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Diane Roy
Diane Roy: against all odds
Diane Roy came back from the Beijing Paralympic Games, her fourth, with three medals in her
bags, but one of them is the wrong colour. The wheelchair racer has the feeling she was cheated
in China after the 5,000-meter event that she won was cancelled because of a major incident
involving six of the eleven competitors. An appeal brought by three countries forced the
rerunning of the race. I did not want to do it over
, admitted Roy who had to hand over
her gold medal to the organising committee, the day before the second running.
Diane Roy came to the starting line with the firm intention of retaking HER medal.
I almost made it, she says. I was 99.9% there
recounts the one who saw victory slip
away from her by one hundredth of a second.
The 38-year old athlete talks about injustice, sadness and frustration when she goes back over
that event. I think I will never accept what happened to me, but I will live with it.
I have to go on. What happened was not my doing
, she convinces herself.
In support of the athlete from Hatley in the Townships, her family has set up a petition in order that her medal be given back to her. To learn more, visit www.dianeroy.com.
The beginnings
Diane Roy’s athletic adventure started out much better! At age 21, the athlete made her debut
in a racing wheelchair. Four years earlier, an off-road accident caused her to lose the use of
her legs. I was reckless. My four-wheeler was not meant to handle hills like the one I was
trying to climb. It could have been worse.
Although athletic before her accident – she had played handball, broomball, softball beside cycling, skiing and playing badminton – Diane Roy did not consider physical activity right off.
As she was wandering through the streets of Sherbrooke, she met Jacques Martin. She did not know the athlete, a specialist of the throw events, but he convinced her to come to the track. There, she met André Viger, Marc Quessy, Carl Marquis, and especially Jean Laroche. He was to become her first and only coach. Laroche is head of the Canadian wheelchair athletics team.
Two years after her first wheel spins, the Lac-des-Aigles native, in the Lower St. Lawrence, earned a spot on the national team and she is still a member in 2009.
I started in July 1992, a month before the Barcelona Paralympic Games. Watching André Viger
and friends in training, I told my coach that I also would be going to the Games in four years.
And that is what happened.
In 1993, she took part in her first Canada Games, then her
first Défi sportif. And now, for only a few years, Diane Roy is a full
time athlete. I love that
she declares, with a smile in her voice.
The Défi this year
To roll on Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is something I’ve been waiting for, for years
rejoices Diane. This year, the 10-km event usually presented in the streets around
Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard has been moved to Île Notre-Dame
to the racer’s great pleasure. Now we have to draw racers from outside, but the course is
so beautiful, it will be fun!
sums up the one who will just be coming back from the London
Marathon to roll in Montréal.
