Olympic speed skater tops national poll for Air Canada Athlete of the Year Award

MONTREAL, Dec. 13, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada today announced Canadian short track speed skater Charles Hamelin has been voted the winner of the Air Canada Athlete of the Year Award in a national on-line poll.

"Air Canada is very pleased that Charles has been chosen to receive the Air Canada Athlete of the Year Award for 2013. He exemplifies the leadership, dedication and commitment to excellence the award celebrates and it is clear Canadians recognize his hard work and talent," said Craig Landry, Vice President of Marketing at Air Canada. "As a sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team, we take great pride in our association with all of our Olympic athletes and also congratulate slopestyle snowboarder Mark McMorris and bobsledder Kaillie Humphries who were the runners-up for this award. Additionally, we thank the tens of thousands of Canadians who took time to vote for their favorite athlete in our national poll."

Charles Hamelin was a double gold medalist at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Based on his experience and accomplishments, he is considered one of the leaders of the national team. Charles started speed skating at the age of 9 and is now recognized as a multiple gold medal winner who has been competing at the senior world championship level for almost a decade.

The number of medals and world titles Charles has won reflects his dominance in the field of short track speed skating. In addition to his 2010 Olympic performance, he also won a silver medal in Turin 2006 and has several world championship titles from 2005 to 2013.

Nominees for the Air Canada Athlete of the Year Award were chosen after an in-depth analysis of a lengthy list of winter sport athletes by a nomination committee. The list of more than 50 athletes was arrived at by assigning point values to podium finishes in the previous year's competition season. These athletes were then considered and debated by the nomination committee with three finalists selected to be voted on by Canadians between November 20 and December 6. The nominating committee consisted of representatives from Air Canada, the CBC, the Federal Government, the Canadian Olympic Committee, the athlete community and last year's winner, soccer player Christine Sinclair.  The winner receives two complimentary Business Class tickets to anywhere in the world Air Canada flies as well as Altitude Super Elite™ status for one year.

About Air Canada

Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 175 destinations on five continents.  Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2012 served close to 35 million customers.  Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 60 Canadian cities, 49 destinations in the United States and 67 cities in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,328 destinations in 195 countries.  Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax that ranked Air Canada in a worldwide survey of more than 18 million airline passengers as Best Airline in North America in 2013 for the fourth consecutive year.  For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com.

Note to Photo Editors: Photos of Charles Hamelin are available at http://www.cpimages.com/fotoweb/index.fwx

SOURCE Air Canada