WINNERS' Circle

From enduring a life-changing accident to raising millions for our Olympic athletes, Jane Roos is no stranger to overcoming hurdles. Intent on striving forward during this pandemic and its fallout, the courageous founder of the Canadian Athletes Now Fund shares life lessons that have helped her bounce back stronger than ever.

- INGRIE WILLIAMS

FOR SOME OF US, IT CAN TAKE YEARS TO discover our calling, but Jane Roos found hers early on – or, rather, it found her. “My goal was that I was going to go to the Olympics,” says Roos, who grew up in the woods of Quebec, winning races and securing a track coach by grade four. “When we moved to Ottawa, I took that on full-time. That was my dream.”

But for the aspiring heptathlon star, it wasn’t meant to be. While accompanying her best friend on a round trip to the airport, tragedy struck. “We drove her parents to the airport, went to Montreal for dinner and, on the way home, she fell asleep at the wheel for a minute and we went off a cliff,” says Roos. “She died, and I lived. It was so sad. I lost my track career, lost my best friend and had two back operations. My entire life as I knew it stopped.” Roos was just 19 years old.

Working through the physical, emotional and mental trauma, Roos found her greatest strength and a new lifelong goal. “The worst day of my life became the best learning of my life,” she says. “For a few years, I had survivor guilt and had to get people to help me get over that.” Roos names sports psychologist Peter Jensen and late Olympic track and field coach Andy Higgins as her biggest champions. “They saw something great in me that I couldn’t see – something past the athlete,” she says.

At the time of Roos’ second operation at Toronto Western Hospital, she was struck with the notion to do something meaningful. With the help of nurses, she organized a fundraiser and raised $40,000. She designated the money to Canadian athletes to help them realize their Olympic dreams.

FUN-RAISING 101