Four-time Olympic Medalist, Nathalie Lambert became Canada’s Chef de Mission for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. As such, her role was to provide leadership for a team of over 300 volunteers and staff that had as their collective goal to ensure that every Canadian athlete on the Olympic team could perform to its full potential.
Nathalie Lambert was named Canada’s Chef de Mission for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games on December 10, 2007. As such, her role leading up to the games and at the games, was to provide leadership for a team of over 300 volunteers and staff that had for collective goal to ensure that every Canadian athlete on the Olympic team could perform to its full potential. She was also the official spokesperson for the Olympic Team, not only to the public and the media but also to the governing bodies at the games, mainly the Vancouver Organizing Committee and also the International Olympic Committee. A Montreal native, Lambert is a 4-time Olympic medalist in short track speed skating, and also a member of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame since 1992. Lambert first participated in the Olympic Games when Calgary played host to the XV Winter Games in 1988. Short-track speed skating was introduced as a demonstration sport and Lambert and her teammates finished third in the women’s 3,000-metre relay. Four years later, Lambert captured gold in the women’s relay with teammates Sylvie Daigle, Angela Cutrone and Annie Perreault at Albertville in 1992, and was given the honor of being Canada’s flag bearer at the Games’ closing ceremonies. She followed that up with silver medals in both the 1,000 and 3,000-metre relays at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer. Lambert retired from competition in 1997 but returned to the Olympic Games as Assistant Chef de Mission for the Canadian Team in Athens in 2004. Further to her Olympic success, Lambert captured world titles in short track speed skating in 1991, ’93 and ’94. She won a total of 39 world championships distance medals, and also over 50 overall international competitions, while establishing world records in several events, including the relay, 500, 1,000 and 1,500-metre events. Lambert was later inducted into Quebec’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. Among her many other accolades, Lambert was named the athlete of the year by the ‘Mérite Sportif Québécois’ in 1994, while also earning the same distinction by the Canadian Speed Skating Association from 1985 to 1987, and 1990 to 1994. Following her sporting career, Lambert was hired by Montreal’s Club Sportif MAA and has served as its Director of Communications and Marketing since 1999. She has a bachelor degree in Physical Education. She also carried her passion for sport into motivational speaking opportunities while collaborating with several television productions, producing 6 fitness dance DVDs and publishing a book on the value of fitness and physical activity. Diagnosed with osteoarthritis while still speed skating competitively, Lambert became an Honorary Patron of the Arthritis Society of Quebec upon her retirement. A mother of two, Lambert and her husband currently reside in Montreal.
Similar
Speakers