(Beijing) It had been half an hour since they had won gold, but the five were not letting go. I watched Steven Dubois’ hand cling to Charles Hamelin’s jersey as one clings as long as possible to a moment, so that it doesn’t quickly become a memory.
Posted at 9:54 p.m.
Too bad for the health instruction against screaming in the stands: the few hundred Chinese spectators in the capital’s indoor stadium almost created a normal atmosphere for what remains the most spectacular race of the series. It must be said that China aligned with the other four finalists.
“The feeling of going first, we know what it is, but at the Games, it’s 10 times stronger,” said Hamelin, who ended his Olympic career of five Games with this gold medal in the 5,000 relay. Mr. He becomes Canada’s most decorated Winter Games athlete.
“I don’t realize it too much, but tomorrow I think I’m going to mourn my life,” said Hamelin with a big laugh. For the moment, it was a lot of fun in the group.
“There is so much love, we have experienced such sick things,” said Jordan Pierre-Gilles, who did not finish all his Chinese evenings in a good mood.
In the stack that followed the victory, one wonders how coach Sébastien Cros came out unscathed.
And above this human magma from which emerged blades that were a little too sharp, we noticed Marc Gagnon, who was crying with joy, his mask dropped. His career ended the same way, with a relay victory in Salt Lake City, exactly 20 years ago.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
It was euphoria in the Canadian team!
“Charles is an exceptional athlete among exceptional athletes, and the guys will one day realize how lucky they were to train with him,” Gagnon told us. He has a family, a little girl, he is 37 years old, he could have relaxed a little, but every day he demonstrates the same work ethic. It is… majestic! »
He was asked how he felt about this victory, now that he is part of the coaching staff. His voice muffled.
“Twenty years later, I haven’t changed, I’m still crying! he laughed.
“I can just say to young people who are wondering if they are going to become a coach: winning a medal as a coach is also exciting! »
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Hamelin is no longer the fastest on the team. And as much as he pulled them up, the younger ones forced him to stay level for four years. He is nonetheless the leader, and there was no better way to pass the baton to the next generation.
“I have the right to an extra suitcase, fortunately,” said Steven Dubois, who completed his collection of medals after silver in the 1500m and bronze in the 500m. Each podium comes with a doggie mascot, so the man won’t be traveling light.
“Me, I had a job to do, it was to go fast,” summed up Dubois.
The guys still didn’t let go, except to open bags of sour candies, perhaps to rebalance this evening too full of honey with a little acidity.
To the left of Dubois, Maxime Laoun, medalist in his own right for having made the semi-final, and then Pascal Dion, the one who took the lead.
A “perfect” race of 45 laps, where the team started in third place on the starting line. They patiently held the position until the midpoint, exchange after exchange. It was then a matter of watching for the slightest opening, which would inevitably come. Pierre-Gilles took advantage of a hesitation from the Russian team to take second place. In the last third, Dubois saw a Korean lose his footing. The push he gave Dion propelled him into the lead. From there, with what Dion has in his legs, it was in his pocket: they knew the others wouldn’t have enough juice to catch up with them. The South Koreans took the silver, the Italians the bronze, the Russians the fourth place and the Chinese ended up in the mattress, which led to much better respect for the sanitary directive of silence.
There were 20 laps to go and “we knew we were going to win,” said Hamelin.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Pascal Dion, Steven Dubois, Charles Hamelin, Maxime Laoun and Jordan Pierre-Gilles
The coaches weren’t so certain. Head coach Cros even wondered if they weren’t a little too confident at the morning meeting. “It’s one thing to be first in the World Cup, but to do it again in an Olympic final is another. But once in front, they put all the sauce. »
In the end, with Kim Boutin’s bronze, the team brought back four medals.
“As a coach, you don’t control anything… for days, I thought I was going to run out of air I was so stressed. Their confidence was stressing me out! said Gagnon, slightly more emotional…
When asked what it was like to find his “role model” Marc Gagnon in the coaching staff for two years, Hamelin corrected the journalists.
” My model ?! It’s my idol ! I started skating because of him, I reached the national team when he retired after the 2002 games. To live with him, to have him on the team for two years, it’s is lucky. »
Don’t believe the guys did it just “for Charles”. They did it for them too. But “we know he’s a legend, it just makes us more happy to do it with him,” summed up Pierre-Gilles.
His brother François, with whom he won the relay in Vancouver in 2010, had ordered him to smile throughout these fifth Games. Charles obeyed.
“The smile is going to be there for a long time, I think. »