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Alexandre Bilodeau

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Alexandre Bilodeau
Alexandre Bilodeau in 2010
Personal information
Born (1987-09-08) September 8, 1987 (age 37)
Montreal, Quebec
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight76 kg (168 lb; 12.0 st)
WebsiteOfficial site
Sport
Country Canada
SportFreestyle skiing
Coached byDominick Gauthier
Medal record
Men's freestyle skiing
Representing  Canada
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2010 Vancouver Moguls
Gold medal – first place 2014 Sochi Moguls
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2009 Inawashiro Dual moguls
Gold medal – first place 2011 Deer Valley Dual moguls
Gold medal – first place 2013 Voss Dual moguls
Silver medal – second place 2011 Deer Valley Moguls
Silver medal – second place 2013 Voss Moguls

Alexandre Bilodeau (French pronunciation: [bilɔdo]; born September 8, 1987) is a Canadian freestyle skier from Montreal, Quebec. Bilodeau currently resides in Rosemère, Quebec. Bilodeau won a gold medal in the men's moguls at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, becoming the first Canadian to win a gold medal at an Olympic Games held in Canada after being swept twice of gold. Bilodeau is a three-time FIS World Champion in dual moguls, and is also a two-time Worlds silver medalist in moguls. He was the FIS World Cup champion for the 2008-09 season winning the moguls and overall freestyle skiing title that season.[1]

At the 2014 Winter Olympics, he became the first in Olympic history to defend his gold medal at the Men's moguls event.

Career

In 2006, Bilodeau finished 11th at the Olympics and later in the world cup season he became the youngest athlete in history to win a World Cup moguls event. In the 2005-06 overall World Cup standings he managed to finish second and won the FIS rookie of the year title.[2] In February 2009, he won four straight World Cup events and was part of two Canadian sweeps of the men's podium in moguls. He achieved this together with Vincent Marquis and Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau. Following these victories Bilodeau clinched the 2009 overall moguls title on February 20.[3] At the 2009 Freestyle World Championships he finished eighth in the moguls event and followed that by winning gold in the dual moguls.[4]

2010 Winter Olympics

Bilodeau was a member of the Canadian moguls team going to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.[5] He started the competition on Sunday, February 14 in favourable conditions. This was in contrast to the previous day for the women in which they skied in rain, sleet, and generally slushy conditions. Bilodeau finished the qualification run in 2nd place overall.[6] In the final run, Alexandre Bilodeau threw a back double full on the first jump and followed it with a back iron cross on the second. His jump and style scores combined with the second fastest run of the night, saw him scoring 26.75 points to win the gold. With the gold he became the first Canadian to win a Gold Medal during a Canadian-hosted Olympics.[7]

The gold medal victory elicited celebrations across Vancouver and Canada. Canadians celebrated around the Vancouver Olympic cauldron and crowds spilled onto Robson Street in downtown Vancouver waving the flag and singing the Canadian national anthem.[8] 22,000 people entered BC Place Stadium the next day to witness his medal presentation.[9] Following his Olympic medal Alexandre Bilodeau together with Jennifer Heil made a $25,000 donation to charity. Bilodeau chose to give his to Canadian Association of Pediatric Health Centres for cerebral palsy.[10] Bilodeau and Heil encouraged others to give to charity saying that they have the ability to give back and if others were to help in their own way it would make a difference.[10]

Bilodeau's victory over Dale Begg-Smith at the Olympics lead to some complaints about biased-judging from members of the Australian coaching staff.[11][12][13] The Australian coaches were also critical of the judging in the women's aerials event.[14] They called into question the system for training judges, and suggested that judges for big events should be ex-athletes from the sport being competed.[15]

Post-2010 Winter Olympics

Bilodeau did not win a World Cup event during the 2009-2010 season and finished fourth in the World Cup standings with 347 points, behind winner Dale Begg-Smith, who accumulated 693 points.[16] The following season, Bilodeau finished on the podium several times leading up to the World Championships. At the Worlds, Bilodeau won the silver medal in the moguls event, finishing ahead of countryman Mikaël Kingsbury.[17] Bilodeau would next compete in the dual moguls event at the World Championships. He advanced through to final where he found himself competing head-to-head with Kingsbury. Bilodeau went on to win the gold and defend his world title in the dual moguls event after Kingsbury fell navigating the moguls.

