27 ao�t 2005
Clara Hughes, warrior
Three-time Olympic medallist feels the pain of preparing for Turin Games
Speed skater finds renewal in a tranquil corner of Quebec
GLEN SUTTON, Que.�The real estate agent thought Clara Hughes was crazy when she described her dream place : Quiet, remote, and on a bumpy dirt road deep in the woods.
It turns out Hughes got her wish.
To reach her house, one steers the car off one dusty, rock-strewn path on to another, where there is a steep climb that even in the summer can require four-wheel drive. It's surrounded by 810 hectares of forest.
What strikes Hughes the most when she returns from a trip is the silence save for the wind in the trees, rustling leaves, a country chorus of tree frogs and crickets.
"It just kind of takes over your whole being," said Hughes. "I just feel like I take this deep breath and I think, `I'm home.'"
It's here, in a tranquil corner of Quebec's Eastern Townships, that the only Canadian to win medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics regenerates both physically and spiritually in preparation for the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
At 33, Hughes will be among the favourites in long-track speed skating's distance events next February.
The ebullient redhead chooses stark words to depict the struggle ahead.
"I am a warrior, this is war, this is a battle," said Hughes, who has won three Olympic bronze medals, two in cycling at Atlanta in 1996 and another in speed skating at the 2002 Salt Lake Games.
"Yeah, there are no weapons. But there are weapons and that is your physical capacity. That's sport. It is absolutely a war."
Two sides of Clara Hughes : A gentle soul who thrives on the peace and calm of this bucolic Missisquoi Valley; and a long-bladed gladiator who must push herself beyond incredible pain thresholds where every fibre of her body urges her to quit.
As she relaxes in a chair while chatting with a visitor, she is savouring a three-day return home while at the same time dreading her departure tomorrow for California for another round of training she ruefully describes as "torture." The cozy chalet is modestly furnished; almost all of the pictures and knickknacks having some deep meaning for Hughes and her husband Peter Guzman, including pottery made by her grandmother, who is 95 per cent blind.
Hughes winces as she speaks of the just-completed seven weeks of twice-daily training in Calgary � she had to sleep between sessions just to get through the second one. It included drills where she must bend so low in the skating position it brings tears to her eyes and numbness from her toes to her nose.
But she knows she must be a glutton for such punishment if she wants to excel in Turin.
"I think I can handle a lot of pain. I think I've demonstrated that," said Hughes. "But that doesn't help me when it's going to happen again, you know, where I feel like my heart's going to explode and my lungs are burning and my legs can't even support my own weight.
"To actually go beyond that and to go harder in the last third in the race is something I don't even like talking about it's so hard. But that's what I need to train for and that's my goal, to get to that point, and to be able just to viciously attack as if I am fighting for my life. That's it. That's all I want."
She said most people can't understand why she travelled across the country for such a brief stay at home, but her sports psychologist Dr. Kimberley Amirault nailed it recently. "She said, `You need your life outside of here, because you'll be in a cage without it. You'll be behind bars and you don't function that way,'" said Hughes. "That's the way I am. I need a sense of self outside of sport. I think I've always needed that."
The native Winnipegger could barely speak five words of French when she arrived six years ago in this town on the edge of the Vermont border. Despite her Olympic success in Atlanta, she was referred to as "Lyne Bessette's teammate." Bessette is from nearby Knowlton and Quebecers are known to support only homebred athletes. But Hughes has through her genial nature and serious attempt to learn French been adopted as one of their own in La Belle Province. She's received much-needed extra funding and, even more importantly, moral support.
For example, there's the homemade sign on the side of a dirt road about two kilometres from Hughes' house. Small Canadian and Quebec flags flap in the breeze on either side of a hand-painted placard with a fading, photocopied picture of Hughes from a newspaper and the declaration, "Bravo Clara Encore Une Autre Belle Saison."
It was made by a local border guard, Raymond.
"Whenever I come home and I've been away for a while there'll be a new sign that always makes me smile," said Hughes.
There are few smiles during the gruelling training necessary to get ready for Turin.
"After a lot of struggle, there is a point when the body cannot fight any more, and the after-effects are like succumbing to drowning," said Hughes.
This past spring at home was one of renewal for Hughes, who watched the snow melt and the buds grow on the trees as she took a complete break to rest her body and her psyche.
She was dogged by self-doubt last season after coming off her first summer where she trained exclusively as a speed skater after retiring from cycling. She also got sick several times, but pulled off a bronze medal in the 5,000 metres at the world single-distance championships.
"I was kind of afraid like, `What if I'm not good any more ? What if I need to be a cyclist to be a good skater ? What if taking that element away meant I would suck at skating ?'" recalled Hughes. "I was really unsure and frustrated."
But when she looks back on last year, she's grateful for every struggle. "Like they say in Quebec, when you learn something new, you go to bed less stupid."
Not only is she wiser, she's refreshed, maybe not in body � the exhausting training rarely allows for that � but certainly in outlook. She feels now last year was still part of her recovery "for burning the candle on both ends" as a two-sport athlete.
"I just feel like I have my life back," she said. "I have life within me again. Whereas before I was just so careful and so afraid of being so tired all the time that it took a toll on my spirit. And now I feel like, `I'm back.'"
Hughes travelled to Turin at the end of last season with the rest of the team. The speed skating oval was still under construction, but she has a lot of pleasant memories, especially of an Italian chocolate festival being held at the time. She wants the whole experience in Turin, both culturally and in making connections with people. She muses about where she might find inspiration for this Olympics, recalling how four years ago in Salt Lake it came in an email from friends in Lorange, Sask., who sent her the Cree word "Ekwa," which means now, to remind her to stay in the moment.
"I always have to remind myself that I'm human and that the potential of the human being is that there's a magic that can happen within that," said Hughes. "That's where it can bring you beyond what your body might be able to do. I'm so excited just to go there and just let it unfold."
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