Speed skater Cindy Klassen has become Canada's greatest Olympian, cementing that status with a record fifth medal Saturday in Turin.
The Winnipeg native won bronze in the 5,000 metres, setting a Canadian record by winning five medals at one Olympic Games.
Klassen has won a gold (1,500 metres), two silvers (1,000 metres and team pursuit) and a bronze (3,000 metres). She has a record six Olympic medals when one adds in her bronze in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
"Going in to the Games, I though maybe the 1,500 and 3,000 would be my strong point and maybe I could get a medal in those. To come out with five, it's been better than expected and really a dream come true," she told CTV's Lloyd Robertson in Turin on Saturday.
When asked how she accomplished her feat, Klassen said she just had fun.
"The biggest thing for me was just to have fun during the Games and just enjoy speed skating and I think that when I'm relaxed and when I'm having fun, that's when I skate my best, so that's what I did and it worked out really well," she said.
Klassen is only 26 and is eager to perform for a home crowd at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
"It's special racing in the Olympics but to have the Olympics in your own country is extra special and I'm really looking forward to that," she said.
Klassen's family and friends back home are overjoyed.
"It's really hard to believe that she got a medal in every single event that she went in to," her father Jake told CTV.
Added her mother Helga: "It's amazing. We've heard people tell us the stats and of course we didn't know about any of the things and to hear one thing after another like that is unbelievable."
With six medals, Klassen surpasses the previous record holders, runner Philip Edwards and speed skater Marc Gagnon with five Olympic medals each.
Many are betting she will carry the flag for Canada at Sunday's closing ceremonies.
Clara Hughes
Clara Hughes, also of Winnipeg, captured gold in the 5,000-metre race ahead of Klassen.
Hughes began to tire in the middle of the grueling 12-and-a-half lap race, but powered from behind to catch Germany's Claudia Pechstein and surpass Klassen's lead to achieve the fastest time at 6:59.07.
Hughes, 33, said she believed she could win the race, but knew she had to finish strong to pull it off. And although it "almost killed her," she said the win represents a dream come true.
"If you dream and you allow yourself to dream you can do anything. And that's what this Olympic medal represents," Hughes said.
She fell to the ice after the race, but then Cindy Klassen came up a few steps later for the bronze and then brought her a Canadian flag, and she took it around the ice in tears.
And then when they got up to the podium, Hughes was up on the top.
"I looked back and saw Cindy smiling and I said come up here with me," Hughes said. "We started singing 'O Canada' really badly. It was so much fun. It was fun to share it with a teammate -- I didn't want to be up there alone," Hughes laughed.
The men
The men's team also had a good day.
The relay team won silver in the short-track 5,000-metre relay race. South Korea won gold and the United States took the bronze.
Eric Bedard of Ste-Thecle, Que., Francois-Louis Tremblay of Alma, Que., Charles Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., and Mathieu Turcotte of Sherbrooke, Que., had a time of 6:43.707.
Tremblay had a double-silver day, as he finished second in the men's 500-metre short track event.
Tremblay, of Alma, Quebec, fought through a tough, fast pack of racers to win the silver medal.
With a time of 42.002 seconds, Tremblay finished just behind the U.S.'s Apolo Anton Ohno who finished in 41.935 for the gold.
His teammate Eric Bedard finished just out of the medals in fourth place.
However, Bedard joins the ranks of former Canadian skater Marc Gagnon, Gaetan Boucher and Klassen, who have all won four or more medals in their careers.
Saturday was Canada's third four-medal day at the Games.
The wins bring the nation's medal count to 24, its largest ever at a Winter Games, and one shy of the team's projection of 25 before the Games.
The Germans lead the overall standings with 29. The U.S. is second with 25.
With reports from CTV's Graham Richardson and CTV Winnipeg's Stacy Ashley
