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Triple Paralympic Gold Medalist 2000 | 2004 | 2010 Introduction
Viviane Forest is the first Canadian female athlete to win Gold medals in
both Summer and Winter Olympic or Paralympic Games. She is a Triple
Gold Medal Paralympian from 2000, 2004 and 2010. Her story is stunning
and captivating. Her recent five medal podium finish in alpine skiing, at the
Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games had her collecting over 25% of
Canada’s medals, while injured. Her tenacious determination and
commitment to her dreams create a humorous and intense story, to inspire.
Biography
Viviane is one of Canada’s most decorated Paralympians. After a nine year career as a member of the national Goalball team, she now competes for Canada in Alpine skiing. She has seven Paralympic medals from three different Paralympic Games. Viviane was born in Montréal, Quebec but now calls Edmonton, Alberta home. She has been in
competitive sports since the age of four. Viviane played in city hockey and ringette leagues,
participated in karate, judo, track and field, cycling and provincial level swimming. The one
thing that differentiates Viviane from other athletes is that she has only 4% of normal vision. Yet
she has excelled as one of Canada’s top performing athletes since 1997.
Viviane races down the ski slopes, with her guide no more than 4 meters in front of her, at
speeds over 100 km/hr. They use a two-way radio system, trust and confidence to prevail on the
slopes of the world.
At the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games, Viviane won medals in all five alpine race disciplines: a Gold in the prestigious Downhill, three Silvers in Super-G, Slalom and Super Combined and a Bronze in Giant Slalom. With two Paralympic Gold medals won in Goalball at the Sydney 2000 and the Athens 2004 Paralympic Summer Games, Viviane has become one of a few female high performance athletes in the world to win gold medals in both summer and winter Paralympic or Olympic Games. Recently Viviane was recognized nationally for her sport accomplishments: • Canadian Paralympic Committee inaugural Debut Award, and • Alpine Canada TELUS Award of Excellence Breakthrough Athlete of the Year. In addition to her sport accomplishments, Viviane is recognized by the community as a role model and motivational speaker. Viviane appeals to many organizations because of her charm and ability to speak authoritatively in both French and English. She is the recipient of the Edmonton’s Salute to Excellence (October 2010), and The Global Woman of Vision (May 2010). Triple Paralympic Gold Medalist 2000 | 2004 | 2010 Motivational Speaker and Role Model
Between training and competing, Viviane is an inspiring public speaker at corporate and community events. Her presentations are genuine, strong, and they motivate people to be active and reach for their goals and dreams. In the past ten years, she has spoken to approximately 10,000 people across Canada. She frequently speaks at corporate gatherings and often accepts speaking engagements for public events or fundraisers. She has experience speaking to small groups like a classroom or board meeting and large conference gatherings in convention centres. Topics
What a Standing Ovation Sounds Like!
"Thank you for joining us at our 2010 Annual Conference as a keynote presenter. Your presentation was engaging and entertaining, and I know that our members will truly benefit from your inspirational story." - Megan Archibald, Manager, Communications & Stakeholder Engagement, Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC "Viviane, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to share your incredible experiences with our athletes and many of your teammates - it really hit home for a lot of them and we look forward to working with you in future initiatives! The sport system would surely benefit from more athletes like you!" - AthletesCAN, Athlete Forum 2010 Committee "It has also been my experience that Viviane is driven to experience excellence, not only in her sport but also in her personal life. I believe she is unstoppable when she decides what she wants. It is for these reasons that I have asked Viviane to address a large group of my colleagues on what it takes to achieve such a high level of success in a relatively short period of time. As a Canadian, I am extremely proud to know her based on the quality of her character, her stellar attitude and her strength & determination. She is a great example of being Canadian." - Deborah Cantin, Marketing Director, World Financial Group "Edmonton West has had Viviane Forest out to speak to our club in November 2010. She is an amazing speaker considering she has only been speaking English for a couple of years. Her presentation is touching and humorous, definitely worthwhile." - Edmonton West Rotary Club Over 750 francophone, Albertan youth were raving about Viviane. After her keynote address she also cranked out two team building sessions using the sport of Goalball. "Merci beaucoup Viviane pour votre excellent travail au RaJe 2010!" - Annie Falardeau, Directrice générale/Executive Director, Fédération du sport francophone de l’Alberta

Source: http://www.vivianeforest.ca/attachments/049_Speaker%20Bio%202011.pdf