Biathlon

She looked too small to be an athletic force and she competed on mismatched skis in a sport few Canadians had a clue about, but she emerged as Canada's undisputed star of the 1994 Olympics.

Myriam Bedard was sensational when it counted most.

In winning both of her biathlon events on a course outside Lillehammer, Norway, the native of Loretteville in the Quebec capital region became the first Canadian woman to win two gold medals at a Winter Games. She would be warmly welcomed upon her return.

"Tell them I'm not a giant,'' the 24-year-old Quebecer replied when asked before leaving Norway just what Canadians should expect from someone few had heard of before her Olympic triumphs. "Tell them I'm five foot three and 105 pounds.

"I impressed myself with my own physical capacity. I'm not as big as many athletes, but I was able to win.''

Bedard learned marksmanship while a member of the Royal Canadian Army Cadets in her teens and she took up biathlon, which combines shooting a .22-calibre rifle with cross-country skiing, after the International Olympic Committee opted to allow women into Winter Games biathlon competitions for the first time in 1992 in Albertville, France.

She won bronze in the women's 15-kilometre event in '92 and at the world championship a year later she won her 7.5-kilometre race and was runner-up in the 15-kilometre event, proving she would be capable of big things at the 1994 Winter Games.

The 15-kilometre test came first, and Bedard raised her arms in triumph as she crossed the finish line after 52 minutes 6.6 seconds to become the first North American to win Olympic biathlon gold. Runner-up Anne Briand of France was 46.7 seconds behind. Bedard had missed only two of her 20 shots, while Briand missed three. Each miss resulted in a one-minute penalty.

"I had some problems with my shooting early this year so I just shot pretty slow,'' Bedard said of the accuracy she needed to finish first that day.

Bedard's steady aim was amazing given the gruelling aspect of the cross-country skiing that included hill climbs.

"I had nothing left,'' she told reporters in explaining how much the race took out of her.

Her parents, Pierre and Francine Bedard, were there to see their daughter step up to an ice block podium to have the gold medal placed around her neck.

"Myriam has always been a generous person and what she gave us today was unbelievable,'' her father said at the time. "We could not be happier.''

"I cried, my husband cried, everybody cried,'' said Francine Bedard.

Five days later, all the diligent pre-Olympic training on uphill tracks and her incredible stamina paid off in a 7.5-kilometre win. She finished in 26 minutes 8.8 seconds and only 1.1 seconds ahead of Svetlana Paramygina of Belarus in the closest race in Olympic biathlon history.

Bedard had trouble with her skis all the way. One glided better than the other. No wonder: she'd mistakenly selected one ski from a pair waxed for extremely cold snow and one from another pair waxed for warmer conditions. She imagined her medal hopes had vanished when she missed the last two shots at the end of her second loop. She had to ski two 150-metre penalty loops.

With 2.5 kilometres to go, she was 16 seconds behind when she went into a wooded stretch. It was an eternity in a sprint race. But a team member yelled out to Bedard at the next interval that she had made up 10 seconds, and she pushed forward as hard as she could.

"I said, 'Wow, I'm going fast,''' she recalled. "Then I started to believe I had a big chance.''

There was one kilometre to go - uphill. Miraculously, she emerged with her second gold medal.

"I only found out two days after the race,'' she said of the mismatched skis. "If I hadn't won, I'd be mad and would have had to live with that forever.''

Not to worry.

"At this Olympics, just to have one medal, whatever the colour, was my goal,'' she said. "I could not expect two gold medals. It's impossible to expect to be that perfect.''

Yet, she was good enough to etch her name into Canadian Olympic history. The only other Canadian to win Winter Games gold in 1994 was freestyle moguls skier Jean-Luc Brassard. Eight of Canada's 13 medals were won by Quebec-based athletes. Bedard was selected to carry Canada's flag in the closing ceremonies.

Bedard won Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as female athlete of the year in a poll by The Canadian Press and the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete as awarded by the Toronto Star.

There would be ups and downs to follow. She was diagnosed in early 1997 with hypothyroidism and, despite symptoms that included fatigue, muscle cramps and depression, she landed a spot on Canada's 1998 Olympic team for Nagano, Japan, only to finish 33rd in the 7.5-kilometre event and 50th in the 15-kilometre race.

Bedard was found guilty in September 2007 of child abduction in a case involving her 11-year-old daughter Maude. She received a conditional discharge and two years probation.

Her Olympic accomplishments remain undiminished. As she said nearly 16 years ago: "The No. 1 memory is the last 100 metres of the 15k with that huge crowd and the announcer screaming, 'Here comes the new Olympic champion!'''