François-Louis Tremblay

Short track speed skater François-Louis Tremblay began competing internationally in the late 1990s and won his first World Championship medals, bronze in the men’s 5000 m relay and silver in the team event, in 1999. Gold in the team event followed in 2000 and 2001 leading up to the 2002 Winter Olympics, where he qualified to represent Canada in the 5,000 m relay. The Canadians took the gold, but dropped to silver in the team competition in that year’s World Championships. Tremblay was absent from the team during the 2003 and 2004 World Championships, but skated with them during many successful World Cup events. He came back big in 2005 with gold in the 5000 m relay, 500 m, and team events, which, aided by his silver in the 1,500 m competition, ranked him third overall at that year’s World Championships. He entered the 2006 Winter Olympics at his peak and, although he was disqualified in the 1,000 m competition, he took silver in the 500 m and 5,000 m relay events. He continued to shine at the World Championships later that year, with gold in those same competitions, silver in the 3,000 m event, and third place overall. Since then he has remained an active and successful competitor, with one gold and two silver medals at the 2007 World Championships and silver in the team event at the 2009 edition, all in preparation for his participation at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he took home gold in the 5,000 m relay and bronze in the 500 m.