Olympic champ to switch gears
Quebec Olympic short track speed skating champion, Marc Gagnon, has decided to take up auto racing.
Gagnon retired in September 2002 after becoming the most decorated winter Olympic athlete in Canada.
He says he has always dreamed of being a race car driver.
"Actually it started like every kid, I would say. At 12, 13 years old when you start watching Formula One, or car racing or motorcycle racing, and you get into the groove of those races and you feel like 'Oh, I would like to do that one day'," Gagnon says.
"I think most young kids really enjoy that and would really like to do that."
Gagnon will be racing a souped-up Honda Prelude. The team he is racing with won the last Quebec championship.
His first race will be on his 28th birthday: May 24, in Mont Tremblant, Que.
Gagnon's speed skating career
Gagnon spent most of his athletic career in relative anonymity in his native Canada, all the while raking in word titles and World Cup medals at global meets from South Korea to Italy.
But for two weeks in February 2002, short track speed skater Marc Gagnon vaulted to the fore of Canadian sports by capturing three winter Olympic medals in Salt Lake City en route to becoming Canada's most decorated Olympian ever.
Gagnon raced to gold in the 500 metres and bronze in the 1,500. He also anchored the national relay squad to the top of the podium.
Four years earlier, Gagnon entered the Nagano Olympics as the odds-on favourite to take gold in both the 500 and 1,000.
After a disqualification and a disappointing tumble, Gagnon returned home to media scrutiny, disappointment and doubts about the direction of his career. He proceeded to take a couple of years off to reassess his future.
All the hard work, dedication and his return from self-imposed exile were validated with his three-medal performance in Salt Lake City highlighted by the 500-metre triumph.
Gagnon's feat made him the most successful Canadian Winter Olympian in history, and tied him with track and field athlete Phillip Edwards as the most decorated Canadian Olympian ever.
Having firmly solidified his short-track legacy, the Chicoutimi, Que. native decided to bow out from his sport after making a major impact on the Canadian skating scene and winter sports landscape.