Myriam Bédard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Women's biathlona
Olympic medal record
Gold	1994 Lillehammer	7.5 km sprint
Gold	1994 Lillehammer	15 km individual
Bronze	1992 Albertville	15 km individual

Myriam Bédard (born December 22, 1969) is a Canadian biathlete (retired), winner of two Olympic gold medals. Born in Neufchatel, Québec, Bédard learned marksmanship as a member of the Royal Canadian Army Cadets which she joined at the age of 14, and participated in her first biathlon event at age 15. She became Canadian junior champion in the sport in 1987.

In 1991, Bédard was the first Canadian to win a biathlon World Cup event, and she formed part of the Canadian team at the 1992 Winter Olympics, in Albertville, France – the first time women competed in biathlon at the Olympics – and Bédard won a bronze medal in the 15 km. The following year she won her first major title, as she won the 7.5 km event at the World Championships, also placing second in the 15 km race. At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, she improved this performance, and won both individual events. She was also awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1994 for top performance by a Canadian athlete, as well as the Velma Springstead Trophy for best Canadian female athlete.

She is an honorary member of the Royal Military College of Canada, student # S120.

[edit] Post-Olympic career

She briefly retired from the sport to give birth to her daughter (the father was another biathlete, Jean Paquet). Her comeback was not very successful, being hampered by injuries. After the 1998 Winter Olympics, Bédard retired from biathlon. She later announced an attempt to make the Canadian Olympic team as a speed skater, but did not pursue this goal for long. Currently, Bédard is one of eight persons (and the only woman) in the International Biathlon Union's executive board, where she serves as the IBU's vice-president responsible for special issues.

On February 27, 2004, in the context of the sponsorship scandal that came to light soon after Prime Minister Jean Chrétien left office, Bédard publicly disclosed that she had been forced to resign from her marketing department job at Via Rail in 2002 shortly after raising concerns about the company's dealings with advertiser Groupaction. This led to the firings a few days later of Via Rail chair Jean Pelletier and president Marc Lefrançois.

However, in testimony before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts in late March 2004, Bédard made further allegations that were met with widespread skepticism: she claimed that she had been told that Groupaction was involved in drug trafficking, that her partner had personally convinced Prime Minister Chrétien to keep Canada out of the war in Iraq, and that Québecois race car legend Jacques Villeneuve had been paid $12 million to wear a Canadian flag on his uniform. Villeneuve strongly denied the latter allegation, calling it "ludicrous."

According to CBC News, an arbitrator's report later concluded that Bédard had voluntarily left Via Rail.

On December 14, 2006, CBC News reported that a Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued on December 8 for Bédard for the alleged abduction of her daughter. [1] Bédard was in Washington, D.C. and has made intermittent contact. On December 20, 2006 Interpol was contacted about the disappearance[2]. On December 22, 2006, Bédard was arrested by the United States Marshals Service in Columbia, Maryland. She was detained in Columbia, Maryland until her extradition to Canada. She appeared in court in Baltimore, Maryland on December 26, 2006. Her daughter was under the care of the United States Marshals Service prior to being returned to her father December 23. Bédard returned to Canada on January 4, 2007. Court Hearings in the child custody case began in Quebec City on April 2, 2007. The court decided that there was sufficient evidence for a trial, and its date will be set in June 2007.