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Home > Get Healthy > Fitness > Health secrets from an Olympic medalist

Health secrets from an Olympic medalist

Former skater Elizabeth Manley embraces life by taking more “me” time, and by giving back

By Kim Pittaway

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Taking charge

Remember when Elizabeth Manley clinched a silver medal at the Calgary 1988 Olympics? For the next two decades, she dazzled ice-show crowds, often with her signature leap into the lap of a spectator. Now a coach, she stepped in front of the cameras again as a commentator at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. It may sound like a fairy tale on ice, but she’s also endured a daunting work schedule, her father’s Alzheimer’s and her mother’s death from ovarian cancer. “I wasn’t paying attention to my health,” says Manley, 44, of the 30 extra pounds she put on. Early this year, she started a healthy weight-loss plan. “It was time to take care of me.”

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1 Comment

I could not have shared it better...but it took me a lot longer to learn what you are sharing here. In 1988 you were my inspiration - perfectly natural, perfectly Canadian. My American fiance was -jokingly- ready to dump me for you in a heartbeat. You were our ambassador to the world and you did us proud. After looking at the images which so well suit what you are sharing, I am compelled to say that you are still our ambassador, and still doing us proud.

P.S. I cared for my mom through her Alzheimer's for 16 years...as we say in Quebec, "Ce n'est pas un cadeau", however, my conscience is clear in that I lover her to death, literally. One cannot do more than that, especially when it finally means placing a parent in a secure twenty-four-hour faciltiy and that parent never speaks to you again. My hope is a joyful reunion in eternity....for now, I look after myself to stay emotionally healthy.

Submitted by christianne macmillan on Sat, 2010-02-27 3:56pm.