Charles Hamelin

In August 2017, Hamelin was named to Canada's 2018 Winter Olympics team.

At Sochi 2014, Hamelin reached the final of the 1500m while his brother made the B final of the same event. He started the race and pushed to the front of the seven-man pack and retained that lead for most of the race. Towards the end of the race, Hamelin's lead was challenged by both China's Han Tianyu and Russia's Viktor Ahn but Hamelin passed Han and held on to win the gold medal as Canada's second gold medal of the Sochi 2014 Games. The 1,500 m was oft quoted as a weakness for Hamelin and the Canadians. He was proud of the gold in the event saying "It is the best I can dream of, coming in the Olympics and having that gold in the 1,500 metre. We always said in the last few years that it was our weakness, but I really worked hard to prove everyone wrong and I think today was the day." He had a strong overall season. and won his first overall World Cup title after coming close several times previously.

Hamelin put up decent results through the 2012 season despite several nagging injuries and carried that success into the World Championships. There he won a silver medal in the 500 m trailing teammate Jean who won the gold. He went on to win the bronze in the 1,000 m after being pushed by a Chinese skater. Hamelin was injured in the fall and did not compete in the men's relay final, but still won gold for his earlier participation in the semi's.

He began the 2010 Olympics in the second 1500 m heat, there Hamelin placed second by 0.001 of a second to China's Liang Wenhao. Due to the fact he only placed second in the heats Hamelin was drawn into a tough group for the semifinals, needing to beat one of his two main rivals, Lee Jung-su or Apolo Ohno, to qualify for the final. Hamelin was in second for much of the race with Jung-Su in the lead, but on the lap last was passed by Ohno and finished third. Only the top two qualified for the A-Final and Hamelin was thus relegated to the B-Final where he finished in first place. When asked about the race Hamelin said "It was a really tough field, and I'm not disappointed with the races I had . . . I'll sleep well tonight".

Following the Olympics, Hamelin attended the 2010 World Championships that had to be considered a disappointment for him as he failed to medal in any event. Hamelin did succeed in winning a silver at the 2010 World Team Championships.

Prior to going into the 2010–11 season Hamelin said he was using the year to focus on new techniques for Sochi 2014, while not worrying about winning as much during the current season. Hamelin specifically said that "My goal is to try new strategies to make myself more dangerous for 2014...Now it's not to win medals, but to work on things that are difficult mentally — to put myself in situations where I'm not always in control, so that even if I'm last, I won't panic and do stupid things." Hamelin was mostly focusing on trying to medal in the longer distances, though he has been dominant in the 500 m the South Koreans have continued to own the longer distances, something Hamelin hoped to change. Despite a quiet year on the World Cup, Hamelin finished the 2011 World Championships with a gold in the relay and three silvers, including a second place overall finish. These medals saw an achievement in Hamelin's preseason goals of finding ways to win podium positions in the longer distances again.

Short track is a family affair for Hamelin: his brother François Hamelin is a fellow Olympian and national short track member. The current director of the national short track team is his father, Yves Hamelin. Hamelin made Hello! Canada' s 50 most beautiful Canadians list in 2010, along with his then girlfriend, fellow speed skater and Olympian Marianne St-Gelais. In March 2018, after ten years as a couple, Hamelin and St-Gelais announced in a statement that they were splitting up.

Leading up to the 2006 Winter Olympics Hamelin made his World Cup debut in the 2003–2004 season his junior career. His main role on the team at that time was on the relay team which finished the season second overall. Going into the 2004 World Championships, the Canadian Men's relay team was considered one of the favourites but only managed a fourth-place finish.

During the 2006 Winter Olympics, Hamelin managed to qualify for the finals of the 1500 m. In the last lap and a half, he was comfortably in third place before being passed by two Chinese skaters. Although one of the Chinese skaters was disqualified, he still only finished a disappointing fourth. In the relay the Canadian team and Korean team traded the lead back and forth throughout the race but the Canadians lost the lead on the last turn but still managed to win silver. The silver medal on the relay was his first Olympic medal in his career.

Following the 2006 Olympics Hamelin won the gold medal in the 3000 m at the 2006 World Championships. Hamelin would go on to become the 500 m world champion in 2007, over the next 3 years this would soon be his strongest event. In addition to his 500 m gold, at the 2007 Worlds he took silvers in the 1000 m and 5000 m relay as well as the overall silver medal. He also took a second gold at the World Team Championships that year. He captured silvers in the 500 m at the worlds and at the World Team Championships in 2008 and in 2009 he once again became the 500 m world champion, alongside clinching bronzes in the 3000 m and the overall competition, and another World Team silver.

The 2004–2005 season was a breakout year for Hamelin. This was the first year that he skated every event in the World Cup. He finished third overall in the 500 m, 4th in the 1000 m, 5th in the 1500 m, and 5th overall on the season. He continued to skate on the relay team which finished 1st in the final standings. The real success of his season would come at the 2005 World Championships. He managed a silver in the 500 m and two 4th-place finishes in the 1000 m and 3000 m. This allowed him to finish fourth overall in the standings. That year he was also a part of the gold medal-winning Canadian squad at the World Team Championships.

Hamelin broke into success early at the 2003 World Junior Short Track Championships where he won silver medals in the 500 m and the 1500 m races, following up with a bronze in the 5000 m relay. He built on this success at 2005 World Championships, there he won a gold in the 5000 m relay and a silver in the 500 m. His success continued at the worlds by winning gold in the 3000 m, gold in the 5000 m relay and bronze in the 1000 m at the 2006 World Championships. He finished 4th place at the 2006 Winter Olympics in the 1500 m event but received a silver medal as part of the men's 5000 m relay squad. Hamelin is the former world record holder in the 1000 m.

Hamelin made his debut at the world junior championships in 2002, finishing 4th in the 500 m and helping the relay team to a silver medal. During the next World Junior Championships in 2003, he had his breakout year finishing second in the 500 m, second in the 1500 m, 4th in the 1000 m, 5th in the super 1500 m, and then helping the relay team to a bronze in the 5000 m relay. Because of his accomplishments in 2003 he finished 4th overall at the world junior championships. He was seemingly following the footsteps in a long line of accomplished French-Canadian short track speedskaters like Marc Gagnon and Éric Bédard.

Charles Hamelin (born 14 April 1984) is a Canadian short track speed skater. Hamelin is a 5-time Olympic medalist having won 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze during the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. He is also a 2-time world champion over the 500 m distance, having won those championships in 2007 and 2009, a 2-time world champion over the 1500 metre distance, having won those championships in 2014 and 2018, and a 2-time world champion over the 1000 metre distance in 2016 and 2018, and also led Canada to 5 world relay titles. Hamelin is the 2014 overall World Cup season winner, and the 2018 overall World Champion, giving him all the achievements available in the sport.