Jean-Luc Brassard (born August 24, 1972) 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 ...

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

, winning the gold medal at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

. Brassard has been credited with popularizing the wearing of bright

knee pads Knee pads or kneepads are protective gear worn on knees to protect them against impact injury from falling to the ground or hitting an obstacle, or to provide padding for extended kneeling. Use Sports Knee pads are worn in many recreationa ...

to show off absorption and leg position for mogul skiers to best show judges how smoothly the athlete is taking the turns. He was born in

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada, in the Regional County Municipality of Beauharnois-Salaberry. The population as of 2019 was 42,410. Situated on Grande-Île, an island in the Saint Lawrence River, it is bordere ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. In his other Olympic appearances, Brassard placed 7th in 1992, 4th in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and 21st in 2002. In 2005 he became the spokesman of

Le Massif (, ), known as just Le Massif, is a ski area in Quebec, Canada, northeast of Quebec City and directly overlooking the St. Lawrence River. Description ski area is located in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, Charlevoix, Quebec, a 50-minute dr ...

. In 2012, Brassard was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. Brassard served as an assistant

chef de mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, perman ...

for

Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics Canada competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, from February 7 to 23, 2014. Canadians competed in every discipline except Nordic combined. The 2014 Games marked the first time a Canadian Olympic team competed in Russia, as Canada ...

. In late 2014, the

Canadian Olympic Committee The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC; french: Comité olympique canadien) is a private, non-profit organization that represents Canada at the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is also a member of the Pan American Sports Organization ( ...

(COC) appointed Brassard as chef de mission for Canada at the 2016 Summer Olympics. In October 2015, following the resignation of COC President

Marcel Aubut Marcel Aubut, (born January 5, 1948) is a Canadian lawyer, former president of the Canadian Olympic Committee and former president and Chief Executive Officer of the Quebec Nordiques of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was a board member of ma ...

over multiple allegations of sexual harassment of staff, Brassard became vocal about the COC's failure to properly examine the issue when allegations were made in 2008. In April 2016, Brassard resigned as chef de mission, later replaced by Curt Harnett. Brassard is currently a radio commentator and also the narrator of the French version of the television documentary program ''

How It's Made ''How It's Made'' (''Comment c'est fait'' in French) is a Canadian documentary television series that premiered on January 6, 2001, on the Discovery Channel in Canada and the Science Channel in the United States. The program is produced in th ...

''.

References

External links

* 1972 births Canadian male freestyle skiers Living people Sportspeople from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield Olympic medalists in freestyle skiing Sportspeople from Quebec Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada Freestyle skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics {{Canada-freestyle-skiing-bio-stub