One on One with Markus — Meagan Duhamel
Duhamel, recently retired from pairs skating, hopes to help other athletes with wellness
Olympic medalist and two-time world champion Meagan Duhamel's first memory is of being hit in the mouth with a golf club.
It wasn't a malicious event. Duhamel was 3-years-old at the time and was out playing at the family-owned driving range with her older sister.
"I went to pick up a golf ball to throw but my sister swung," she said.
"She hit me in the face with a golf club and I lost my teeth."
Duhamel, a recently retired pairs figure skater, grew up in Lively in Greater Sudbury, Ont. Throughout her skating career she won a bronze, silver and gold Olympic medal and was two-time world champion with her skating partner Eric Radford.
From a young age, she says she told people she was going to someday compete in the Olympics. When she was 14 years old, she moved away from home to further her training.
"I realized that in order to reach the Olympic level and the world level which is what I wanted, I needed to be in an environment with other elite athletes," she said.
Moving away
"The closest training centre to Sudbury at that elite level was Barrie."
Duhamel says she simply told her parents she was going and they originally told her no, citing her young age and the finances needed to attend.
"I spent about a month begging and pleading and my mom agreed that I could go for one semester," she said.
"During that first semester that I spent at school in Barrie, I qualified for my first nationals, and then I eventually qualified for international competitions, all within one year."
One semester turned into seven years in Barrie.
For years, she competed as a singles skater and consistently placed between fifth and seventh, but says she had to start placing in the top three to think about the Olympics. She switched back and forth between competing as a single and pairs. Eventually, she relocated to Montreal to train as a pairs skater.
Going vegan
Duhamel is also known for her diet and is a well known vegan. She says she read a book in 2008 and immediately decided to change her diet.
"It turned into one of the proudest decisions I've ever made," she said.
"It's a lifestyle that I'm very dedicated to now and I wouldn't change anything. I didn't realize how rare it is to be an Olympics medalist following a plant based diet."
She says she originally decided to try the diet for health reasons.
"And then, I became very passionate about animal rights and about the environment and all sorts of things," she said.
Now, after a successful career on the ice, Duhamel is retired from competing in pairs skating.
"Now I'm looking for opportunities with shows … doing seminars and workshops," she said.
"I'm going to be in Sudbury in August to do a skating camp. I'm going to Mexico after in August to run a skating camp as well. I'm doing some coaching in Montreal as well and finishing up my holistic nutrition studies."
Long term, she says she'd like to create a wellness program for athletes.
"[To] help athletes understand the meaning of proper nutrition, proper training, proper mental training in order to help them excel and stay healthy," she said.