François Viens (born March 7, 1975) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

retired racquetball player from

Delson, Quebec Delson is an off-island suburb ( South shore) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is situated 8 mi/13 km SSE of Montreal within the regional county municipality of Roussillon in the administrative region of Montérégie. The population as o ...

. Viens was a doubles specialist during his career usually playing on the right side. He won four Canadian Championships in doubles, three with

Vincent Gagnon Vincent Gagnon (born September 5, 1981) is a Canadian retired racquetball player from Montreal. Gagnon won five Canadian Championships: four doubles titles and one singles. He also competed for Canada 19 times, winning multiple medals highlighted ...

, with whom he also won the 2007

Pan American Championships A Pan American Championship is a top level international sports competition between athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs in the Americas. Typically these championships are recurring, the most ...

and one with

Corey Osborne Corey Osborne (born July 28, 1969) is a Canadian racquetball player from Penetanguishene, Ontario. Osborne is a former Canadian Champion in singles in 2005 and doubles (with François Viens in 2003). International career Osborne has made 4 ap ...

International career

Viens made 5 appearances on Team Canada. His first appearance was at the 2003

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

, when he earned a bronze medal in doubles with

. Viens's greatest success internationally was winning the 2007 Pan American Championships in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, where he and

defeated Americans

Andy Hawthorne Andy Hawthorne, OBE is a British evangelist, author and founder of The Message Trust, a Christian mission organisation based in Manchester, UK. Working for over 30 years with young people and communities across the UK. His initiatives and the ...

and Jason Samora in the final, 15-6, 11-15, 11-9. Viens also played doubles with Tom O'Brien at the 2004 Pan American Championships, and they earned bronze medals, losing in the semi-finals to Americans Mike Dennison and

Shane Vanderson Shane Vanderson (born May 26, 1981) is a retired professional racquetball player. Vanderson was thInternational Racquetball Tour's (IRT's)#5 player at the end of three seasons: 2006-07, 2007–08, 2009-10.http://www.bossconsulting.com/irt/ IRT Hi ...

, 15-8, 15-14. Viens's last appearance on Team Canada was at the 2008

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, when he played doubles with

Kris Odegard Kris Odegard (born February 29, 1980) is a Canadian retired racquetball player from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Odegard won four Canadian Championships – two in singles and two in doubles. He also won several medals in international competition as ...

. They lost to the Japanese team of Hiroshi Shimizu and Michimune Kono in the quarter-finals, 2-15, 15-7, 11-6. His other appearance for Canada was at the 2006

, when Viens played singles for the only time in his career. He reached the quarter-finals, where he lost to Mexican Gilberto Meija.

Canadian career

Viens won four Canadian Championships in doubles. His first title came in 2003 with

. That victory helped them get selected for that year's

. Viens's other Canadian titles have been with

. They won in 2008, beating Mike Green and Brian Istace in the final, and 2009, when they defeated Green and Eric Desrochers in the final. In 2012, Gagnon and Viens defeated Desrochers and Pedro Castro in the final, 15-8, 8-15, 11-9.

Personal

Viens is married and lives in Delson, Quebec.

International career

Canadian career

Personal

See also

References