NEW CHAPTER FOR ST-GELAIS
Retired speedskater seeks career
Marianne St- Gelais’s life is no longer going around in circles, and the 28-year-old is looking to find her path toward a happy future.
After spending 12 years speeding around short-track skating rinks across the globe as part of the Canadian national team, St- Gelais has officially retired. On Wednesday evening, there was a cocktail event at Shoot Studio in Montreal to celebrate her athletic career, which included three trips to the Olympics and three medals: two silvers from the Vancouver Games in 2010 and another silver at the 2014 Sochi Games. She also competed at this year’s Pyeongchang Olympics.
“We wanted to do something different from a press conference,” St- Gelais said during a one-on-one interview Wednesday morning. “It’s more of a celebration, inviting people to have a last chat with the Olympian because Marianne is still going to be there, but not as an Olympian anymore.”
The Olympian whose bright smile and charming personality helped light up the Games every four years for Canadians watching on TV needs to find the new Marianne. She’s not the same little girl who started speedskating at age 10 in her small hometown of Roberval in the Lac Saint-Jean region of Quebec and seven years later moved to Montreal to join the national team and train at the Maurice Richard Arena. She has grown from experiences on and off the ice.
“I’m trying to figure out what I want to do, but I’m not scared about what’s happening,” StGelais said about her new life. “Life has been good for me so far, so I hope life is still going to be good for me.”
St- Gelais plans to stay in Montreal for at least the next couple of years and would like to work in the media. Perfectly bilingual, she would be a natural on TV in English or French and could also be a very good motivational speaker.
“I want to explore some things, but I feel like I’m comfortable in front of a camera,” she said.
Skating isn’t the only thing gone from St- Gelais’s life. In March, she announced her breakup with fellow short- track speedskater Charles Hamelin after a 10-year relationship that had warmed the hearts of Canadians watching the Olympics on TV when they celebrated each other’s medal performances with a kiss. St- Gelais said the highlight of her career was winning silver in the 500-metre event at the Vancouver Games on her 20th birthday.
“There have been lots of changes in the last few months,” St- Gelais said about her life. “But I feel like it’s the perfect way to start over again. It’s a new chapter, it’s a new beginning for me. Sometimes you have to make changes to move forward. It was something with Charles, but it was also an ending to my career and my Olympics. Everything didn’t finish the way I wanted, but at the end there’s nothing I could do about it.”
St- Gelais hopes to have a family one day, but she’s enjoying this new life on her own and the possibilities that lie ahead. She said the hardest part is also the best part — not having a routine.
“I’m used to waking up and knowing my schedule, hour by hour, but right now I don’t have that,” said St- Gelais, whose final competition was the world championships in March at the Maurice Richard Arena. “It’s nice to taste the freedom and the fact that I can wake up at the hour I want when I have nothing to do that day. But at the same time, you’re like: I don’t know what to do today. We still need to fill the day and sometimes I feel like I’m wasting my time. But right now I’m trying to enjoy the moments that I have when I do nothing. It’s not easy, but I’m trying to enjoy it because I know it won’t last long.
“I like to go to the park and have a picnic, stuff like that,” she added. “I really like that because that’s the stuff I would do at home with my family. I’m really close to nature, so I like to be surrounded by green. I really enjoy spending an afternoon in the park with friends.”
St- Gelais misses her parents back home in Roberval and figures she will return there in the future. But that’s not where her path is headed just yet as she looks for a new career.
“I don’t know what my job will be,” she said. “I hope I’ll be surrounded by people and be happy. I just want to be happy. I just want to find something other than sports that I’m still passionate about and still fight for. I hope I’ll find it. For sure I want a family, too. So maybe in 10 years I’ll be in Lac Saint-Jean with a family.
“We’ll see,” she added with her bright smile.
I’m trying to figure out what I want to do, but I’m not scared about what’s happening. Life has been good for me so far, so I hope life is still going to be good for me.