DownloadFeb. 8 issue
Once more, for the gold
Speed skater, ambassador for MCC, hopes to add to Olympic medal count
By Celeste Kennel-Shank Mennonite Weekly ReviewCindy Klassen pauses for a moment before she hits the ice.
Cindy Klassen spends time with Kande Mancha and her grandson James in Nigeria. Klassen traveled to Nigeria and Ethiopia in 2006 to raise awareness of Mennonite Central Committee HIV/AIDS projects and now is promoting MCC relief efforts in Haiti. — Photo by Mark Beach/MCC
“I always pray before every race, and my prayer is the same every time — that I would skate to the best of my ability, and do it all for the glory of God,” the Olympic speedskater wrote in an e-mail. “He has given me the talent to skate, and I don’t want to waste it.
“A verse that is a good reminder for me is 1 Corinthians 10:31, ‘So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.’ ”
Klassen, 30, is Canada’s top-winning Olympian, with six medals, including one gold. She is also a four-time World Champion in International Skating Union competitions.
Klassen, who grew up attending McIvor Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church in Winnipeg, Man., now plans to compete Feb. 12-27 in the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C.
“My hopes for this year were to simply qualify for the games,” she wrote.
She missed the last season after having bilateral knee surgery in July 2008.
“God has been gracious enough to allow me to get back into race mode and qualify for the games again, and my hopes this Olympics, like in previous Olympics, are to skate for his glory and to honor him in all that I do,” she wrote.
Though she did not qualify for the 1,000-meter race, in which she won a silver medal at Turin in 2006, she continues to receive honors for previous medals.
She now has a permanent place opposite Queen Elizabeth, on the other side of a 25-cent coin in the Royal Canadian Mint Olympic series. The mint released 22 million quarters bearing Klassen’s image to celebrate her five medals at Turin in 2006. She is the only athlete to be pictured by herself in the mint’s series; the others feature teams.
Comments
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Paul,
The "Cindy Klassen" quarter appears to be dated "2004" in the picture in the MWR.
Any chance your excellent article gave the impression that it was issued in 2010?
Herb
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The year you are reading next to Klassen's name is 2006, referring to the year of the Turin Olympics, in which Klassen won five medals and became Canada's top-winning Olympian.
The coin was released Jan. 5, 2010.
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