Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/516237
24 bca a .com sUMMER 2015 24 bca a .com sUMMER 2015 at home profile t en weeks before the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, rower Silken Laumann had an accident that completely shattered her right leg. Twenty-seven days and five operations later, Laumann competed and won the bronze medal, making the greatest comeback in Canadian sports history and becoming a national symbol of courage. She retired from rowing with three Olympic medals, and continues to inspire others as a speaker, coach and author (her latest book, Unsinkable: A Memoir, was published by HarperCollins last year). We caught up with the celebrated Olympian at home on Vancouver Island, where she's settled with her husband David Patchell-Evans, founder of GoodLife Fitness, and their four teenagers. What brought you to live in saanichton? My husband and I chose this house near Victoria because we needed a home big enough to accommodate our four kids. It is a five-bedroom house on an acre-and-a-half at the ocean. It is a magical property that's been left natural, not over-landscaped, with rocks, shoreline, indigenous plants and a dock. ⊲ at 50, Silken Laumann has carved out a post-olympic career as a speaker, author and coach Champion Life of a most cherished award "A trophy vase that I was awarded as World Cup Champion in 1991 (shown above ). It represents what I consider the pinnacle of my career: becoming world champion. Most house guests don't notice its significance beyond being a huge crystal vase; I know its meaning."