This Friday’s featured female is: VIRGINIE CHÉNIER
This week, I am happy to announce we have another international “winner” of Friday’s Featured Female, Virginie Chénier, or “Vi” as her friends like to call her. Virginie lives in Laval, Québec, Canada (near Montreal, “Go Habs!”), and shoots across the globe for Team Canada!
Virginie shoot recurve and participates in target competitions. When not at World Cups or World Championship events, she can be found shooting tournaments in Canada or the US. In fact, if you happened to watch coverage of this year’s Lancaster Classic, you will remember Virginie from the first two women’s recurve matches, where she won bronze (if you missed it, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhuhbB7PIfs
Formerly a competitive artistic gymnast, Virginie started archery in 2006 and made her international debut in 2008. She has been on the Canadian National Team since then, consistently one of Canada’s top shooters, setting several provincial and national records.
The individual nominating her had this to say, “She is the best person in the world. Dedicated, focus, with a heart the size of Universe, but most of all she has so much resilience and her mind is powerfull.” In fact, Virginie took a couple years off from international competition to train more and make some changes (2017-2018ish). She hopes to represent Canada at the 2020 Olympics.
A fellow competitor, Lauren Duenas had this to say, “Virginie is really sweet and can be a bit shy, but she’s a lot of fun to hang out with. I really enjoy shooting with her, but what impresses me most is her determination. She isn’t afraid of putting in the hard work necessary to achieve her Olympic dream, and her effort really shows. I admire her a lot, as both an athlete and a person.”
She is quiet and humble, but she can also be a lot of fun to shoot with. One person said, She is “Beautiful inside out. Thats what she is and she has one of the best technique in the world!!!! Just love her!”
Not only is Virginie a really great person and archer, but she is also a top student. She earned a BA in Geography from McGill University (while still training/competing), and she plans on going back to school eventually for her Master’s degree! And during the off season when she is not shooting her bow, she likes to ski and travel.
When asked his impressions of Virginie winning this honor, Canada’s top archer, Crispin Duenas had this to say about his teammate, “She’s a hardworking person who puts in the time and effort that is required when training for the Olympics. She’s a great teammate who is levelheaded and practical in everything that she does.
Join me this week in giving Virginie a virtual high 5! Let’s celebrate her as an athlete and an all around awesome female!
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