s job [autour de toi] is to optimize performance, both physical and technical, on the track. And now, I’m no longer the center of anyone’s attention, I’m the intern. »

Bilodeau, who has also been a speaker for years, quickly realized that this backward step would allow him to do a marathon forward.

“In the end, was it worth it? we ask him.

“100%,” he replies with a smile.

Move on

If the sporting exploits of Alexandre Bilodeau may seem distant to some, this is not the case for the main interested party. The memories are still fresh in his memory. Like the Vancouver Games, where he became the first Canadian Olympic champion in his country. Everyone remembers him, especially for his reaction to the announcement of the results and the moving celebration with his brother Frédéric, who has cerebral palsy.

When asked if he has ever had the taste of returning to competition, Bilodeau exclaims: “Bah, you think about it! But I am in full swing in my career. I would have to put that aside to come back to it later. When I do something, I do it 100%. I decided to accept, to move on. »

The ex-athlete remains proud of his journey, but he focuses on what is in front of him rather than behind. He would like to relive the “performance”, “pride” and “glamorous” sides of sport, but he knows very well what work that requires. “And that, I’m not ready to do it again,” he drops.

Skiing is now a hobby for the resident of Griffintown. Like everyone else, he works. He goes to the mountain in Saint-Sauveur when he has the opportunity. He plans trips, projects.

Nevertheless, there will always be Alexandre Bilodeau, who was, for a moment, the best freestyle skier in the world.

Kingsbury, the enthusiast

Alexandre Bilodeau has known Mikaël Kingsbury since he was “that from above”, he said, making the sign with his hand. “He comes from Saint-Sauveur, so I saw him grow up on the slopes. He is the same age as my sister. […] You could see he was passionate,” he recalls. The two men, who have been adversaries, text each other from time to time. “When I see things on social media, a move on which he has been working for a long time, I am writing to him. I tell him to keep pushing the sport. We need people like that. Mikaël is in a position where he can continue to push the sport. He has nothing more to prove”, he underlines while recalling that winning, “it’s not that easy! “.

Katherine Harvey-Pinard, The Press