Jon Montgomery won the Olympic gold in Vancouver 2010. Montgomery won the gold medal by 0.07 seconds. He accepted his gold medal at the medal ceremony in Whistler on February 20, 2010. Montgomery became the second Canadian in a row to win gold in the men’s event, after Duff Gibson in 2006, and the first Canadian to win a gold medal in Whistler at the Olympics.
In 2002, a casual trip to Canada Olympic Park left an indelible mark on Montgomery. While on a tour of the Park, he witnessed a skeleton race, and immediately fell in love with the sport. Montgomery quickly enjoyed success during his development path in the sport. In 2005-06, he became the first Canadian man to win the Europa Cup Overall men’s title, and is now considered one of Canada’s top skeleton athletes.
Montgomery’s start to his rookie season on the World Cup could not have been drawn any more perfect. He kicked off the 2006-07 World Cup campaign with a bronze-medal finish on his home track in Calgary. He went on to finish in the top-10 three more times during the season, and finished sixth in the Overall World Cup standings.
Montgomery’s sophomore season on the World Cup was equally remarkable where he enjoyed a breakout season by racking up five podium finishes, including his first World Cup victory and a silver medal at the World Championships, en route to finishing second overall on the World Cup.
Following his win, Montgomery marched through a crowd of Canadian fans singing the national anthem and chugging a pitcher of beer. In an interview with CTV, he stated that he has a tattoo of a maple leaf over his heart with the word Canada above it which he got with his mother after he graduated from high school in grade 12.
This year, Jon is sacrificing what would have been his 10th competitive season in skeleton racing to perform a larger volume of runs and develop his equipment to ensure his—and Canada’s—best possible chance of success in Sochi, Russia in 2014. But Jon also has an even more ambitious goal. In August 2011, the athlete married fellow skeleton racer Darla Deschamps. Together, Jon and Darla are looking to become the only married couple to both medal in individual sports in Olympic history. And with their work ethic, accompanied by the support of family, friends, sponsors and Canadians from coast to coast, Jon and Darla are on track to achieve their dream in 2014.
Montgomery hopes his gold medal performance inspires more people to enter amateur sports, and reassures mothers that skeleton is a safe sport for children to enter. Jon Montgomery also hopes his gold medal victory will help to establish an all-amateur sports channel for Canadian athletes.
While Jon always wanted to be a Canadian National Team athlete, he didn’t know which sport it would be in. Keeping his eyes wide open, living outside his comfort zone, trying new things and accepting the challenges that presented themselves enabled him to find his passion and his opportunity to realize his dreams. Jon’s story will inspire others to go after what they’re looking for, no matter how daunting a task it may at first seem.
While we must be realistic about the things in life we can’t change, there are always ways in which we can optimize ourselves and our situations through creative thinking and innovation. Unless you’re moving forward, you’re getting left behind!
The story of how a small town boy from Manitoba who grew up playing hockey and idolizing his home town hero, Theo Fleury (the smallest guy to ever play in the NHL), and what inspired him to become an Olympic Champion.
Jon explains the secrets that helped him achieve the confidence to follow and achieve his dreams, and how you can, too.
In an individual sport like skeleton, one’s success as an athlete is directly tied to their ability to work collaboratively with their team. Jon explains the importance of teamwork in our families, workplaces, or communities.
