Clara Hughes is the only athlete in history to win multiple medals in both summer and winter Olympic Games. A six-time Olympian, she has won Olympic medals representing Canada in both speed skating and cycling. In addition, she served as Team Canada’s flag-bearer at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, and is also a broadcaster, lending her competitive insight to CBC Sports. An iconic national figure, Clara brings her passion and expertise to everything she does.
As the founding spokesperson for Bell Let’s Talk, a campaign designed to end the stigma attached to mental illness, Clara helped jumpstart the conversation on mental health in Canada. She believes in the power of story to enact change and that each person has one to share. The opportunity to share her own has taught her how to listen deeply to others.
Over the course of her distinguished career, Clara has won countless awards and accolades. She was awarded the International Olympic Committee’s Sport and Community Trophy, honoured with a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, and named a member of the Order of Manitoba and an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2022, she was named an Olympian for Life in recognition of her making the world a better place by promoting the Olympic Values at every stage of her life.
In her effort to lead a life in motion, Clara has completed the “Triple Crown” of long-distance hiking — the Pacific Crest Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Appalachian Trail — and continues to this day, to find deep meaning in outdoor adventure pursuits. Clara shares her powerful story in her bestselling memoir, Open Heart, Open Mind.
