The image of Lori Dupuis kissing her gold medal with a wide grin evident on her face at the 2002 Olympics is permanently burned on the minds of Canadian hockey fans. She was a major contributor to her team’s gold-medal win in Salt Lake City and is now sharing her experiences with people all over Ontario.
Dupuis, originally from Williamstown, Ont., recently joined the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Olympians program, whose mission is to “bring Olympic messages of excellence and leadership to Canadian communities,” according to the RBC website. The site also says that amateur athletes are “provided with the opportunity to gain valuable skills that will help them prepare for life after sport, while also receiving much needed funding to help them realize their Olympic and Paralympic dreams.”
“I heard about the Olympians program last year, but I only started in it in mid September,” said the hockey superstar. “There is a big learning curve for me right now, but I am looking forward to sharing my experiences.”
Dupuis takes part in a number of events as part of her work in the Olympians program-including bank branch openings, community events, and school events-as an ambassador for amateur sports and the community at large. She will also promote an awareness of amateur athletics and the importance of fitness to Ontarians.
Dupuis meets people of all ages through her work. Some events are for RBC clients, some are for students, and some are for anyone that shows up.
“I did a branch opening in Barrie recently, so that was mainly clients,” said Dupuis. “I did a couple other events with youth as well. I do a wide range of everything.”
She is still amazed that people consider her a celebrity and a hero when they meet her: “I think any time you watch people on television there is some sort of celebrity status associated with them. To think that I am seen in people’s eyes as a hero is unbelievable, and people sometimes get really star struck when they see me. I was like that when I met people like Steve Yzerman, and Wayne Gretzky.
Dupuis got her start in hockey at a very young age. She played every sport she possibly could as a child, and credits her mother for getting her into hockey.
“She [her mother] probably saw that women’s hockey was starting up and asked me if I wanted to play and I said ‘sure’,” relates Dupuis. “I played hockey on my farm with my brothers, and it always came pretty natural for me.”
From there, Lori went on to play minor hockey in Cornwall before she came to U of T and dominated women’s hockey at the university level. She played for the Blues from 1991 until 1997, collecting two nominations as female athlete of the year, and setting the regular season career scoring record with 136 points. Her mark stood until last season, where it was broken by Queen’s scoring machine Elizabeth Chiasson.
Dupuis continued to play hockey after graduating from U of T with a degree in French and geography (urban planning). She earned a spot on the Canadian national team roster and started playing for the Brampton Thunder of the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL). She won Olympic gold in 2002, Olympic silver in 1998, and has won three world championships in her career.
In 1998 she was in awe when she saw the Olympics from an athlete’s perspective for the first time: “It’s one thing to be a spectator, but it’s another to go behind the scenes in the Olympic Village. All the athletes were treated like kings and queens. Comfortability is key when you are trying to compete and do your best.”
But not everything in the world is gold in the eyes of the two-time Olympian. She has been witness to an extremely disheartening trend in university hockey in recent years.
“When I played at U of T there we had three, four, or even five people on the national team. You don’t get that anymore,” said Dupuis. “Most players come from the NWHL and American colleges these days,” which is due in large part to the lack of scholarships available to women’s hockey players at Canadian universities.
Go see Lori Dupuis at an event near you if you want to hear her thoughts on these and a whole host of other topics. You might even feel a little star-struck.