He confirmed at the TV show "Droit au but" that the 2014 Olympics would be his last.[18] He had taken time away from the sport to focus on his studies for an accounting career at Concordia University. Bilodeau had a lot to say about the potential retirement commenting “Right now, I’m struggling a little bit with the results, but my skiing is there — I’m a better skier than I’ve ever been. I’m not in a rush. I know it’s a process to get to Sochi, and that’s my goal. It’s going to be one of the last races of my career and of my life, so I think what’s important is to have fun. I thought before 2010 I was retiring, I was doing the 2011 season and then retiring the year after. And then through 2011, I was like, ‘Will I regret it? Will I regret it to not try to defend my medal? I think it’s a great challenge".[19]

At the 2013 World Championships Bilodeau placed second behind the upcoming Kingsbury who won his first World Championship.[20] Bilodeau then went on to compete in the dual moguls final. There he would go up against a familiar foe in teammate Kingsbury, he would defeat him there in the final and achieving his third consecutive title as World Champion in dual moguls.[21]

Personal life

Bilodeau is the son of Serge Bilodeau and Sylvie Michaud. His older brother, Frédéric, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at a young age and told that he would be unable to walk by the time he was 12. Frédéric is now age 28 and still has the ability to walk.[22] He also has a younger sister, Béatrice.[23] As a child, Bilodeau was an avid hockey player. However, his mother got tired of taking Frédéric, their sister Béatrice and him from one rink to another for hockey games, and instead she encouraged him to sign up for downhill skiing. That decision came shortly after Bilodeau saw Jean-Luc Brassard win Olympic gold in moguls at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. So at the age of seven, he decided to quit hockey and try moguls.[24] Bilodeau remains an avid hockey player, albeit recreationally.[25]

Bilodeau graduated from the Collège Jean-Eudes, a French-language high school in Montreal where he studied sciences. Bilodeau is currently studying accountancy at the John Molson School of Business of Concordia University.

Bilodeau says that his heroes are his brother Frédéric and Canadian freestyle skier Jean-Luc Brassard.[26] In his free time, he enjoys skiing and playing the piano.[27] Bilodeau speaks fluent French and English.[26]

Bilodeau was a presenter at the 2010 Juno Awards, presenting the award for Album of the Year to Michael Bublé.[28]

Results

Alexandre Bilodeau with his 2010 Winter Olympics gold medal

Olympic results

Date Games Location Discipline Results Notes
February 15, 2006 2006 Torino Olympics Sauze d'Oulx Men's Moguls 12th [29]
February 14, 2010 2010 Vancouver Olympics Cypress Mountain Men's Moguls Gold [30][31]

World Cup victories

Source

Date Location Discipline
January 7, 2006 Mont Gabriel, Canada Moguls
February 4, 2006 Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic Moguls
February 7, 2009 Cypress Mountain, Canada Moguls
February 13, 2009 Are, Sweden Moguls
February 14, 2009 Are, Sweden Dual Moguls
February 20, 2009 Myrkdalen-Voss, Norway Moguls
March 18, 2009 La Plagne, France Moguls
January 15, 2011 Mont Gabriel, Canada Moguls

World Championship results

Source

Date Location Discipline Event Result
March 9, 2007 Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Moguls 2007 Freestyle World Championships 14th
March 10, 2007 Madonna di Campiglio, Italy Dual Moguls 2007 Freestyle World Championships 5th
March 7, 2009 Inawashiro, Japan Moguls 2009 Freestyle World Championships 8th
March 8, 2009 Inawashiro, Japan Dual Moguls 2009 Freestyle World Championships Gold
February 2, 2011 Deer Valley, Utah, United States Moguls 2011 Freestyle World Championships Silver
February 5, 2011 Deer Valley, Utah, United States Dual Moguls 2011 Freestyle World Championships Gold

