If Nathalie Lambert has her way, the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 will go off without a Canadian athlete at the centre of controversy, and as the newly named chef de mission, she will spend more time rooting for the delegation than defending it.
But should Canadian athletes find themselves in an international media maelstrom — see sprinter Ben Johnson, snowboarder Ross Rebagliati and figure skaters Jamie Salé and David Pelletier — Lambert says she is prepared to swing into advocacy.
The three-time Olympic medalist in short-track speed skating has been known to speak her mind when she perceives injustice.
"If I need to, I could fight for one my teammates," Lambert said Monday after the Canadian Olympic Committee announced her as the official leader and spokeswoman of the Canadian team. "It's a sporting event and it's the biggest of their lives.
Nathalie Lambert, a three-time Olympic medalist in short track speed skating, has been named Chef de Mission for the Canadian team at the 2010 Vancouver Games. (The Canadian Press)
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"The role of the chef is, really, to make sure that everything is good for those [athletes], not to do politics, unless it is to protect the athlete. I can do that, but it's not my wish."
Lambert, 44, competed in three Olympics, including the Calgary Winter Games in 1988 when short track was a demonstration sport, and was a member of the gold-medal-winning women's relay team at the Albertville Games in 1992. The Montreal native won two silver medals in 1994 at Lillehammer, but also gained notoriety for comments that short-track officials were making the sport look "Mickey Mouse" after she was knocked out of a race.
"I'm really not embarrassed by the way I handled it," said Lambert, now married and the mother of two adopted daughters from China. "It was not the proper wording, but I would say the same thing probably if it happened to an athlete in 2010."
As chef, which is a volunteer position, Lambert will help select the mission staff of between 50 and 100 and said that two assistant chefs, one for Vancouver and for Whistler, could be announced before next summer.
If anyone knows the value of the mission staff, it is Lambert.
As an athlete, she was once helped by a mission staff member who set out to find food for the relay team in the middle of the night after the skaters were late getting back to the athletes village after medal ceremonies and doping procedures. The team was set to compete two days later and needed sustenance to recover from its competition and prepare for the next events.
Lambert turned down an assistant chef position for the Nagano Games in 1998, but reconsidered and accepted the same job for the Athens Summer Games in 2004. Lambert caught Olympic fever again in Greece.
"I can't let go," said Lambert, who lives in Montreal, where she writes about fitness and produces fitness videos. "I wanted to be involved somehow. What gives me a unique perspective is that I actually did a Games at home as an athlete."
She also wants to assist in crafting a media strategy for the athletes, who will be have more demands on home soil, and said she could offer advice, based on her Calgary experience, on how to minimize distractions.
After the Olympics in 1998 and 2000, the COC opened up the chef's job to its entire membership, giving former athletes a chance to represent the team.
"Nathalie has got everything that the chef needs," said Michael Chambers, the president of the COC. "She can provide leadership to the athletes. She has been an athlete herself … and she is a tremendously dedicated person to the Olympic movement in Canada. I can go on, but that is enough to get her across the finish line first."
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