The long-awaited memoir by Canada’s most celebrated Olympian and advocate for mental health.

From one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians comes a raw but life-affirming story of one woman’s struggle with depression.

In 2006, when Clara Hughes stepped onto the Olympic podium in Torino, Italy, she became the first and only athlete ever to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games. Four years later, she was proud to carry the Canadian flag at the head of the Canadian team as they participated in the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. But there’s another story behind her celebrated career as an athlete, behind her signature billboard smile.

While most professional athletes devote their entire lives to training, Clara spent her teenage years using drugs and drinking to escape the stifling home life her alcoholic father had created in Elmwood, Winnipeg. She was headed nowhere fast when, at sixteen, she watched transfixed in her living room as gold medal speed skater Gaétan Boucher effortlessly raced in the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Dreaming of one day competing herself, Clara channeled her anger, frustration, and raw ambition into the endurance sports of speed skating and cycling. By 2010, she had become a six-time Olympic medalist.

But after more than a decade in the gruelling world of professional sports that stripped away her confidence and bruised her body, Clara began to realize that her physical extremes, her emotional setbacks, and her partying habits were masking a severe depression. After winning bronze in the last speed skating race of her career, she decided to retire from that sport, determined to repair herself. She has emerged as one of our most committed humanitarians, advocating for a variety of social causes both in Canada and around the world. In 2010, she became national spokesperson for Bell Canada’s Let’s Talk campaign in support of mental health awareness, using her Olympic standing to share the positive message of the power of forgiveness.

Told with honesty and passion, Open Heart, Open Mind is Clara’s personal journey through physical and mental pain to a life where love and understanding can thrive. This revelatory and inspiring story will touch the hearts of all Canadians.

Six-time Olympic medalist Clara Hughes began her career in professional sports when she was just sixteen years old and became the only athlete to win multiple medals in both Summer and Winter Games. Highly decorated, she is a Member of the Order of Manitoba and an Officer of the Order of Canada, has received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame and was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. Clara is the national spokesperson for Bell Canada’s Let’s Talk initiative, a campaign dedicated to breaking down the stigma of mental health. In 2014, she was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross, a decoration that recognizes those whose outstanding personal commitment has brought honour to Canada. Clara lives with her husband Peter in Canmore, Alberta, and continues to enjoy bike touring and hiking.

Clara Hughes' profile page

“Her book puts us on the handlebars and rides us headlong into a childhood tainted by her father’s alcoholism, a multi-generational addiction pattern that affected herself and both her grandfathers as well. […] With the same stealth and fight that brought her gold, Clara Hughes is talking, sharing and learning. […] She’s unstoppable, even in the off-season.”

Vancouver Sun

“... a fine, honest book, a revealing look inside the life of a world-class athlete who also happened to have the intelligence and sensibility to regard herself while this was happening. It’s like having an unusually perceptive journalist with unparalleled access to the mind of an athlete."

Montreal Gazette

“Clara’s story is just like her: It is energetic, strong, full of character, and very powerful. You really feel the determination within her and you cannot fail to wish you could award her another gold medal for the way she turned her life around and makes it her duty to help others.”

Gaétan Boucher, speed skating Olympic medalist

“Clara Hughes is both an extraordinary and an ordinary Canadian. This honest memoir reveals the determination of a champion to overcome external adversity and internal struggles, finding her place as an athlete, an advocate, and a person.”

Dr. David Goldbloom, Senior Medical Advisor, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

“An amazing athlete, a great person, and a wonderful motivating example for all!”

Joé Juneau, ice hockey Olympic medalist and former NHL player

“…honest and courageous.”

Guelph Mercury

“Clara brings us along on her journey from childhood to her incredible Olympic success, through her victories and her failures, all while dealing with her own personal torment. I now believe Clara to be superhuman, not for her incredible Olympic success and athletic feats, but for her dogged battle against depression, first for herself and now for the rest of us through her advocacy work. I couldn’t stop reading.”

Johann Koss, CEO, Right to Play International