Alexandre Bilodeau

He has two heroes: his brother Frédéric, who is affected by cerebral palsy, and Jean-Luc Brassard, former Olympic freestyle ski champion.  

Bilodeau has long been a spokesperson for — and a dedicated supporter of — many charitable organizations, including the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation, the Cerebral Palsy Association of Alberta, the Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centres for Cerebral Palsy Research and the Quebec Cerebral Palsy Association.

Now ready for a new challenge, Bilodeau completed his bachelor’s degree in accounting. He studied intermittently, on a part-time basis, for several years. At a homecoming celebration Concordia held in his honour after his Sochi win, Bilodeau said it would have been impossible for him to reconcile his two lives —  athlete and accounting student — without the support of professors and administrators.

“Without John Molson [School of Business] or Concordia people, I would never have been able to do school and skiing. And I probably would’ve stopped skiing if I couldn’t have done both,” he explained. The two-time Olympic champion has many projects in mind, but his priority is to step back into the classroom and complete his degree. In his own words: “Now changing my goal, it’s something refreshing and I’ve been looking forward to it.”