Clara Hughes
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| Clara Hughes | |
 Clara Hughes at the 2000 Tour of Willamette |
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| Country |  Canada |
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| Date of birth | September 27, 1972 |
| Place of birth | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Weight | 71 kg (160 lb/11.2 st) |
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Competitor for Canada |
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| Road bicycle racing | |||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Bronze | 1996 Atlanta | Road race | |
| Bronze | 1996 Atlanta | Time Trial | |
| Commonwealth Games | |||
| Gold | 2002 Manchester | Time Trial | |
| Pan American Games | |||
| Silver | Mar del Plata 1995 | Road Race | |
| Bronze | Mar del Plata 1995 | Time Trial | |
| Track cycling | |||
| Commonwealth Games | |||
| Bronze | 2002 Manchester | 24km Points Race | |
| Pan American Games | |||
| Silver | Havana 1991 | Individual Pursuit | |
| Speed skating | |||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold | 2006 Turin | 5000 m | |
| Silver | 2006 Turin | Team pursuit | |
| Bronze | 2002 Salt Lake City | 5000 m | |
| World Championships | |||
| Bronze | 2005 Inzell | 5000 m | |
| Silver | 2005 Inzell | Team pursuit | |
| Gold | 2004 Seoul | 5000 m | |
Clara Hughes, OC, OM (born September 27, 1972) is a Canadian cyclist and speed skater, and has won multiple Olympic medals in both sports. She is very involved with Right To Play, an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization that uses sports to encourage the development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world.
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[edit] Career
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Hughes started her sporting career with speed skating, but in 1990 she started competitive cycling, competiting in track cycling and road cycling.
[edit] Cycling
Hughes participated in the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics, winning two bronze medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, in the individual road race and the individual time trial.
Hughes, an 18-time Canadian national cycling champion, won the silver medal at the 1995 World Cycling Championships (Time Trial).
Excelling on the international stage, she participated at the 1991, 1995, 1999, and 2003 Pan American Games and won a total of eight Pan American Games medals, Also competing in the 1990, 1994, and 2002 Commonwealth Games, Hughes won gold in the time trial and bronze in the points race on the velodrome at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
A four-time participant of the women's Tour de France, Hughes has won prestigious events such as the 1994 Women's Challenge and the 1997 Liberty Classic.
[edit] Long track speed skating
In the 2000/2001 season, Hughes made a successful comeback to speed skating, resulting in participating in the World Single Distance Championships in Salt Lake City, where she finished 11th at the 3000 m.
The following season, she qualified for the 2002 Winter Olympics. After placing 10th in the 3000 m, she surprisingly won the bronze medal in the 5000 m, just ahead of compatriot Cindy Klassen. With this performance, she became the second speed skater to win medals in both the Summer and Winter Games — Christa Rothenburger won a gold in the 1000 m speed skating event and a silver in the 1000 m cycling sprint event in 1988. She became only the fourth person and second woman to win medals at the Summer and Winter Games. As of 2006, she is the only Olympian to have won multiple medals at the Summer Games as well as at the Winter Games.
In 2006, although she had not yet been asked, she announced that she would not carry the Canadian flag during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. At those same Olympics, she won her first gold medal in the 5000 metre and a silver medal in the women's team pursuit competition as part of the Canadian team. She earned her fifth Olympic medal at the 2006 Games, tying the total medal count record going into the games held by Marc Gagnon and Phillip Edwards. However that record was surpassed by Klassen, who won five medals in Turin, for a career total of six.
Inspired by Joey Cheek, who donated his gold medal bonus to Right to Play, Clara Hughes donated $10,000 of her own money to the NGO after her gold medal win in the 5,000m event.[1] (Canada does not give out gold medal bonuses).
Clara Hughes was also a world record holder on 10,000 m track with the time 14:19.73 achieved on 12 March 2005 on the Olympic Oval in Calgary, which was beaten by Martina Sáblíková one year later. However, this still stands as the Canadian record.
| Personal records | ||||
| Women's speed skating | ||||
| Distance | Time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 500 m | 41.19 | |||
| 1000 m | 1:18.75 | |||
| 1500 m | 1:57.46 | |||
| 3000 m | 3:59.06 | |||
| 5000 m | 6:53.53 | |||
| 10000 m | 14:19.73 | |||
[edit] Sponsors
- Sponsored by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Bell, COLD-fX, Pure Fruit Technologies, Adidas Eyewear & VISA for the 2008-2009 season.
[edit] Honors
In 2006, she was awarded the Order of Manitoba. In 2007, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
On May 23rd, 2008, she was awarded an honourary doctorate degree from the University of British Columbia.
[edit] External links
- Clara Hughes Official Web Site
- Clara Hughes Biography at Speed Skating Canada
- Clara Hughes at SkateResults.com
- Photos of Clara Hughes
- Clare Hughes at RealChampions.ca
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