Jeane Lassen
Hall of Fame
Lifting weights is one way to become a better all-round athlete.
For Jeane Lassen, already a member of the Yukon Youth Soccer Team and playing every school sport in her sights, she wanted to lift just to train. But within a year she was on her way to her first Junior Nationals where she medaled and qualified for the Canada Games. At the 1995 Canada Winter Games, Jeane won silver and punched her ticket to her first Junior World Championships, becoming the youngest member of Team Canada. She went on to compete at six Junior World Weightlifting Championships and won three silver medals for Canada (1995 - 2000).
In an international career spanning the years 1995 - 2012, Jeane continued bringing home the hardware. She won medals at multiple Pan Am Championships, Pan Am Games, Commonwealth Games and several World Cups. It was Jeane’s performance at the 2006 World Championships where she won two medals: A silver in the clean and jerk and a bronze in the total, cementing Jeane in Yukon and Canadian sports history. She set dozens of Canadian, Pan Am and Commonwealth records — several of them remaining unbroken to this day. Jeane qualified for the Olympic Games as an alternate for Team Canada in 2002, 2004 and 2012 — in 2008 she represented our territory and Canada in the Beijing Olympics. After IOC retesting Jeane’s Olympic result was adjusted from eighth to fifth place.
Jeane feels her biggest contributions and influences to the sport have been achieved away from the lifting platform. She was driven to help establish the FH Collins Sport School, which supports Yukoners across the territory. Jeane coached fellow athlete Christine Girard to a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and had the distinct honour of being selected as an Athlete Mentor with Team Canada at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games. Jeane says it’s been the moments when she’s drawn on her journey to support Yukoners and Canadians in their pursuits of excellence that she’s experienced her real career highlights. Jeane Lassen is a true champion of champions.