References

  1. ^ "Alexandre Bilodeau Profile". Freestyle Skiing Canada. Retrieved 06-02-2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  2. ^ http://www.skicanada.org/snowonline/index.cfm?DSP=Article&Act=Detail&ArticleID=4550&IssueID=124 Rookie of the year
  3. ^ "Bilodeau clinches WC moguls title with fourth straight win". The Sports Network. 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
  4. ^ "Canada's Bilodeau captures gold in dual moguls at worlds". The Sports Network. 2009-03-08. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  5. ^ "Elation, heartbreak highlight freestyle Olympic team". CBC News. 25 January 2010. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 2010-01-25. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "All Canadian men's mogulists qualify for final". CTV News. 14 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
  7. ^ Rook, Katie (2010-02-14). "Bilodeau wins Canada's first gold on home soil". CTV Olympics. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Bilodeau Erases Canada's Olympic Drought With First Home Gold". Bloomberg Markets. 14 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
  9. ^ Lori Culbert (15 February 2010). "Bilodeau dons Canada's first home gold medal". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2010-02-16. [dead link‍]
  10. ^ a b Jessica bell (24 February 2010). "Olympians Bilodeau, Heil give thousands to charity". Metro News Vancouver. Retrieved 2010-02-25.
  11. ^ "Australian official accuses judges of inflating Canada's score in men's moguls". The Province. 14 February 2010.
  12. ^ Silkstone, Dan (16 February 2010). "Dale cruelly written out of hosts' fairytale". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  13. ^ "Aussies claim Bilodeau's gold tainted". Toronto Sun. 15 February 2010.
  14. ^ "We were robbed says Australia's aerial skiers Jacqui Cooper and Lydia Lassila". Herald Sun. 23 April 2010.
  15. ^ "Australians angry about freestyle judging". Sydney Morning Herald. 21 February 2010.
  16. ^ "bio". fis. 18 March 2010.
  17. ^ "Retiring Heil wins moguls world title". CBC News. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  18. ^ Terry Bell (6 February 2011). "Night races bring four more medals". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 6-02-2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. ^ Scott Mitchell (January 23, 2013). "Bilodeau highlights World Cup moguls stop in Calgary". Calgary Sun. Retrieved February 19, 2013. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "Canada's Kingsbury wins moguls world title, Bilodeau 2nd". CBC Sports. March 6, 2013. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "Canada's Bilodeau, Dufour-Lapointe win dual moguls world championships". CBC Sports. March 8, 2013. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  22. ^ http://www.ctvolympics.ca/freestyle-skiing/news/newsid=9575.html?cid=rssctv
  23. ^ Canadian Olympic Committee, profile, accessed Feb 15 2010, http://www.olympic.ca/en/athletes/alexandre-bilodeau/profile
  24. ^ Hamilton Spectator, Olympic Gold inspired by disabled brother, Feb 15 2010, http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/722029
  25. ^ Scaringi, Joe, "Shooting the breeze with four Olympic medalists", 11 August 2010, accessed 13 August 2010.
  26. ^ a b Canadian Olympic Committee, profile, accessed Feb 15 2010, http://www.olympic.ca/en/athletes/alexandre-bilodeau/profile/
  27. ^ Canadian Freestyle Skiing Association, accessed Feb 15 2010, http://www.freestyleski.com/en/index.php/national-team/alexandre-bilodeau/
  28. ^ Rayner, Ben (2010-04-18). "Juno Awards show Michael Bublé some love". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-24. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  29. ^ Vancouver Olympics. CTV. 15 February 2010.
  30. ^ 2010 Winter Olympics. NBC. 16 February 2010.
  31. ^ "Canada's Winter Games Medals". Sporting News. Archived from the original on 20 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-23. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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