(Reuters) – Four-times Olympic champion Charles Hamelin brought the curtain down on his career at the short track world championships in Montreal on Sunday and said there was no better way to finish than racing in front of his friends and family.
Hamelin, who won his fourth Olympic gold in the men’s 5,000 metres relay in Beijing earlier this year, led Canada to bronze in the same event on Sunday in his final race.
The 37-year-old then took to the ice to skate a farewell lap with his daughter in his arms.
“It means a lot to me. She is a little older, but maybe she didn’t understand what was happening. But I am sure she enjoyed the moment with me. It was one of the things I wanted to do, and I am glad it happened here in Montreal,” Hamelin said.
“It is one of the best things that happened to me. The chance to finish at home, with my family in the stands, is the greatest feeling. It is almost like any Olympics I went to.”
Hamelin’s first Olympic medal was a silver in the 5,000m relay in Turin in 2006. He won gold in the same event four years later in Vancouver as well as an individual gold in the 500m.
He also won gold in the 1,500m at Sochi in 2014 and a 5,000m relay bronze in Pyeongchang four years later.
Hamelin won 14 world titles, and claimed the overall men’s title at the 2018 World Championships in Montreal.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
