Clara Hughes takes a deep breath. She has just won the 5000-metre speed skating race at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The 5000-meter race is a long race and Clara is tired.
This is not Clara’s first Olympic medal. Clara has won medals at the winter and summer Olympic Games. She skates her victory lap around the Richmond Olympic Oval. The Canadian crowd goes crazy.
This is her last Olympic race. She smiles and remembers all the decisions that have led her to this place.
“When I was young I made some bad decisions. I smoked. I drank. I ran away from home a few times. I didn’t try hard in school. It’s amazing that I made it as an athlete.”
One day, her life changed. She was watching speedskating legend Gaetan Boucher on television.
“I was 16. This sport looked so cool. He glided around the ice. He was really fast. I knew right away that I wanted to do that. My mother called the local club in Winnipeg. In just a few days I was skating.”
Clara started working out instead of hanging out. She paid attention in school. She got good grades. She gave up the bad habits. It was not easy but Clara stuck with it.
Clara kept skating. She also started cycling. “I met a great coach, Mirek Mazur. He saw that I was a good cyclist. He pushed me to try hard. I decided to listen to him. He was tough but he was right. I started to get better and better.”
Clara went to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta as a cyclist. She won two bronze medals in road racing. She was happy, but she still wanted to try speed skating. After the 2000 Olympic Games, she decided to go to the Olympic Winter Games too.
“That had been my dream since I first watched speedskating on TV. I had told my mother years before I was going to be an Olympic speed skater. I was determined to make it.”
Clara did more than just make it. She won a bronze medal in the 5000 metres. She had only been training for a few months. Four years later, in Turin, she won a gold medal. The victory made her remember her own tough childhood.
After the gold medal, Clara decided to do something really nice. “The morning of my race I watched a documentary on the group ‘Right to Play’. It was about their work in Uganda.”Right to Play is a group that uses sport to help children in developing countries around the world. Right to Play sends athletes to help kids learn about sport and about making healthy choices. It also gives them sporting equipment.
“The children lived with war, poverty and violence. When they played sports they were so happy. I thought if these kids can do this, so can I during my Olympic race that same evening.”
Clara became tired halfway through that race. Her legs ached, but she remembered those smiling kids in the video. “I had written ‘joy’ on my hand with a pen. The word reminded me of those shining eyes from Uganda that I saw on my TV. I didn’t give up.”
Clara won. She wanted to thank those children. Millions watched her gold medal press conference. Clara announced that she was donating 10,000 dollars to Right to Play.
“I wanted to give back. I wanted to help more children know the joy of sport. I wanted them to know how happy I was to be an athlete.”
Clara feels that joy as an athlete and a person. Clara is now a Member of the Order of Canada. That’s one of Canada’s highest honours. She carried the Canadian flag for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. She still raises money for charity and does her best to help children.
Clara skates a final lap around the oval.
“Success has given me a voice. I tell people all the time that you just never know where your decisions may lead. Each and every one of us has a part in making the lives of those around us better just by our own actions.”
CONNECTING: Building a foundation for new learning
Healthy Choices and Decision Making Discussion
Watch “Hughes competes for bronze medal” at www.olympischool.ca/podcast
Read Clara’s story to the class. Before beginning the story, ask students to listen for examples of lifestyle choices Clara made when she was young. Ask them to identify what event in her life made her change her way of living? What happened after she had made these changes?
Ask students to think of a decision they have made (to play on computer rather than do homework, to cheat at a game when no one was watching) that had negative repercussions. How would they change their decision and how could they have done things differently? Ask students to identify a tough decision they have made that had positive result. Tell a partner what their decision was and discuss feelings they may have had before, during and after each decision.
PROCESSING: Using strategies to acquire and use knowledge
Joy of Effort – Physical Activities
Clara has shown that her decision to commit to a life of sport and physical activity throughout your entire life is very important. Clara loves the joy of sport and hopes to share this joy with as many people as possible. Have students design a healthy activity for kindergarten students to participate in during Daily Physical Activity. With guidance from the teacher, students should consider why it’s important to keep physically active every day, not just during a gym lesson or sporting game.
As a class, design a series of physical activity stations that engage students in pairs. Incorporate Clara’s movement skill activities from the Canadian Olympic Movement Skills resource along with student-designed physical activity stations. Invite a younger class to join your class as they move through the stations. Have students buddy up with the younger students and move as a team through the stations.
TRANSFORMING: Showing understanding in a new way
Healthy Choices Public Service Announcement (PSA)
Brainstorm issues and times in which positive choices are important in their daily lives (ex. healthy eating, physical activity, respecting others, anti-bullying, saying no to drugs, etc.). Instruct students to create a PSA for the school hallways to illustrate the benefits of making positive choices in your life. Students may create a mural on paper with words and pictures that encourages healthy choices and positive decision-making. Have students highlight how positive, healthy choices can change their lives.
EXTENDING: Making further connections to Olympians
Explore numbers and the Olympic Games by developing numeracy problems from Olympian results and sport specific numbers.
Sample Numeracy Exercise:
Clara Hughes is raising money for community organizations that she is passionate about. Pretend Clara has challenged your school to raise $500 for the local charity of your choice. If there are 300 students at your school and each student donates $2, will your school have helped Clara meet her goal?