Lions’ grad going back to Winter Olympic Games

The Gordie Howe Sports Complex was proud to hear Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club grad Catriona Le May Doan was named Canada’s Chef De Mission for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China on Tuesday.

Le May Doan represented Canada in speed skating at four Winter Olympic Games in 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2002. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Le May Doan won gold in the women’s 500-metre and bronze in the women’s 1,000-metre races.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Le May Doan again won gold in the women’s 500-metre race.

Darren Zary of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix caught up with Le May Doan. We appreciated the kind words she said about the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.

“Yes, I sneak out there whenever I’m in town and take some photos,” admits Le May Doan. “I do owe them a couple of photos from me skating out on the oval.

“It’s been such a great project and it continues to be such a great project. It’s a legacy of the great sporting people from our city and it continues to celebrate sport. The whole community should be so proud of that, and I continue to stay in touch with them and want to lend support whenever I can.”

She shared some great recollections of the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval that still fit in the current day too.

“You talk about skating outside at Clarence Downey Oval, and I will tell you that a sound, and a feeling, will never leave me and it’s the sound of a speed skating blade on super-hard, super-cold ice, outside in the dark, on a still, cold night,” offers Le May Doan. “When I just think of that, it kind of gives me shivers – not from the cold, but shivers from knowing that’s where I started and that’s where my roots are.

“Any time there’s cold and people start complaining about it, and I say, ‘Go try going outside in a Saskatoon winter in spandex and then you’ll know what cold is.”

Zary’s story can be found by clicking right here.

Our friends at the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame featured Le May Doan as part of their Women in Sport series and produced a video of that interview. Le May Doan talked about skating at the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval and growing up in Saskatoon in the first part of this video.

Like all athletes that come to our grounds, Le May Doan will always have a home here. We look forward to the next time she is able to drop by for a visit.