It is rare indeed for Olympic athletes to win a gold medal. It is rarer still for Olympic athletes to repeat their gold medal winning performance four years later.
Orléans Olympians Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin accomplished just that at the recent Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy, where they and teammate Valerie Maltais won the women’s team pursuit event, successfully defending the gold medal they won in Beijing in 2022.
The trio went into the final against the co-favourites from the Netherlands after easily defeating the United States by over four seconds in the semi-finals.
The Netherlands had a tougher time of it in their semi-final, besting the team from Japan by just a tenth of a second.
In the gold medal showdown, Canada trailed the Netherlands for the first seven laps of the 12 lap race. They made their move on the eighth lap and never looked back, crossing the finish line by nearly a second ahead of the Dutch.
This will likely be the final Olympics for the 35-year-old Blondin, who also won a silver medal in the mass start, giving four Olympic medals in total.
At age 30, Weidemann could conceivably compete in the 2030 Olympics, which will take place in the French Alps, but that was the furthest thing from her mind as she celebrated her gold medal with her teammates.
“I’m so proud of all the work that the three of us have done over the last four years,” said Weidemann. “We’re a very different team, I think, than in Beijing. We’ve overcome a lot. I’m just so proud.”
“It means the world,” Blondin said about winning a second straight gold medal in the event. “I wouldn’t want to be standing here with anyone else. I think that the trust that we have with this team is what made that happen.”
After their win, the gold medal trio got to video chat with Prime Minister Mark Carney during which he congratulated them on their accomplishment.
“To win is obviously incredible. To repeat. You get nervous when the race is coming up and uh, you nailed it. Felicitations,” said an elated Prime Minister.
Weidemann and Blondin are both pro-ducts of the Gloucester Speed Skating Club which is based out of the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Centre.
Blondin began skating as a youth almost 25 years ago. Despite experiencing early success competing in short track she missed out on making the 2010 Olympic team. As a result of that and internal politics, she switched to long track in 2011 and has never looked back.
Weidemann also took up speed skating at an early age and was always a long track specialist.
Both Blondin and Weidemann have now won four Olympic medals, equaling the total won by fellow Ottawa speed skater Kristina Groves in the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. The only difference is that Groves never won gold.
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