For Ivanie Blondin, having just won gold and silver medals in speedskating at the Milano-Cortina Winter Games, returning to the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex was special. She was greeted by fans young and old, some even wanting to follow in her footsteps to Olympic gold. “It’s a full circle moment for me. It brings back a lot of memories and a lot of long, hard hours I had to spend here training. I really enjoyed it,” Blondin said. “It was hard training sessions but there is a reason why I’m standing here right now; it’s because of those hard sessions.” Blondin’s dedication is inspiring to a new generation. The hallway outside the change rooms was packed with kids clenching skates and helmets, looking for a golden signature and sometimes a little advice. “I did not anticipate so many kids, but I was pleasantly surprised,” Blondin said. “I actually heard from a lot of them that they started speedskating after watching the Olympics just recently, which is so incredible.” The kids standing in line waiting to meet their hero said Blondin inspires them. “I’ve admired her since I was really young.” “It was very fun and nice to see where she started and how well she has done.” “It’s about the thrill of going fast and I really love the long distances.” Parents like Jack Macdonald, who is also a coach, were thrilled to have Blondin there so soon after winning gold. “It’s just really cool to see the end result and having them come back, give back to the sport, and again, just looking at the kids and seeing all the smiles it makes a big difference,” Macdonald said. “You can see even in the enrolment rate in our club, it just exploded.” After spending more than an hour and a half singing autographs and talking to kids, Blondin laced up her skates and took to the ice, offering one-on-one tips for success in a sport she has come to dominate. “Try to enjoy it as much as possible and not be so hard on yourself,” Blondin said. “I’ve always been hard on myself, even from a very young age, and it was not until my last Olympics I figured out I should maybe have a little fun with it.” Blondin won silver in the women’s mass start event, and gold in the women’s team pursuit event alongside fellow Ottawa speedskater Isabelle Weidemann and Quebec’s Valérie Maltais. Blondin was also on the gold medal winning pursuit team at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China, with Weidemann and Maltais.
