Winter Olympics 2014: Canadian skier Alex Bilodeau captures Olympic spirit as he celebrates gold with disabled brother Frederic
Bilodeau immediately rushed to his family before lifting his brother over the barrier to celebrate on the slopes as he dedicated his second gold medal to Frederic
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Your support makes all the difference.Canadian freestyle skier Alex Bilodeau encapsulated the Olympic spirit in a single moment at the Sochi Games after he secured gold, rushing to his family to celebrate with his disabled brother Frederic.
Bilodeau has often spoke of his close bond with this sibling, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy from a young age. However, his successful battle on the slopes is nothing compared to his brother’s, who having been told that he would not be able to walk beyond the age of 12, is still doing so more than 15 years later.
Having just finished his gold-winning run, Alex immediately rushed to the crowd and pulled his brother over the barricade to celebrate, along with his family and girlfriend Sabrina Bizier.
“Just like you or I, he has dreams and most of them are not realisable to him but he does dream about it, he talks about it and he never complains that it's not realistic to him,” Alex said of his brother after his success.
“Every day I feel very lucky to be a normal person that has the chance to go after his dreams, and he doesn't have that chance. So out of respect to him, I need to go after that and with his motivation he would be four-time Olympic champion.
“It's crazy the motivation that he takes and every step is very hard for him. In life, I have an easy path and I need to go out there and do the best I can just out of respect to him.
“He lives his dreams through me. (Two gold medals) is the least I can do, he's my every day inspiration.”
Alex’s triumph gives him a second Olympic gold medal after his success in Vancouver four years ago – the first moguls skier to do so – and adds to his three world championships in the dual-moguls. He had previously said that he would retire following the World Cup season, and that he would be replaced by his compatriot Mikael Kingsbury, who took silver on Monday night.
“When I'm on the hill (Kingsbury) is in my mind and he's pushing me to be a better skier, but outside of the hill, whether I'm in university or training or whatever I do in life, my brother is my every day inspiration,” Bilodeau admitted.
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