Lillehammer. XVII Olympic Winter Games. 23 February 1994: Myriam BEDARD from Canada, gold medallist in both the 7.5km and 15km women's. Credit: IOC Olympic Museum Collections

Other names: BÉDARD, Myriam

Born: 22 December 1969

Birthplace: Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec (Canada)

Nationality: Canada

Sport: Biathlon

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Albertville 1992

Lillehammer 1994

Nagano 1998

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 2

Bronze: 1

Details

Other results:

World Championships

Gold: 1 (93)

Silver: 1 (93)

Winning With Mismatched Skis

A rarity among biathletes, Myriam Bédard competed as a figure skater until she was twelve years old. When women's biathlon was introduced to the Olympics at the 1992 Winter Games, Bédard earned a bronze medal at 15km. In Lillehammer, she took a gold medal in the same event. Five days later she entered the 7.5km race, a distance at which she was the reigning world champion. After the race began, Bédard realised that her skis were mismatched. By mistake, she had grabbed one ski from one pair and another from a different pair. The left ski was improperly waxed and she struggled with it throughout the race. Nevertheless, she managed to better the time of Svetlana Paramygina by a mere 1.1 seconds and win her second gold medal (26:08.8).