Meet Clara Hughes (Scholastic Canada Biography)

Meet Clara Hughes — athlete, Olympic medalist and mental health advocate.

Clara is still the only person in the world to ever win multiple medals at both the Summer Olympics and the Winter Olympics. But perhaps her biggest accomplishment is the work she has done to help others.

Growing up in Winnipeg, Clara liked sports. She wasn’t a top athlete and was headed down a bad path until the fateful day she watched speed skater Gaétan Boucher compete at the 1988 Winter Games. Clara decided she would do that too. It was to be a life-changing decision, one that set her on a course of training, competing and winning at the Olympic level in not just one but TWO sports. But as the world was cheering her on, Clara didn’t feel right inside. She finally realized that winning all the medals in the world wouldn’t make her okay — she had to work as hard on her mental health as she did on her training. Maybe even harder.

Young readers will get the inside story of Clara Hughes’s inspiring life and how she learned to not only take care of herself, but to inspire others to do the same.

The Scholastic Canada Biography series focuses on fascinating people who have shaped Canada’s past and present. Written by acclaimed author Elizabeth MacLeod, each book also features comics-inspired illustrations by Mike Deas.