France St. Louis

France St. Louis took seriously to the game of hockey late in her storied athletic career. That did not prevent him from becoming one of the all time greats.

St. Louis was a legendary lacrosse player in Quebec in the 1980s. She was Quebec's athlete of the decade, male or female, because of the greatness she achieved in that sport.

She doubled as a teacher, serving 12 years as an educator in both elementary and high schools. She earned a bachelor degree in physical education and a teaching certificate from the University of Sherbrooke in 1980.

By the close of the 80s St. Louis decided to give hockey a serious try. She was 31 years old in 1990 when she was named to Team Canada. In the gold medal game against USA, Canada won the first official women's world championship 5-2, thanks to St. Louis' 2 goal, 2 assist performance.

St. Louis would play in the next four world championships, serving as team captain in the next two. In all St. Louis would earn five consecutive world championship gold medals.

At the age of 39 she achieved the highlight of her hockey career by playing in the first ever Olympic games for female hockey players. Canada would be mildly upset in the final game, however, losing the game and the gold medal to the Americans.

While she was a scoring star in Quebec, she was more of a defensive and face off specialist with the national team.

She retired after the Nagano Olympics at the age of 40. She opened up her own hockey school.