The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games was supposed to be Maude Jacques’ last appearance for Team Canada on the international stage, but after the pandemic derailed the event, postponing it to 2021, she decided it was time to move on.
“I really wanted to continue, to finish with the Tokyo Paralympics, so that’s why I was going to make it through this summer, but now I’m just tired I guess,” said Jacques. “I just don’t want to train at that high level anymore.”
The 28-year-old Sherbrooke native participated in her first, and only, Paralympics back in 2012, when she suited up for the Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team at the London Games. She also helped Canada win gold at the 2014 world championships in Toronto.
She was a key figure in her team’s recent bid to clinch a spot in the Tokyo Paralympics. However, when it came time to head off to training camp, Jacques realized she didn’t want to devote every minute of her life to basketball.
“It’s kind of going into the unknown,” Jacques said. “I have more time now, my summers are not going to be scheduled for me by someone else so that was scary, but at the same time it was a relief that I finally did it.”
