Canada’s Charest hopes to use platform to encourage girls to play sports
TORONTO — If not for a no-girls rule, Isabelle Charest might have ended up shooting pucks instead of skating in circles.
Canada’s chef de mission for the Pyeongchang Olympics followed her older sister Nathalie into speedskating. Nathalie had her mind set on hockey, but growing up in the eastern Quebec city of Rimouski, a half a day’s drive from Montreal, “this little city did not allow a girl to play hockey,” Isabelle said.
Lucky for speedskating. Isabelle Charest went on to win three Olympic medals and seven world championship medals as one of Canada’s greatest short-track skaters, and she wants to parlay her success in sport to get more girls involved.
“It’s actually the legacy I would like to leave from being chef de mission,” Charest said. “If I have a voice, I want to use it for that.”