Myriam Bédard, (born December 22, 1969) is a Canadian retired

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

. She represented Canada at two

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

winning gold medals, and a bronze medal. As of 2022, Bédard is the only Canadian biathlete, male or female, ever to win an Olympic medal, and the only North American biathlete ever to win Olympic gold.

Olympic career

Myriam Bédard was born in 1969. Born in

Loretteville Loretteville () is a List of former municipalities in Quebec, former city in central Quebec, Canada. It was amalgamated into Quebec City on January 1, 2002. It is located within the borough of La Haute-Saint-Charles, and also contains the upmark ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Bédard learned marksmanship as a member of the

Royal Canadian Army Cadets The Royal Canadian Army Cadets (RCAC; ) is a national Canadian youth program sponsored by the Canadian Armed Forces and the civilian Army Cadet League of Canada. Under the authority of the National Defence Act, the program is administered by th ...

' 2772 cadet corps, which she joined at the age of 15, and participated in her first biathlon event at age 15. She became Canadian junior champion in the sport in 1987. In 1991, Bédard was the second Canadian to win a biathlon World Cup event, and she formed part of the Canadian team at the

1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...

, in

Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

, France – the first time women competed in biathlon at the Olympics – and Bédard won a bronze medal in the 15 km. The following year she won her first major title, as she won the 7.5 km event at the World Championships, also placing second in the 15 km race. At the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

, Norway, she improved this performance and won both individual events, then served as Canada's flag bearer in the closing ceremony. She was also awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1994 for the year's top performance by a Canadian athlete, as well as the

Velma Springstead Trophy The Velma Springstead Trophy is an award presented annually to Canada's outstanding female Sportsperson, athlete. It is named in honour of track athlete Velma Springstead whose career ended prematurely when she died from pneumonia in 1927 when only ...

for best Canadian female athlete. In March 1994, she was awarded the

Meritorious Service Cross The Meritorious Service Cross () is a State decoration, decoration that is, within the Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, Canadian system of honours, one of the two Meritorious Service Decorations gifted by the Monarchy of Canada, Canadia ...

. She is an honorary member of the

Royal Military College of Canada The Royal Military College of Canada (), abbreviated in English as RMC and in French as CMR, is a Military academy#Canada, military academy and, since 1959, a List of universities in Canada#Ontario, degree-granting university of the Canadian ...

, student # S120....

Post-Olympic career

She briefly retired from the sport to give birth to her daughter (the father was another biathlete, and soldier, Jean Paquet). Her comeback was not very successful, being hampered by injuries. After the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

, Bédard retired from biathlon. She later announced an attempt to make the Canadian Olympic team as a

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...

, but did not pursue this goal for long. In 2004, Bédard was one of eight persons (and the only woman) in the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the city. It was rocked by a corruption ...

's (IBU) executive board, where she served as the IBU's vice-president responsible for special issues. On February 27, 2004, in the context of the

sponsorship scandal The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. ...

that came to light soon after Prime Minister

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...

left office, Bédard asserted that she had been forced to resign from her marketing department job at

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

in 2002 shortly after raising concerns about the company's dealings with advertiser Groupaction. Responses to her allegations led to the firings a few days later of Via Rail chair

Jean Pelletier Jean Pelletier, (; February 21, 1935 – January 10, 2009) was a Canadian politician who served as the 37th mayor of Quebec City, Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office, and chairman of Via Rail. He was a leading organizer of the Libe ...

and president Marc LeFrançois. However, in testimony before the

Standing Committee on Public Accounts The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA; Afrikaans: ''Staande Komitee oor Openbare Rekeninge'') is a standing committee of the National Assembly of South Africa, the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa. It oversees the financial ...

in late March 2004, Bédard made further allegations that were met with widespread skepticism: she claimed that she had been told that Groupaction was involved in drug trafficking, that her partner Nima Mazhari had personally convinced Prime Minister Chrétien to keep Canada out of the war in Iraq, and that Québécois race car legend

Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve (; born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian former racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1994 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1994 to 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1995, and Formula One from to . Villeneuve won t ...

had been paid $12 million to wear a Canadian flag on his uniform. Villeneuve strongly denied the latter allegation, calling it "ludicrous." According to

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, an arbitrator's report later concluded that Bédard had voluntarily left Via Rail. On December 8, 2006, a Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued for Bédard for the abduction of her daughter. Bédard was in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Bédard was arrested by the

United States Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the United States federal judi ...

Columbia, Maryland Columbia is a planned community in Howard County, Maryland, United States, consisting of 10 self-contained villages. With a population of 104,681 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the second-most-populous community in Maryland ...

. She was detained in

until her extradition to Canada. She appeared in court in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

on December 26, 2006. Her daughter was under the care of the

prior to being returned to her father December 23. Bédard returned to Canada on January 4, 2007. On September 20, 2007, a jury at a

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

found Bédard guilty of child abduction for violating a child custody agreement. On October 9, 2007, she was sentenced to a

conditional discharge A discharge is a type of sentence imposed by a court whereby no punishment is imposed. An absolute discharge is an unconditional discharge whereby the court finds that a crime has technically been committed but that any punishment of the defend ...

and two years

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

. Bédard was also charged with contempt of court later on and sentenced to 45 days of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

References

External links

"Pelletier fired from Via Rail"

, March 1, 2004
"U.S. Marshalls arrest Olympian Myriam Bédard on Canadawide warrant"

Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; , ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Press has been a private, not-for-profit c ...

, December 22, 2006
"The Mysterious Comedown of a Canadian Olympic Darling"
''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', January 9, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bedard, Myriam 1969 births Living people Northern Star Award winners Canadian female biathletes Olympic biathletes for Canada Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Canadian female sport shooters Recipients of the Meritorious Service Decoration Skiers from Quebec City Royal Military College of Canada people Via Rail people Olympic medalists in biathlon Biathlon World Championships medalists Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1992 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1994 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1998 Winter Olympics Sportswomen from Quebec 20th-century Canadian sportswomen

Olympic career

Post-Olympic career

See also

References

External links