Konrád Nagy’s wife from Debrecen has become Canada’s second most successful speed skater

Canadian Ivanie Blondin, wife of former two-Olympian Conrad Nagy, played the traditional, original, long-track version of speed skating and her already rich track record at the World Championships held in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, home of the sport. The athlete, who can also be welcomed to Debrecen from time to time, returned home from Beijing as last year’s Olympic champion and has now increased her medal collection at the World Championships.

Ivane first won a gold medal as a member of her country’s trio – Valerie Malte and Isabelle Wildemann – in the women’s team competition, then finished first behind Dutch Marijke Gronod as the silver medalist in the mass start event. By the way, he won this record once in 2016. Of course, Konrad Nagy immediately cheered his wife on, but reinforcements also came from Debrecen: Tibor Nagy and Ms. Pia would not have missed their daughter-in-law’s flight for any money.

However, Konrád Nagy’s partner is not only highly respected by maple leaf fans for his accomplishments, but also for his friendship with animals, which is already famous throughout the country. A regular on public service and commercial television channels in his country, his career is seen as the Canadian dream. Because of his previous failures and injuries, Ivani suffered from severe depression, but taking care of the animals was a kind of therapy, it brought him out of apathy, and since then he has become an Olympic champion and four-time world champion.

As he told one particular case to the premier Canadian television channel, CBC:

Oh, and his current dog, Brock, also flew from Calgary to Heerenveen!

It should be noted that after last year’s Winter Olympics, when Ivanie Blondin came to Debrecen to visit her mother-in-law and father-in-law, she brought the gold and silver medals she won in Beijing, and then accepted the invitation. At Lilla tér primary school, where the students, who greeted her with great enthusiasm, “brought up that they could also try” for Olympic medals. The institution in Debrecen felt really at home, since it is a bilingual school, and everyone speaks English on a conversational level, so there was no need for a translator or other contributors at the Lilla tér meeting, as the community got an insight into the life of a professional athlete traveling the world. Evany spoke about the successes and failures, the tough physical and mental challenges, her personal life, and her family, but of course the topic of dogs cannot be left out either.

If he is invited by other schools in Debrecen, he will definitely go there next time he is in Sevis!

C.S. Attila Beresky