Jean-François Monette (born October 28, 1978) is a Canadian retired short track speed skater and five-time World Championships medallist.

Career

Jean-François Monette started speed skating at the age of 9.
/ref> The most notable achievement at the junior age is the gold medal of the 1996 World Championships. During his career he did not manage to compete at the Winter Olympics. He fractured a

vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...

three weeks prior to the selection for the 1998 Olympics. He was a reserve athlete in the 2002 Olympic team. Monette's first World Cup podium was third place in the relay competition in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

during the 1999–2000 season. His first World Cup relay victory happened at the World Cup stage in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

during the 2001–02 season. His senior career went up in 2002. During the 2002-03 World Cup season, he achieved seven personal podiums as well as four victories and two podiums in relay competitions. He also won the classification in 500 metres and was second in the 1000 m ranking as well as fourth in the general classification. Finally, he clinched two medals at the then-year's

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 ...

. He was selected as Speed Skating Canada's 2003 Male Skater of the Year - Short Track. The 2003–04 season brought him his first personal victory (at 500 m in

Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. It lies on the left bank of the Jizera (river), Jizera River. Mladá Boleslav is the second most populated city in the region. I ...

), which was his only personal World Cup victory, and five personal podiums as well as three podiums in team relays. His best rankings were 12th in 500 m and 14th in the overall classification. During the 2004–05 season, Monette had one personal podium in 500 m and two team podiums in relay. He missed the 2005–06 season and therefore was not able to qualify for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

. During the 2006–07 season, Monette only once shared a silver medal in relay. The 2007–08 season became last active season in his career, during which he won one bronze in relay. In March 2008 he announced about his retirement that was caused by a pair of concussions suffered previous February and a knee injury that had been slow to heal, though he considered to compete for the spot at the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

in his home country.Speedskater Jean-François Monette retires
thestar.com, 3 March 2008 (in English). In 2022, Monette acted as a panel member of the ISU Disciplinary Commission.Decision of the ISU Disciplinary Commission in case No. 2022-02
/ref>

Personal life

Monette graduated with a law degree from the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

in May 2007 and studied notary law afterwards.

References

External links

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Jean-François Monette
at ShorttrackOnLine.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Monette, Jean-Francois 1978 births Living people Canadian male short-track speed skaters People from Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles Speed skaters from Montreal Canadian male speed skaters 21st-century Canadian sportsmen World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists