Charles Hamelin added to his Olympic legacy on Wednesday after helping Canada win gold in the men’s 5,000-metre relay speed skating final in Beijing.
Hamelin, Steven Dubois, Jordan Pierre-Gilles and Pascal Dion took home the top prize with a time of six minutes 41.25 seconds. South Korea finished with silver after skating 6:41.69, and Italy clocked in at 6:43.431 for bronze.
The short-track event was the last Olympic competition for 37-year-old Hamelin, and the medal win places him alongside Cindy Klassen as the most decorated winter Canadian Olympian.
“I just think if you put the work in, anything is possible,” Hamelin told reporters after the win.
“Finishing on top of the podium with these guys, it is living your dream.”
A five-time Olympian, the Sainte-Julie, Que., native has now won six Olympic medals, including four gold, making him Canada’s most decorated male winter Olympian. His Olympic accolades in the 5,000-metre relay event include gold, silver and bronze medals.
He also joins women’s hockey players Caroline Ouellette, Jayna Hefford and Hayley Wickenheiser as the only Canadian Olympians with four gold medals.
In addition to his Olympic medals, Hamelin also won 37 world championship medals – including 13 gold – across a storied career that saw him become short-track speed skating’s overall world champion in 2018.
Teammate Dubois won his third medal of the Beijing Games after securing silver in men’s 1,500 metres, and bronze in 500 metres.
He becomes the second Canadian Olympian to complete the medal set in Beijing. Long-track speed-skater Isabelle Weidemann won gold, silver and bronze on the Ice Ribbon oval.
“We had such a crazy season, and we wanted to show so bad what we could do,” Dubois said.
Meanwhile, Dion won his first medal of the 2022 Games, making it the second Olympic medal of his career. The win is also Pierre-Gilles’ first Olympic medal of his career.
Maxime Laoun, who did not skate in the final but did in the semis, was also awarded a gold medal.
Canada now has three golds so far at the Games, and 18 medals in total.
— with files from The Canadian Press and Reuters.
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