The irony of her ceremonial duties at Woodbine yesterday made Chantal Petitclerc smile. Oh, and if you've never seen Chantal Petitclerc smile, then your life is much the poorer for it. Canada's most decorated Paralympian was the official drawmaster for the $1.5-million Pattison Canadian International, the ninth leg of 13 in the World Series Racing Championship.
"For most people, this would be something new, but it's my job, my only job," she said.
For almost a decade, Petitclerc, now 34, has been a familiar (not to mention stunningly attractive) face on Quebec television, as the three-times-a-week drawmaster for Loto-Quebec.
"It's a good fit because whether you're an Olympic athlete or a Paralympic athlete, you need the time to train and travel and the lottery people have been so good to me."
Last month at the Paralympics in Athens, Petitclerc blew the doors off her global rivals, winning five gold medals in her custom-made $7,000 racing wheel chair, setting three world records in the process. In so doing, she vaulted herself into the highest echelon of this country's female athletes, able-bodied or otherwise.
"What set this Olympic experience apart," she said, "is that I could feel the respect of every athlete. When I won my medal, a lot of people asked me if I was frustrated because it isn't a real 'counting' medal. If I can feel this much respect from the athletes, from the coaches, then that's my reward and the rest is politics and I can't do anything about it."
There is a movement to remove the demonstration label from Olympic wheelchair racing, putting it on equal footing with all other medal sports. Petitclerc is looking forward to that day.
"I hope it happens," she said. "I don't think every paralympic event will make it into the Olympics. There are already over 4,000 athletes (competing at the Paralympics) so you can't expect them to combine everything.
"But wheelchair racing has been a demonstration event ever since 1984 so I believe this one sport, especially, deserves to be there because it's competitive enough, it has enough countries involved, enough entries and anybody can do it. It belongs there and the rest is politics."
Petitclerc had been a paraplegic for less than a year when Rick Hansen and Andre Viger wheeled across her television screen at the 1984 Olympics when wheelchair races first appeared.
"They were my first inspiration," she said. "It took me a few more years to get my wheels under me."
She was 13 when, in 1983, a barn door fell on her and paralyzed her from the waist down. She had been playing with friends on a farm near her hometown of Sant-Marc-des-Carrieres in rural Quebec.
To that point, she had not been particularly athletic but as she adjusted to her new status as a paraplegic, she wanted to engage in something that would keep her fit. She tried swimming and then was invited to train with wheelchair coach Pierre Pomerleau in 1987. The rest, as they say, is history.
She won two bronze medals at the 1992 Paralympics, then followed that with three gold and two silvers at the 1996 Games. In 2000, she captured two gold and two silvers before outdoing herself in Athens.
She's not yet ready to commit herself for another four years but she's going to continue to train and compete into the foreseeable future.
Ever since she got back from Athens, her life has been one public appearance after another. She may have been a high-profile personality in Quebec but now it stretches right across Canada.
"It's been crazy, just crazy," she said. "This was my fourth Paralympics and my best result and, coming back home, it just seemed that paralympic sport has just climbed a step. The recognition I've gotten is truly amazing. Everybody stops to congratulated me."
After her Woodbine duties were finished yesterday afternoon, Petitclerc caught a flight that would get her back to Montreal in time for her job. Her real job, which is crowning millionaires, three times a week.
Wouldn't you smile, too?
