Anastasia Bucsis

Anastasia Bucsis (born 30 April 1989) is a Canadian former speed skater. She competed at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver in the women's 500-metre competition. In addition, she participated in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics for women's long track, placing 27th in the 500 metres. She now is a sportscaster and personality for CBC. Bucsis lives in Toronto, and is a passionate advocate for mental health issues, eradicating homophobia in sport, and telling the stories of athletes.

Anastasia Bucsis
Bucsis warming up prior to an event in March 2013
Personal information
Born (1989-04-30) 30 April 1989
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Weight67 kg (148 lb)
Spouse(s)Diana Matheson
Sport
Country Canada
SportSpeed skating
ClubCalgary Speed Skating[2]
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals2010, 2014

Athletic career

At the University of Calgary, Bucsis studied Communications and Culture, while earning the chance to represent Canada in speed skating at the 2009 Winter Universiade. She qualified for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games at the age of 20. Starting in 2011, she made three consecutive appearances at the ISU World Single Distances Championships.

On 10 April 2017, Bucsis retired from speed skating after a serious knee injury.[3]

Professional career

Bucsis is now a sportscaster and works for CBC. She has hosted digital shows for CBC during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well as the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. She launched and hosts "Player's Own Voice - The Podcast" in 2018. She hosts on multiple platforms for the network.[4]

Personal life

Bucsis publicly came out as gay in 2013 at Calgary Pride.[5] She came out publicly in opposition of Russian anti-LGBTQ laws. She was the only athlete from North America to do so, and garnered media attention. Bucsis also marched in the 2014 Calgary Pride Parade. She has done extensive work within the LGBTQ community to combat homophobia in sport.[6] She is also an advocate for mental health, after having struggled with anxiety and depression. In 2014 she appeared in the documentary film To Russia with Love.[7]

In June 2014, it was revealed that Bucsis used to be in a relationship with women's hockey goaltender and four-time Winter Games gold medalist Charline Labonté.[8]

Bucsis now works for CBC Sports and hosts the podcast, "Players Own Voice". She has been CBC's Long Track speed skating analyst since 2018. In 2019, she appeared in Standing on the Line, a documentary film about homophobia in sports by Paul-Émile d'Entremont.[9]

She married Diana Matheson on September 3, 2023.

Awards and honors

References
  1. "Anastasia Bucsis". olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. 18 September 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
  2. "Anastasia Bucsis". Speed Skating Canada. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
  3. "Canada's Bucsis retires from speed skating after serious knee injury". CBC. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  4. "Anastasia Bucsis". CBC Media Centre. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  5. "Olympic speed skater Anastasia Bucsis ‘so proud to be gay’". The Globe and Mail, 3 September 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  6. Jim Buzinski Olympic speedskater Anastasia Bucsis comes out in response to Russia's anti-gay laws 3 September 2013
  7. "‘To Russia With Love’: Can Johnny Weir Save Russia’s Gays?". Daily Beast, 29 October 2014.
  8. Charline Labonte I am Charline Labonte, Olympic hockey player and proudly gay 11 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
  9. Nathan Caddell, "DOXA 2019 review: Standing on the Line". The Georgia Straight, 6 May 2019.
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