Marie-Eve DROLET

Short track speed skater Marie-Eve Drolet earned a spot on the Canadian national team at the junior level at the end of 1998 and began competing internationally for her country the following year. She was world junior champion in 2000 and 2001, but her career almost ended in between when she fractured a vertebra in a crash. Yet by 2002 she had not only made the Winter Olympic team, but took home a bronze medal in 3,000m relay, in addition to placing fourth and sixth in the 1,000m and 1,500m events respectively. She retired abruptly after the games, at the age of only 20, and disappeared from the speed skating scene immediately after. In 2007, however, her interest in the sport was rekindled while skating with her fiancée and by September 2008 she had returned to national competition, rejoining the national team within a year with an aim to participate at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Her performance at 2009 World Cup events indicated that she had made a quick return to competitive form, and she even managed to improve on some of her previous times.