Charles Hamelin

For the Canadian member of Parliament, see Charles-André Hamelin.

Charles Hamelin

Personal information
Born	April 14, 1984 (1984-04-14) (age 27) Lévis, Quebec
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb; 11 st)
Sport
Country	Canada
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	500 m: 40.950 (2007) 1000 m: 1:24.329 (2010) 1500 m: 2:11.628 (2005) 3000 m: 4:38.905 (2002)
Medal record Men's short track speed skating Competitor for  Canada Winter Olympics Gold 2010 Vancouver 500 m Gold 2010 Vancouver 5000 m relay Silver 2006 Turin 5000 m relay World Championships[1] Gold 2011 Sheffield 5000 m relay Gold 2009 Vienna 500 m Gold 2007 Milan 500 m Gold 2006 Minneapolis 3000 m Gold 2006 Minneapolis 5000 m relay Gold 2005 Beijing 5000 m relay Gold 2007 Budapest Team Gold 2005 South Korea Team Silver 2011 Sheffield Overall Silver 2011 Sheffield 1000m Silver 2011 Sheffield 1500m Silver 2010 Bormio Team Silver 2008 Gangneung 500 m Silver 2008 Gangneung 5000 m relay Silver 2007 Milan Overall Silver 2007 Milan 1000 m Silver 2007 Milan 5000 m relay Silver 2005 Beijing 500 m Silver 2009 Heerenveen Team Silver 2008 Harbin Team Silver 2006 Montreal Team Bronze 2009 Vienna Overall Bronze 2009 Vienna 3000 m Bronze 2006 Minneapolis 1000 m World Junior Championships Silver 2003 500 m Silver 2003 1500 m Silver 2002 5000 m relay Bronze 2003 5000 m relay

Charles Hamelin (born April 14, 1984 in Lévis, Quebec) is a Canadian short track speed skater from Sainte-Julie, Quebec. Hamelin is a 3 time Olympic medalist having won 2 gold and 1 silver during the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics.^[2] He is also a 2 time world champion over the 500 m distance, having won those championships in 2007 and 2009.

Hamelin broke into success early at the 2003 World Junior Short Track Championships where he won silver medals in the 500 m and the 1500 m races, following up with a bronze in the 2000 m relay. He built on this success at 2005 World Championships, there he won a gold in the 5000 m relay and a silver in the 500 m. His success continued at the worlds by winning gold in the 3000 m, gold in the 5000 m relay and bronze in the 1000 m at the 2006 World Championships. He finished 4th place at the 2006 Winter Olympics in the 1500 m event but received a silver medal as part of the men's 5000 m relay squad. Hamelin is the current world record holder in the 1000 m.^[3]

Short track is a family affair for Hamelin, his brother François Hamelin is a fellow Olympian and national short track member. The current director of the national short track team is his father, Yves Hamelin. Hamelin made Hello Canada's 50 most beautiful Canadians list in 2010.^[4]

Career

See also: Canadian short track speed skating all-time medals list

Junior accomplishments

Hamelin made his debut at the world junior championships in 2002, finishing 4th in the 500 m and helping the relay team to a silver medal. During the next World Junior Championships in 2003, he had his breakout year finishing second in the 500 m, second in the 1500 m, 4th in the 1000 m, 5th in the super 1500 m, and then helping the relay team to a bronze in the 5000 m relay. Because of his accomplishments in 2003 he finished 4th overall at the world junior championships. He was seemingly following the footsteps in a long line of accomplished French-Canadian short track speedskaters like Marc Gagnon and Éric Bédard.

2006 Winter Olympics

See also: Short track speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Leading up to the 2006 Winter Olympics Hamelin made his World Cup debut in the 2003-2004 season his junior career. His main role on the team at that time was on the relay team which finished the season second overall. Going into the 2004 World Championships, the Canadian Men's relay team was considered one of the favourites but only managed a fourth place finish.

