Another champion athlete will be competing in this fall’s federal election.
Olympic Gold Medalist Sylvie Fréchette announced Monday she is running for the Conservative Party in the Quebec riding of Rivière-du-Nord.
She joins two other former athletes seeking seats in the Commons on Oct. 21.
Fréchette celebrates after her performance at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games. (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Adam van Koeverden, a two time Olympic flag bearer, is running for the Liberals in Ontario and cyclist Lyne Bessette is a Liberal candidate in Quebec.
All three follow in a long line of athletes in Canada and elsewhere who have tried their hands at politics–some successfully, some less so.
Fréchette won a gold medal in synchronized swimming at the 1992 Games in Barcelona but not without much controversy and great drama after a scoring error by a judge cost her the gold at the time.
Following a series of appeals, Fréchette, whose boyfriend had committed suicide shortly before the Games, was awarded the medal 16 months later and honoured at Quebec’s most-hallowed sports venue, the Montreal Forum.
She went on to win a silver in the team event at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Following retirement, she became a public speaker, a project manager for the Canadian Olympic Committee as well as a coach for Cirque de Soleil.
With files, from CBC, Radio-Canada, CP
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