Simmerling puts character ahead of Olympic highlights

Canada's triple threat says inspiring others means much more than her athletic legacy

If the newly retired Georgia Simmerling is most widely remembered as the first Canadian to compete in three different sports at three different Olympics, she will happily live with that impressive legacy.

“I have come to understand that's a pretty remarkable feat, to have accomplished what I did, going to three different Olympics in three different sports,” she said Monday, a week after she took to Instagram to officially announce her retirement.

But there's so much more to the sporting journey that has set her apart. She was a 21-year-old alpine skier competing in front of friends and family at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver; and a 32-year-old veteran track cyclist at the Tokyo Olympics, where there were no fans because of the pandemic.

In between, Simmerling competed at Sochi 2014 as a ski cross racer and won a team pursuit bronze in track cycling at Rio 2016, the feat that completed her Olympic hat trick.

Throw in nine World Cup ski cross medals, five silver and four bronze, and she was indeed an accomplished finisher. But when asked how she'd like to be remembered as an athlete, Simmerling was focused not on hardware or her ability to transition from sport to sport to sport at the highest possible level.

“I hope I'm remembered by my character — leaving the sport better than when I entered it. I hope I inspired the next generation. I hope I gave back to the next generation and the communities around me across the country. I hope I was competitive and uplifting and supportive to my teammates.

“I know I had a pretty competitive drive in me as an athlete and I hope I was able to inspire them and the next generation. No matter what it is, no matter what obstacle is ahead of you, no matter what injury you have, you can always come back from it. I strongly believed that as an athlete, and I really hope I showed that on the stage that I was on.”

That would have been virtually impossible to miss. She broke both legs and tore a trio of left knee ligaments in a hellacious ski cross crash in January 2018, less than a month before she would have challenged for medals at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

She was on crutches for weeks, and though it might have been enough to end a career, Simmerling instead retired from ski cross to take up track cycling once again, intent on finishing her competitive sporting career at the Tokyo Games.

With her competitive athletic career in the rear-view mirror, her next days now will be filled with an unspecified foray into business. Simmerling said she'll reveal her plans next Monday, but dropped a couple of hints.

“I'm passionate about sports, I'm passionate about women's sports, about growing women's sports in this country, and I can't wait to get to work.”