Born and raised in Canmore, Alta., Chandra was grew up with tons of opportunities to ski, hike, bike and play in the mountains. Her love of physical activity was matched only by the intensity of her competitive spirit and by the age of 12 she was competing in running, swimming, mountain biking, cross-country skiing and biathlon. Although she was only 4 years old when the 1988 Calgary Olympics, her life was shaped by her exposure to the subsequent international competitions held at the Canmore Nordic Center and the countless hours enjoyably spent honing her skills with her friends at a world-class facility. She competed in biathlon for five years, but wanted to switch into cross-country skiing full-time at age 16 without moving from her home club. When the trials for the World Junior Cross-Country Ski Championships were hosted in her hometown, a surprise result became her ticket to the world of cross-country skiing.

"Growing up at the 1988 nordic sports venue has been a huge factor in my success. Although I was only 4 when the Olympics came to town and remember little more than the mascots Heidi and Howdy… the inspiration doesn’t stop there and the World-class events hosted at the venue in the past 20 years have inspired me so much. And now the Canmore Nordic Center enjoys so much recreational traffic and is a really vibrant part of the community and a source of pride for Alberta."

With the 'new' sprint event in her sport (the first Olympic sprint was in 2002) Chandra found her niche. Since winning the sprint event at those trials in 2001 she has bee committed to excellence in skiing. Following the World Junior Championships that year in Europe, Chandra made the Canadian Junior Team the following season, and went on to represent Canada at two more World Junior Championships before setting her tracks on the senior team. Her best ever finish was 12th. With the national team based in her hometown she has always felt the strong support of her community whether racing at home or abroad.

Although in the training season leading up to the Olympics she had been demoted to the National B team she worked harder than ever with her coach Eric De Nys and managed to qualify for the Games at the last possible opportunity with a 10th place in a World Cup in Sovereign Lakes, British Columbia. She was just happy to be going to her first Olympics. Chandra then took the fast lane to excellence and developed into a force to be reckoned with during her rookie World Cup season (2005-06). Just 2 weeks before her Olympic debut in Torino, Italy, she sprinted her way to a bronze medal in a star-studded World Cup field in Davos, Switzerland on February 4.

This triumph set the stage for her stirring Olympic gold medal win in Torino, which put Chandra firmly on the map as an elite international cross-country skiing competitor. Her exuberance and infectious enthusiasm quickly captured the hearts of Canadians when Chandra stepped onto the winner's podium and belted out the national anthem at the top of her lungs. Video here.

Since then the highs and lows of life as an athlete have been deftly navigated by Chandra and her support team, the pillars of which are her family and her boyfriend since 2002 Devon Kershaw (www.devonkershaw.com). A tremendous highlight was winning her first world cup ever in her beloved home town of Canmore in 2008 when the fans cheered her to her first victory since the Olympics. On that sunny day in Canmore her dad, Glen, a professional camera-man and producer was manning the camera at the finish line – cheering for her and capturing it on film just as he has been her whole life.

When not skiing, Chandra enjoys yoga, practicing her French and Italian, long-boarding, dance parties, swimming in the river, and exploring in the mountains. Although almost all of her energy is focused on competing at the elite level in her sport, she is committed to the future of the sport by connecting with Canadian youth. Chandra loves getting out with the local ski club and always makes time to meet teams from across the country and share her passion and enthusiasm for the sport.

In 2005 she and her teammates started Fast and Female. An organization dedicated to "Empowerment Through Sport," advancing the goals and building the organization occupies the majority of her non-training time. The participation based ski days for girls are a celebration of sport, incorporating healthy role models into an inspirational day that leaves girls feeling more confident after an lots of cross-country skiing and biathlon, including exhilarating downhill technique session. In the short-term she thrives on getting girls hooked on the athletic lifestyle and in the long term Fast and Female will grow into a nation-wide program.

"I have been fortunate enough to have had absolutely outstanding role models like Beckie Scott and Sara Renner and to have grown up with sport opportunities in my life. This is what teenage girls need. Confidence. Leadership. Empowerment through sport. We focus on fun and cultivating these qualities."

"The two goals of Fast and Female are 1) Spread the Love and 2) Dominate the World. In this way I hope to impact the sport system by pushing up from the bottom with increased participation and pulling up from the top by drawing attention to sport through international success. Ideally the wheel of inspiration will always have strong role models at the top motivating the youth to enjoy being active."

When Chandra retires from skiing in 2014 or 2018 she will be fully dedicated to growing the Fast and Female Foundation and accomplishing the two goals of this nation-wide fitness movement: 1) Spread the Love 2) Dominate the World.

All this while training and racing 11 months of the year, 2-6 hours/day, every day to get ready for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics! Her sister, Rosanna Crawford, is 5 years younger and one of Canada’s top biathletes and got a lot of press for the 2009 Bold Beautiful Biathlon nude calendar she did with her teammates to fund-raise and promote healthy body images to youth. They hope to represent Canada together at the games and support each other through exciting, long and successful sporting careers.

"It is a dream come true to have the chance to compete in a home Olympics. I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity because I race my best when grounded and surrounded by the genuine support of my friends and family. I also appreciate when people cheer because in a sport this physically demanding it’s very helpful to have people yelling "Go Chandra you can do it!" because it drowns out the thoughts about the pain and giving up. So thanks to everyone who comes out to races, you are part of it. If you need a lesson on cheering there can't be anyone better than my mom, Louise. She cheers for everyone, sometimes striking deals with other spectators at big events where she’ll cheer for their Italian or Norwegian favourite if they help her cheer on the Canadians. Once while ringing a cowbell in -18 the poor instrument couldn’t withstand her dynamic ringing technique and broke!"

"Vancouver 2010 presents an incredible challenge for me as well. The event I won in 2006 will not be the same in 2010. There are 7 x-c distances raced at the Olympics. These distances stay the same but the ones that were classic technique are now skate and the skate ones are now classic. 2010 will be the first ever Olympic Classic Sprint. This is by far my weaker technique. In the 07-08 season I was 12 three times and that represented good progress over my 40 place finishes the season before… but there is still a lot of improvements needed for me to even be a threat to that podium in 2010. Fortunately the sprint relay (in which Sara Renner famously broke a pole, was given one by a Norwegian and went on to win silver with Beckie Scott) will now be skate technique. Sara Renner is going really strong so I am training hard to be a worthy partner for her when we team up to take on the world."
"I can't really 'defend' my title these games because the next skate sprint will be Russia 2014. It's like I won in backstroke and now have to nail the butterfly. The techniques are very different. Good thing I really enjoy challenges..."

Career Highlights

• Olympic Gold 2006, skate sprint, Olympic Winter Games Torino, Italy
• World Cup Gold 2008, skate sprint, Canmore Alberta
• World Cup Gold 2008, skate sprint, Lahti, Finland
• World Cup Bronze 2006, skate sprint, Davos, Switzerland
• Tour de Ski Bronze 2006, skate sprint, Munich, Germany