I found the Beijing Games really interesting, although a bit hard to follow thanks to the time difference. The ambience, for a spectator, is obviously very different from that of a participant. I did find myself envying the athletes skiing some of the courses and feeling the emotions of the starts and finishes. But when I think of all it involves, particularly the falls, I was pretty happy to be home with my family.

The downhill run seemed incredible. I liked its design and its line a lot. There were technical parts, sliding parts, and a lot of jumps. The snow, however, appeared different: very aggressive. It never snows there, or almost never. Some of the racers had trouble adapting. The Canadians performed well, in particular Jack Crawford who finished sixth, fourth, and in the end took a bronze medal in the combined.

Personally, I expected that our alpine podium chances were with the women, but we had some bad luck, notably with Valérie Grenier who fell on the first run. She did, however, give her all and, from my perspective, did what was needed. Saying to yourself, at the Olympics, “I should have pushed harder,” is the worst thing to live through.

In ski cross, Brittany Phelan finished fifth and Marielle Thompson took silver. Both of them performed really well. If Brittany could have made the final, we would certainly have had a result similar to the one we had in Sochi. But whatever the discipline – I’m thinking of hockey, among others – it’s always very moving to see our athletes perform and bring home the victories.

Inspiring the next generation

The young Tremblant alpine skiers watched Valérie with a great deal of interest. The whole Club de ski is very proud of her and in fact, I hadn’t realized how much she inspired the youngsters. They are motivated by the performances and the results. Valérie dropped by to see them when she returned from the Games, which obviously made a lot of our young people very happy.

We have had good performances this winter. Jocelyn Huot is an excellent head coach. He has a good vision, and manages his athletes, the coaches and the Club very well. You can see it with the performances at almost every level.

The ultimate goal is to have the youngsters watch the Olympics and want to participate in them. Of course, they won’t all get there, but my ambition is still to see other kids from the Club perform at the Olympics in 2026, in 2030, and in the Games that follow…

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