We’re already heading into another Olympics next year! Team Canada will be travelling to Beijing in February to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
As the nation cheers on their athletes, we often get requests from our clients about hosting Olympians at their events. We’ve rounded up some of our Winter Olympian speakers and peak performance coaches who inspire with their incredible journeys and lessons on teamwork, performance, leadership, and more.
Winter Olympians
Team Canada’s chef de mission for the 2022 Olympics, Catriona Le May Doan is the leader and spokesperson for Canada’s athletes in Beijing. A prolific Olympian herself, Catriona is a two-time gold medalist in speed skating, and has held the world record in the 500m speed skating event for more than 10 years.
In her keynotes, Catriona draws on her Olympic experience while exploring her career highs and lows to share insights into achieving goals. Her years as a speed skater have taught Catriona how to deal not only with obstacles, but also with success, and she shows audiences how through passion, a winning attitude, commitment, and teamwork, they can reach their full potential.
Jennifer Jones is on our country’s most decorated and recognizable female curler, and is, once again, representing Canada at the 2022 Games.
Jennifer won Gold as skip of the Canadian team at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, just 18 months after having ACL surgery and 15 months after becoming a new mom. Team Canada dominated, winning all 11 games, making Jennifer the first female skip in history to go through the Games undefeated.
As a prolific Olympic captain, Jennifer speaks on becoming a leader and how to gain the confidence of your team and bring out the best in your team in high pressure situations.
Jon Montgomery became a Canadian Olympic icon after his Gold-medal win at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games in the skeleton, and his celebratory walk through Whistler. Today, he is the host of The Amazing Race Canada, while also dazzling audiences with his passion, spirit, and sense of humour as a keynote speaker.
Jon shares his story of how a small-town boy from Manitoba became an Olympic Champion in a very niche sport — the skeleton. Always wanting to be a Canadian national team athlete, he shares how he learned to become comfortable with the uncomfortable and live outside his comfort zone, and accept and push through challenges along the way, This enabled him to find his passion and realize his dreams. Jon’s inspirational story inspires others to go after what they’re looking for, no matter how daunting a task may seem.
The winner of five Olympic medals — three of those being Gold — Tessa Virtue is one of the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history alongside her ice dance partner, Scott Moir. Tessa dives deep into her Olympic journey, sharing experiences and lessons learned along the way.
In 2006, when Clara Hughes stepped onto the Olympic podium in Torino, Italy, she became the first and only athlete ever to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games. Four years later, she was proud to carry the Canadian flag for Team Canada at the opening ceremony for the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. But there’s another story behind her celebrated career as an athlete.
Clara spent her teenage years using drugs and drinking to escape her stifling home life. She was headed nowhere fast when, at sixteen, she watched transfixed in her living room as gold medal speed skater Gaétan Boucher effortlessly raced in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Dreaming of one day competing herself, Clara channeled her anger, frustration, and raw ambition into the endurance sports of speed skating and cycling. By 2010, she had become a six-time Olympic medalist.
After more than a decade in the grueling world of competitive sports, Clara began to realize that her physical extremes, her emotional setbacks, and her partying habits were masking a severe depression. Told with honesty and passion, Clara shares her personal journey through physical and mental pain to a life where love and understanding can thrive. This revelatory and inspiring story touches the hearts of all audiences.
For 14 years, Jennifer Botterill shined on the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team. She attended four Olympics bringing home three Gold medals and one Silver medal. Today, she is an analyst for NHL’s New York Islanders and for Sportsnet’s Hockey Central; an in-demand commentator, regularly appearing on the desk of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada; and a peak performance coach.
Jennifer shares with audiences how to approach life with a new standard of high performance. She shares strategies on how to not only make it to the next level, but to excel when you get there, providing techniques and tools to perform at a high level on a consistent, daily basis. Jennifer also identifies strategies to facilitate sustainable high performance in a variety of settings.
Alexandre Bilodeau captured the nation when he became the first Olympian to win a gold medal on Canadian soil at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. He repeated his gold medal performance at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, becoming first repeat Canadian Olympic champion.
Alexandre is a model of perseverance and source of inspiration to many. Fluent in both English and French, he speaks to the values that took him to the highest peaks of his sport.
Performing Like an Olympian
Meet some of our high performance experts who shares lessons learned from coaching and working with Olympians and professional athletes at the top of their game.
As one of the leading performance consultants in the field, Dr. Kimberley Amirault-Ryan has witnessed and cultivated first-hand the habits, behaviours, and environments required for achieving success, overcoming obstacles, and inspiring excellence.
Kimberley draws on real life examples from her Olympic, NHL, and NBA championship experiences, to explore the universal traits shared by those who experience the most success in their field. She shows audiences how to replicate them within their own careers, teams, and organizations, leaving participants armed with the mindsets, habits, self-talk, and resources needed to be at your best in any kind of environment
Dr. Greg Wells has dedicated his career to making the science of human limits understandable and actionable. He is a health and high performance expert, a scientist, and a physiologist, who has worked with some of the highest-performing individuals on the planet, including Olympic and World champions. Greg is also a veteran endurance athlete himself.
In his engaging and informative keynotes, Greg applies the cutting-edge science of brain states to help audiences learn how to perform at the highest possible level while improving mental and physical health. He has developed a framework that translates complex science about brain waves, activation pathways, and mind-body connections into usable techniques and bio hacks.
Considered one of the best female hockey players in the world — with seven world championships, six Olympic appearances, and five Olympic medals — Hayley Wickenheiser is a titan of sport and a leader both on and off the ice. Hayley is currently the Senior Director of Player Development for the Toronto Maple Leafs and a medical doctor, having completing her studies in 2021.
Drawing on her experiences from the world of high performance sport and the lessons she’s learned as a medical doctor and champion on the front lines during COVID, Hayley explores the importance of fostering personal and professional resiliency and strength at a time when these qualities are needed most.
See more of our Olympians in the slide show below. If you’re interested in learning more, contact us at [email protected].