The 2004-2005 season was a breakout year for Hamelin. This was the first year that he skated every event in the World Cup. He finished third overall in the 500 m, 4th in the 1000 m, 5th in the 1500 m, and 5th overall on the season. He continued to skate on the relay team which finished 1st in the final standings. The real success of his season would come at the 2005 World Championships. He managed a silver in the 500 m and two 4th place finishes in the 1000 m and 3000 m. This allowed him to finish fourth overall in the standings.^[5]

During the 2006 Winter Olympics, Hamelin managed to qualify for the finals of the 1500 m. In the last lap and a half, he was comfortably in third place before being passed by two Chinese skaters. Although one of the Chinese skaters was disqualified, he still only finished a disappointing fourth. In the relay the Canadian team and Korean team traded the lead back and forth throughout the race but the Canadian's lost the lead on the last turn but still managed to win silver. The silver medal on the relay was his first Olympic medal in his career.^[6]

Following the 2006 Olympics Hamelin won the gold medal in the 3000 m at the 2006 Championships.^[7] Hamelin would go on to become the 500 m world champion in 2007, over the next 3 years this would soon be his strongest event.^[7] He captured silver at the worlds in 2008 and in 2009 he once again became the 500 m world champion.

2010 Winter Olympics

See also: Short track speed skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics

Hamelin competed in all four events and is a medal favourite in all of the 500, 1000, 1500, and 5000 metre relay.^[8] Going in to the Olympics, he was the reigning 500 m world champion and reigning World Cup champion.^[7] As such Hamelin was the gold medal favourite going into the 2010 Games in his home country.^[7]

He began the 2010 Olympics in the second 1500 m heat, there Hamelin placed second by 0.001 of a second to China's Liang Wenhao. Due to the fact he only placed second in the heats Hamelin was drawn into a tough group for the semifinals, needing to beat one of the two favourites, Lee Jung-Su or Apolo Ohno, to qualify for the final. Hamelin was in second for much of the race with Jung-Su in the lead, but on the lap last was passed by Ohno and finished third. Only the top two qualified for the A-Final and Hamelin was thus relegated to the B-Final where he finished in first place. When asked about the race Hamelin said "It was a really tough field, and I'm not disappointed with the races I had . . . I'll sleep well tonight".^[9]

Hamelin kisses girlfriend St-Gelais after winning the gold medal

During the 1000 m heats, Hamelin placed first, the result duplicating into the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Hamelin placed second behind Apolo Ohno, and was nearly pushed by Korea's Sung Si-Bak, who trailed him by 0.006 seconds, and avoided a disqualification. The final race, which held five skaters, included his younger brother. For three-quarters of the race, he stood in first position in front of François Hamelin and Apolo Ohno, only to be surpassed by Korea's Lee Ho-Suk in the sixth lap. Hamelin fell into third on the following lap, unable to sustain the high speeds much longer. The final lap saw Ohno move to third, leaving Charles and François in fourth and fifth, respectively.^[10] During the race the crowd at the Pacific Coliseum was cheering so loudly during the 1,000 m final that Hamelin felt an overwhelming sense of pride like never before, "It was amazing", he said.^[11] Despite the amazing crowd support, Hamelin remained disappointed as he had gone to the Olympics with a mind to win multiple medals.

Next up for Hamelin was his best and most promising event, the 500 m race, Hamelin took the gold medal, with teammate François-Louis Tremblay winning the bronze. It was a close race as the world record holder Korea's Sung Si-Bak was in the lead until a slip in the final corner, which allowed Hamelin to pass to finish first. The same night, the Canadian team won the gold in the 5000 m relay. Hamelin shared that gold with his brother François, as well as Tremblay, Olivier Jean and Guillaume Bastille.^[12] Of his final and relieving success on the last day of short track at the Olympics, Hamelin said that "They will be going crazy in Quebec, they will be going crazy in Montreal, party all night. I got two gold medals in 30 minutes and it's incredible."^[13]

Road to Sochi 2014

Following the Olympics, Hamelin attended the 2010 World Championships that had to be considered a disappointment for him as he failed to medal in any event. Hamelin did succeed in winning a silver at the 2010 World Team Championships.

