The beautiful stories of Isabelle’s games

“I had prepared myself mentally to have a huge thrill when entering the stadium for the opening series of the Games in Lillehammer. I was told that the shock was incredible when the athletes found themselves in the stadium. You remember, it was a big, very open stadium, it was kind of foggy, we were coming around the corner, I couldn’t see practically anything, we were freezing and I remember thinking to myself: OK, I success. I am at the Games. But the great thrill, that’s it, that’s just it! It was for me a first disappointment at the Olympic Games. »

It is Isabelle Charest who tells the story. She must have been sitting in her limousine as Minister Delegate for Education and Head of Sports and Leisure when we talked about her Games. The interview was supposed to last half an hour, but at some point the clock stopped. Isabelle’s beautiful Olympic stories cover almost 30 years, from the Games in Albertville to those in Pyeongchang.

These stories are fascinating, sometimes intimate, often touching and, the Minister hopes, inspiring for girls and women who would like to achieve in sport.

And we start with a painful failure…

ALBERTVILLE, THE LESSON OF A LIFETIME

Isabelle Charest, who was just 20 years old, missed the Albertville Games. By a very small point on the 10,000 that we evaluated for a national selection: “It was an excruciating pain. But a lesson that has served me for the rest of my life. It was the first time that short track speed skating was an official event at the Games. But Skate-Canada had instituted a scoring system that included tests of strength, propulsion, off-ice tests. Me, I was a few pounds overweight and even though I was stronger than another 100-pound girl, my ratio was lower. In the end, I missed one of the 10,000 points and I missed the Games,” she says, still moved by the memory.

“But it’s also the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Before, I trained correctly, but not always to the max. Afterwards, I invested myself completely in my sport. I was in my living room during the tests and I was yelling…”, says the minister.

BEDARD AND LILLEHAMMER

Two years later, we find her in Lillehammer. The Games of Myriam Bédard and Jean-Luc Brassard: “My performances at the world championships made me hope for the best. But the competition was super tough. This is where we all discovered the American Kathy Turner. She pushed others around, but she also had phenomenal skill. She was catching up all the time when we were sure she was going to fall and she took the gold. Fortunately, after my disappointment in the 500 meters, I won the silver medal in the 3000 meters relay. It was heart-warming,” says Isabelle.

And then, these Games were marked by the two gold medals of Myriam Bédard and that of Jean-Luc Brassard: “People say that the Games of Lillehammer were among the most beautiful. But we haven’t seen them much. We skated in Hamar, an hour from town, and we didn’t go much into the village. But we savored Jean-Luc Brassard’s medal. Myriam Bédard was more distant, less close to the other athletes,” she said.

And Isabelle has not forgotten Albert of Monaco who had undertaken to “cruise” the entire Canadian female delegation.

Normally, he should have started with her…

“I returned to Lillehammer for the Youth Olympics in 2016. This time, I was able to appreciate what the city had to offer,” said the minister.

NAGANO AND ANOTHER DISAPPOINTMENT

“In Nagano, I was going for the gold. I held the world record for the 500 meters, I was a medalist at the world championships and my objective was clear. The gold medal. During the tests, in an overtaking, I don’t really know, I hit a block and I lost my balance before falling. Despite a bronze medal in the relay, I was disappointed. Irritated. Even that I decided to try my luck in long track. Even with my short track skates, I was doing well. It allowed me to rediscover the pleasure of skating. The long track stride is so elegant, so beautiful. Fluidity, everything is an enchantment,” recalls Isabelle.

But the call of competition was still too strong. There was Salt Lake City in 2002.

SALT LAKE CITY, JOY REBOUND

These were great games for Isabelle Charest. She was aware that these were the last of a fine career. She wanted to savor them: “I finished fourth, one place off the podium. I could have fought harder, but the girl who passed me had been involved in an incident at previous Games. Oddly enough, while skating, I thought it was okay for her to have some sort of revenge. It was a funny feeling. Even if I didn’t reach the podium, I was calm. In Salt Lake, I thoroughly enjoyed my Games. I was able to go see the women’s hockey final, see Marie-Ève ​​Drolet, Danielle Sauvageau, see Catriona Le May-Doan, follow the story of Dan Johnson, hockey guys. I was happy,” she recalls.

And the look that the great athlete was able to cast on her career was satisfied. No medal in her favorite discipline, but in short track speed skating, it’s not enough to be the best. You have to be lucky the minute you compete.

These Games were those of the gold medal in hockey, women and men, of David Pelletier and Jamie Sale. And bronze at Isabelle Charest’s relay.

This time she could savor. Albertville’s lesson had borne fruit. She had given everything.

LONDON AND RIO

The Olympic adventures did not stop there. I met her in London at the Canadian Olympic House where COC President Marcel Aubut was enthroned. Isabelle Charest was the athletes’ ambassador at the London Games in 2012. “In a very pleasant role, we received medal-winning athletes and others, we welcomed families and very close friends. I haven’t been able to follow many competitions since I was very busy at home, but the memories I have are very pleasant,” she said.

Then the Rio Games in 2016 will be his learning Games in very important new functions. Canada’s Deputy Head of Mission in Brazil: “Everyone was worried about the facilities or the organization, but it was a great Games. As deputy head of mission, I went everywhere to the sites for all the sports. I stuffed myself and spoiled myself at these Games. For once, I had time to see almost everything. I loved the Rio Games,” she says.

And then there were the fabulous beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema and her daughter who dances bossa nova…

How not to dream… even when you only sleep two hours a night, there is so much work to do.

PYEONGCHANG AND POLITICS

Pyeongchang 2018. Beautiful Games. Mathieu Boulay, André Cyr, the Yéti (journalist Alain Bergeron) and our photographer friends, we all met Isabelle Charest somewhere in the mountains or in the stadiums. Madam the Canadian head of mission helped me out one day in the mountains by – 20 to bring me back to the media center. I was so frozen that she would have asked me to vote liberal that I might have said yes.

She never lost her smile. She was in all the competitions where she thought the athletes could benefit from her support: “We were cold as ever. Especially the week leading up to the Games before you arrive in Pyeongchang. We worked like crazy. I finished the Games completely burnt but satisfied,” she said.

This time, the Olympic adventure came to an end. François Legault spotted her and offered her a county. She accepted the political adventure. Goodbye Olympics, hello ministerial limousine.

And if there was a message in all these Olympic years and in this political mandate, what would Isabelle Charest mean?

“I hope I was able to turn on a light. That young girls tell themselves that sport is accessible to them, that it is open to them. May they be accomplished there. »

Thank you, Madam Minister, hello Isabelle…

The woke cowardice of Radio-Canada

Max Hénault was the guest at 91.9 yesterday morning. Host LP Guy greeted him with a barely suppressed wokeness.

It is a delicate subject. We can’t tell Radio-Canada that a Chinese athlete has eaten too many dumplings, but it’s okay for an Italian to have devoured his spaghetti, for an American to have eaten too many hot dogs, for a Quebecer for getting stuffed with a poutine, for a Bleuet for having swallowed too much tourtière du Lac or for a Burkinabe in Ouagadougou for having abused tô?

There is an objective aspect to language that must remain the norm, otherwise the perceptions of overly sensitive hugs will make any thought impossible to formulate.

The management of Radio-Canada sacrificed a lamb to have holy peace. It’s also called cowardice.