Clara Hughes was born August 27, 1972 (age 42) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Clara Hughes is a now a world renown hero and role model, Clara is a Olympic cyclist, speed skater and now a humanitarian. Clara Hughes is on a short list of athletes to win olympic medals in both olympics and the Canadian athlete to have won medals at both the Olympic Summer and Olympic Winter Games. Clara didn't win them by chance or luck. She was fierce competitor in whatever she wanted, she won four medals in speedskating and two in cycling, Adding to a total of 6 Olympic medals the most of any Canadian athlete. Hughes has won an astonishing total of 35 national championships in road cycling, track cycling, and speedskating, she has also won eight medals in cycling at
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She struggled through her parents divorce when she was 9. By the time she was 13 rebellious and living on the edge. “at the time, I didn't care about anything. I think I didn't have a value system because I came from a dysfunctional family. My mom did the best she could with my sister and I, but we basically went wild after my parents separated.” Says Clara. She often used drugs, and not only got drunk most weekends, she was able to buy alcohol by the time she was 13 as she was 5’9 and looked very mature for her age. Clara regularly skipped school and ran away from home several times. Her early days certainly didn't foreshadow a speed skater who would donate $10,000 out of her own money to the humanitarian group Right To Play after winning gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics. Things started to turn around when she became a 16-year-old, sitting in her mother's living room doing some channel surfing Clara came across 1988 Calgary Olympics broadcast. There was a small documentary on speedskater Gaetan Boucher, the winner of two gold and a bronze at the '84 Sarajevo Games. She fell in love with the sport. One problem… at the time, she smoked a pack a day, she wasn't into really hard drugs, but Clara was doing a fair amount of soft drugs and partying a fair amount. Sometimes she would take off and run away from home for the weekend unheard off to her mom. Hughes was still inspired, but initially still regressed into her old bad habits.
She struggled through her parents divorce when she was 9. By the time she was 13 rebellious and living on the edge. “at the time, I didn't care about anything. I think I didn't have a value system because I came from a dysfunctional family. My mom did the best she could with my sister and I, but we basically went wild after my parents separated.” Says Clara. She often used drugs, and not only got drunk most weekends, she was able to buy alcohol by the time she was 13 as she was 5’9 and looked very mature for her age. Clara regularly skipped school and ran away from home several times. Her early days certainly didn't foreshadow a speed skater who would donate $10,000 out of her own money to the humanitarian group Right To Play after winning gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics. Things started to turn around when she became a 16-year-old, sitting in her mother's living room doing some channel surfing Clara came across 1988 Calgary Olympics broadcast. There was a small documentary on speedskater Gaetan Boucher, the winner of two gold and a bronze at the '84 Sarajevo Games. She fell in love with the sport. One problem… at the time, she smoked a pack a day, she wasn't into really hard drugs, but Clara was doing a fair amount of soft drugs and partying a fair amount. Sometimes she would take off and run away from home for the weekend unheard off to her mom. Hughes was still inspired, but initially still regressed into her old bad habits.