Prior to going into the 2010-11 season Hamelin said he was using the year to focus on new techniques for Sochi 2014, while not worrying about winning as much during the current season. Hamelin specifically said that "My goal is to try new strategies to make myself more dangerous for 2014...Now it's not to win medals, but to work on things that are difficult mentally — to put myself in situations where I'm not always in control, so that even if I'm last, I won't panic and do stupid things."^[14] Hamelin was mostly focusing on trying to medal in the longer distances, though he has been dominant in the 500 m the South Koreans have continued to own the longer distances, something Hamelin hoped to change. Despite a quiet year on the World Cup, Hamelin finished the 2011 World Championships with a gold in the relay and three silvers, including a second place overall finish.^[15] These medals saw an achievement in Hamelin's preseason goals of finding ways to win podium positions in the longer distances again.

References

1. ^ "ISU Website Championship results". http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/index.asp?SUBSPORTID=5&VIEW=BIO&SCOPE=BIO&PERSONID=4364. 
2. ^ Dan Robson (28 February 2010). "Canada wins 5 medals in short-track". CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/shorttrackspeedskating/story/2010/02/28/spo-shorttrack-recap.html. Retrieved 2010-02-28. 
3. ^ "Current Short Track Speed Skating World Records". http://isu.org/vsite/vfile/page/fileurl/0,11040,4844-173112-190330-102222-0-file,00.pdf. Retrieved 2010-02-28. 
4. ^ "Fresh faces make Hello Canada's most beautiful list". CTV. 13 May 2010. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100513/most-beautiful-canada-100513/20100513?hub=. Retrieved 2010-05-29. 
5. ^ "Skate Canada Profile". http://www.speedskating.ca/athlete-bios-short-track.cfm?memberID=9392&teamID=218. Retrieved 2010-02-14. 
6. ^ Dan Robson (13 January 2010). "Hamelin racing for Canada's first gold". CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/shorttrackspeedskating/story/2010/02/13/spo-preview-shorttrack1500.html?ref=rss. Retrieved 2010-02-15. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Chidley-Hill, John (2010-01-04). "Hamelins are 1st family of speedskating". CBC Sports. http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/athletes/story/2009/12/12/spo-short-track-hamelins.html. Retrieved 2010-02-16. 
8. ^ Mason, Brock (2009-12-17). "Canadians' expectations grow as Olympics near". CBC Sports. http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/features/story/2009/12/16/spo-canada-olympic-preview.html. Retrieved 2010-02-16. 
9. ^ Sean Gordon (13 February 2010). "Lee wins gold on a razor's edge". CTV News. http://www.ctvolympics.ca/short-track-skating/news/newsid=40751.html#lee+wins+gold+razors+edge. Retrieved 2010-02-15. 
10. ^ Men's 1000 m results - Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics
11. ^ "Canada makes it a 3-medal day in short track". Canwest News Service. 2010-02-22. http://www.canada.com/sports/Charles+Hamlin+still+eager/2598915/story.html. Retrieved 2010-11-09. 
12. ^ Lukas, Jennifer (2010-02-26). "Canada makes it a 3-medal day in short track". CTV Olympics. http://www.ctvolympics.ca/short-track-skating/news/newsid=53274.html. Retrieved 2010-02-26. 
13. ^ "Canada sees double, Chinese sweep". Reuters. 2010-02-27. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61Q1DN20100227. Retrieved 2010-11-09. 
14. ^ Brandon Hicks (4 November 2010). "Short-track team loads up for new Olympic cycle". CBC Sports. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/amateur/story/2010/11/04/spf-short-track-season.html. Retrieved 2010-11-08. 
15. ^ "Charles Hamelin wins silver in 1,500-metres at worlds". CBC Sports. March 11, 2011. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/speedskating/story/2011/03/11/sp-hamelin-silver-world.html. 

External links

• Speed Skating Canada Profile
• Charles Hamelin on Twitter

Persondata
Name	Hamelin, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	14 April 1984
Place of birth	Lévis, Quebec
Date of death
Place of death