Jennifer Heil set the bar for Canada on the 2006 Turin Olympics.
The adorned skier captured the nation’s first medal — and its consideration — with a gold in moguls on the opening day of competitors. Now 20 years later, she’s poised to guide the Canadian staff again below the identical highlight in Northern Italy.
The Canadian Olympic Committee named Heil its chef de mission for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Video games on Tuesday.
“I used to be form of like, ‘Holy, 20 years have handed!’” Heil stated of her response throughout a video name from her residence in Vancouver. “It’s really a full circle.
“Enormous honour to be chosen to assist lead an Olympic staff.”
The chef de mission is an envoy for the staff earlier than and in the course of the Video games. Previous champions are sometimes chosen for the volunteer place to information Canada’s squad.
Dash star Bruny Surin was Canada’s chef for the 2024 Summer time Olympics in Paris, whereas speedskater Catriona Le Might Doan — Heil’s idol — held the function on the 2022 Winter Video games in Beijing.
“Some leaders are chosen for his or her expertise, others for his or her coronary heart. Jenn brings each,” COC chief sporting officer Eric Myles stated in a press release.
“An ideal mentor for Canadian athletes who will profit significantly from all that she realized from her personal inspiring journey.”
A 2015 inductee into Canada’s Sports activities Corridor of Fame, Heil made her Olympic debut as an 18-year-old on the 2002 Salt Lake Metropolis Video games and adopted up her 2006 gold with a silver on the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
She additionally gained 4 world championships — together with a moguls and twin moguls double in 2011 to cap her profession — and had 58 podium finishes on the World Cup circuit.
Off the snow, she co-founded B2ten, a personal sector initiative designed to assist Canadian athletes fill the gaps in authorities funding.
And there’s extra.
Get every day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
In recent times, the 41-year-old from Spruce Grove, Alta., spearheaded the event of B.C.’s Secure Sport program and based RYA Well being, a girls’s healthtech startup, whereas finding out at Stanford College.
She believes her huge breadth of experiences and dedication to sport make her well-suited to mentor Canadian athletes.
“I’ve been in creating and constructing sport all my life,” stated Heil, who has additionally been a commentator on CBC’s freestyle snowboarding broadcast staff since 2012.
“I’ve moved on rather a lot from being a single-focused particular person athlete, and so it actually did really feel like these experiences have been simply making it the best time to take this on.”
Heil is happy to share what she realized from competing in Italy. Though she hasn’t set foot within the nation since her golden second, Heil stated it “appears like yesterday.”
She remembers the joyful individuals and “wonderful” hospitality, with Italian restaurateurs treating Canadian athletes like their particular friends.
However Heil additionally remembers how the Canadian staff navigated a number of moguls off the ski hill attributable to some disorganization main as much as the Turin Video games.
“We have been advised to have Plan A, B and C by way of how we have been attending to the venues,” she stated. “We’re anticipating some related experiences to that, based mostly off of simply the place the venues are at proper now, and just a little little bit of the laissez-faire tradition. That’s an adaptation level that we have to make.”
The Milan-Cortina Video games are essentially the most sprawling Winter Olympics so far, overlaying an space of greater than 22,000 sq. kilometres, with clusters in Milan, Cortina and three different mountain websites.
That’s not together with a Plan B state of affairs the place bobsled, luge and skeleton competitions happen in Lake Placid, N.Y.
The opening ceremony is lower than 11 months away, however the sliding centre in Cortina stays unfinished with a deadline set for the tip of March.
“One controllable piece is certainly understanding the character of the Olympic villages and the venues, how unfold out that’s,” Heil stated. “That’s a problem for the staff and the staff leaders which might completely be tackled.
“Then it’s additionally ensuring that the athletes really feel like that is an Olympic Video games, that it is a particular occasion.”
One other concern main as much as Milan is the shortage of funding for Canadian athletes.
Canada gained 26 medals (4 gold, eight silver and 14 bronze) to rank fourth total behind Norway, Russia and Germany in Beijing.
However nationwide sport organizations haven’t obtained a rise in core funding — which assists with operations, athletes, coaches and help workers — since 2005.
Regardless of the challenges, Heil referred to as Canada’s potential roster for 2026 “one of many strongest groups that we’ve ever seen,” however many marvel how lengthy the success can proceed.
Heil stated it’s unlucky that some high opponents have needed to pay for their very own bills within the lead-up to the Video games.
“In case you’re working a enterprise or an economic system and also you don’t put money into it over the long run, you possibly can’t be aggressive,” she stated. “Our athletes have responded to that problem, however my concern is I’m undecided how a lot additional we are able to push it.”
The 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics happen from Feb. 6 to 22.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Source link