Music: {allcanada} Desire to skate faster propels Hamelin to 2018

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CALGARY — Three-time Olympic gold medallist Charles Hamelin vows to be an even stronger short-track speedskater at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

If he can do that, the 30-year-old from Sainte-Julie, Que., has the opportunity to become Canada’s most decorated Olympian.

"How I will go into those four more years, I will go with the same mindset that I had after Vancouver, which is ‘I want to be a better athlete in Pyeongchang than I was in Sochi,"’ Hamelin said Thursday in Calgary.

"I’m going to work my (butt) off to be better day after day, week after week, competition after competition so I when go to Pyeongchang, I’m still a contender in every distance."

At four Olympic medals, Hamelin is one short of Marc Gagnon’s five for the most won by a Canadian short-track speedskater. He’s two back of the career six earned by both Cindy Klassen in speedskating and Clara Hughes in speedskating and cycling.

"I realize that, but it’s not something I think of when I’m training," Hamelin said. "They were awesome athletes who did awesome things. I continue for me.

"I still have the passion for short-track, I still have the passion to win and that’s what drives me. I’m sure I’m going to be out there for a while."

Hamelin was one of dozens of Winter Olympians in Calgary for the Canadian Olympic Committee’s parade, gala dinner and Olympic Hall of Fame inductions.

A parade Friday in downtown Calgary will celebrate the athletes’ achievements at the 2014 Winter Games and Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Canada won 25 medals, including 10 gold, in the Olympics to finish fourth in the overall medal standings. The Paralympians earned 16 medals and finished third in gold medals with seven.

Klassen, gymnast Kyle Shewfelt, the 2008 men’s eight rowing team, speedskating coach Marcel Lacroix, hockey coach Pat Quinn and the late, former Alberta premier Ralph Klein will be inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame at a post-parade gala.

Sports journalist Richard Garneau, who covered 23 Olympic Games, will receive the Canadian Olympic Order posthumously. The 2012 gala in Toronto following the Summer Games in London raised more than $3 million for the COC’s foundation.

Among the athletes joining Hamelin in Calgary were sisters Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, the gold and silver medallists in moguls, the victorious Brad Jacobs curling team as well as members of the women’s hockey team, figure skater Patrick Chan and speedskaters Denny Morrison and Gilmore Junio.

"It reminds us of good memories because the last time we saw each other was at the Olympics, the closing ceremonies," Hamelin said. "When you are an Olympian and you meet another Olympian, you’re friends."

Hamelin is sporting a close-cropped haircut thanks to a bet with girlfriend Marianne St-Gelais. The three-time Olympic silver medallist recently shaved her head to raise money for Leucan, an organization that helps children with cancer and their families.

"She didn’t really like my last haircut," Hamelin said. "She said ‘I’m going to shave mine and if I get $10,000, you have to shave yours.’ She raised $15,000."

Hamelin won a silver in the team relay in 2006 before striking double gold in 2010 in the 500 and the men’s relay.

Sochi was a mixture of heaven and hell for Hamelin. He captured gold in the 1,500 in his first race. The longer distance wasn’t his specialty and with the 500, 1,000 and relay still to come, Hamelin appeared primed for a medal haul.

But Hamelin fell in the qualification rounds for the 500 and 1,000 when the ice broke under his skate blade.

And the Canadian men, who had previously been so reliable for an Olympic relay medal, faltered when Charles’ brother Francois stepped on one of the discs that mark the oval and fell in the preliminary rounds.

"When I watch the 1,500, there’s some chills," Hamelin said. "There’s so much emotion when I watch that race. When I watch the other races … those falls were not because I was in a bad position or did a bad step. I didn’t make a mistake. It’s just the ice broke under my blade and I was in the boards.

"Those moments are hard. You try to think ‘what I could have done better, what I could have done different?’ There’s no answers. It is short track. You have to come back from this and turn the page."

The crashes aren’t motivating Hamelin to continue. He’d decided prior to Sochi he would keep racing beyond 2014.

Hamelin wants to win an overall world championship, which is determined by combined results over the four events and a 3,000 metres. He’s finished second twice and third two times during his career.

He’ll be one of the older competitors in short-track speedskating in the next quadrennial. Hamelin doesn’t intend to take any seasons off and will lead the short-track team in the 2014-15 season.

"There’s no way I want to stop. I’m still one of the best skaters in the world," he said. "I had one month of break this summer. I went three weeks with Marianne to New Zealand, but when we came back, we were both excited to come back and go on the ice and train again.

"Those are signs that you still want to be in the sport and you want to skate. It was a really good sign for us."

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