I heard the story on CBC radio of how Mandy Bujold was striving to take her place on the Canadian Olympic team.  Mandy fell into a unique situation with the planned 2020 Olympic qualifying events cancelled due to Covid, and the events considered for qualification being the 3 events that Mandy missed due to her maternity leave. 

 

Having completed portraits from other peoples photos previously, I reached out to Mandy and asked if she would entertain me doing a photo shoot so I could draw her portrait from my own picture.

 

Mandy graciously invited me to her training facility (Sydfit Health Centre). We worked through a number of poses, with some turning out quite well.  While completing her portrait, I was pleased to have a photo I took of Mandy and her daughter during our photo shoot shared in a CBC news article on her court case. 

 

In short order her legal battle reigned supreme, and the IOC altered its criteria to accommodate mothering.  Mandy successfully gained her rightful place to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.