“I want my life beat to be a little slower and to be more available to the people I love. »
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
It seems that we can take the girl out of Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, but we cannot take Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean out of the girl. Marianne St-Gelais said goodbye to the metropolis last week. She is now back in her hometown. For real.
To be honest, it was only a matter of time before the three-time Olympic medalist in short track speed skating returned to her native region. “I always knew that I was going to return to the region. I just didn’t know when, ”she suggests on the phone, live from Arvida, in Saguenay.
It was in the fall of 2021 that the bell rang. “But what am I still doing here [à Montréal] ? What’s holding me back? she wondered.
The former Olympian was 17 when she left the town of Saint-Félicien. She lived from her sport, in Montreal, for many years. Since retiring in 2018, she has been “surfing the opportunities” that present themselves to her. The projects have been numerous; she notably launched her biography in 2020.
“I’m really lucky,” she said. The sport brought me a good visibility. I really had a great business experience, but I said to myself: I lived what I had to live, but above all I went after what I wanted to do.
“I’ve also realized that maybe I don’t want to have a media career as big as what I’ve sold myself a lot. »
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Marianne St-Gelais at the Sochi Olympics in 2014
Note: St-Gelais enjoys working in the media environment. As proof, for the next year she will host the weekday morning show from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at Rythme 98.3, in Saguenay. With “his world”.
“In the end, it’s not so much the public’s attention that feeds me, it’s the people I love, she drops. There, I’ve neglected them for too many years. Babies grow around me. I am a very absent aunt, I have aging parents. I miss a piece of life from the people I love the most and who have supported me from the beginning. »
The 32-year-old broke the news to her parents around Christmas. She recently sold her condo. And here she is for a few days in Saguenay, where she would eventually like to be built. Her boyfriend, originally from Quebec, joined her until he started his hockey season. Otherwise, she is accompanied by her dog, Robin.
“My sport, I love it”
St-Gelais is therefore no longer a coach at the Canadian Regional Training Center (CRCE), where she had been supervising the next generation of short track for almost two years.
For now, she has no intention of joining a Saguenay club. But she knows some coaches and she knows that if she wants to get back on the ice, the door is open. She also intends to keep her coaching certificate active.
I will always stay close to my sport. Even when my gang from Montreal comes to compete in the region, I go to see them. My sport, I love it.
Marianne St-Gelais
It remains that this sport has required many sacrifices over the years. The estrangement from his family is the main thing. St-Gelais mentions in particular her brother six years younger than her.
“I feel like I woke up one morning, came home for the holidays, saw my brother who had become a man. He was taller than me, had a big hoarse voice. […] My little brother was 11, then he was 16. I was in my bubble, my world, my business, and I missed it. »
“Life has moved forward for me, but for others too,” she adds.
When her sister gave birth to her first child in 2016, Marianne was at the arena training. She kept her cell phone close to her, on the tape, in order to make a FaceTime as soon as little Livia was born. She is also godmother to the little girl, now 6 years old. And her sister will soon give birth to her second child. ” I will be there ! exclaims St-Gelais.
The ex-skater does not regret her career in any way. She made choices, like everyone else. Choices that have succeeded, moreover, she who took part in the Olympic Games of 2010, 2014 and 2018.
In summary, the time has now come for Marianne St-Gelais to think about… Marianne St-Gelais. “I’ve been there in my life. I want to be in my nature, with my people, to rediscover those roots which have always been there, but which have gone a little too far. »
And then, the region will be the perfect place to, perhaps, start a family.
“I want to give my children what I received. You can never control anything, but I said to myself: the decision I can make is to be in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean. After that, we’ll see. »