Canadian Olympic gold medalist Catriona Le May Doan of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan has been named the Chef de Mission for Canada at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing according to Scott Russell of CBC Sports on Tuesday. There is no doubt that Team Canada will have some challenges as they prepare for the next Olympic Winter Games. That is because many Canadian high-performance athletes are not having the opportunity to compete and train against other high-performance athletes throughout the rest of the world at this time due to coronavirus.
Le May Doan won a gold medal for Canada in the women’s 500 metres in speed skating at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano and again at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. She also won an Olympic bronze medal for Canada in the women’s 1000 metres at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano.
Le May Doan was also a three-time gold medalist at the World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships. She placed first in 1998 in Calgary, 1999 in Heerenveen, Netherlands, and in 2001 in Salt Lake City.
At the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, Le May Doan was Canada’s flag bearer in the opening ceremonies. She would go on to be the first Canadian to win back-to-back gold medals in the same individual discipline at an Olympic Games.