November 02, 2016 (Milton, ON) – This past weekend Greg Mathieu, CEO at Cycling Canada was honoured at the Rio Olympic celebration and fundraising gala in Ottawa where many athletes and coaches were also recognized.

Mathieu is retiring after seven years at the helm and his legacy includes some amazing results from Canada’s top athletes in addition to fabulous infrastructure improvements such at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre, home of the state-of-the-art game-changing Milton Velodrome.

During his tenure Canada brought home two Olympic cycling medals from the 2016 Rio Games including the Women’s Team Pursuit bronze and Catharine Pendrel’s MTB women’s bronze. The Paralympic cycling team including triple medalist Tristen Chernove (gold, silver, bronze), Ross Wilson (2 silver), Charles Moreau (2 bronze), Michael Sametz (bronze) and Shelley Gautier (bronze), brought home a record 9 medals as cycling was the top sport at the Rio Paralympic Games.

More top-level hardware with Mathieu at the helm includes four medals from the Track Worlds; four medals and a rainbow jersey courtesy of Stefan Ritter from the Junior Track Worlds; 20 cycling medals and 14 Para cycling medals from the 2015 Pan Am Games. These and more medals were partly due to the growth of Cycling Canada’s coaching staff from one to eleven coaches during Mathieu’s tenure.

In addition to the Milton Veldorome, legacy cycling infrastructure includes the BMX track in Etobicoke and upgrades to the Hardwood Ski and Bike mountain bike course near Barrie, ON. Mathieu spearheaded Cycling Canada’s Hop On Campaign and the Hall of Fame inductions as well while vastly improving relations and trust with the Provincial Sport Organizations (PSO).

He graduated with a B.A. in sports administration in 1975 from Waterloo University and retires after a robust 35-year career in the field – (Cycling Canada 2009-2016; Wrestling Canada 1993-2009; Canadian Olympic Committee 1980-1992. We caught up with him at the Milton Velodrome Rio Barbeque send off for his take on Rio, the new velodrome and his accomplishments in cycling.

Pedal joins the cycling community in thanking Mathieu for his tremendous contributions to cycling in Canada.