Hayley Wickenheiser climbed Olympic podiums five times in her illustrious career, capturing four gold medals and one silver as Team Canada’s star center before retiring in January 2017 with—at least unofficially—the title of history’s greatest female hockey player. But the 41-year-old took an entirely different sort of stand regarding the Games on March 17.
Wickenheiser is a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, a peer-elected board that advises the Olympics’ governing body. She had grown frustrated with IOC president Thomas Bach’s steadfast stance that Tokyo 2020 would continue as planned this summer, even as the coronavirus pandemic shut down nation after nation.