Alison Jackson will represent Canada for the second time at the 2024 Olympic in Paris. When she goes home to Vermilion, Alberta, she trades her bike for a zamboni.
Alison Jackson will represent Canada for the second time at the 2024 Olympic in Paris. When she goes home to Vermilion, Alberta, she trades her bike for a zamboni.
"Ever since I was young it's been my dream, To drive that there zamboni machine. I'd get that ice just as slick as could be, And all the kids would look up to me. 'Cause I wanna drive the zamboni, I wanna drive the zamboni."
If you've never heard those song lyrics, it's unlikely you've been to your share of live hockey games.
Team Canada cyclist, who will compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris has never had that problem, as when she goes home to Vermilion, Alberta in the winter, she trades her bike for a zamboni on her family's outdoor rink.
"She just got back from an extended trip home to Canada, where—a little stereotypically, it has to be said—she played hockey and drove a Zamboni for a little rest and recovery from cycling. As one does," Cycling Magazine wrote of Jackson.
It was Jackson's response to a question about the "most Canadian thing" about her.
"That my family owns a Zamboni and that we use it to flood our outdoor pond, in the winter," Jackson said on The Explore podcast. "And we actually just got it this last winter. And it is literally the most Canadian thing about me, a Zamboni. Which, yes, is for ice rinks. It was a retired Zamboni from a local rink. We brought it to the farm and I got to drive a Zamboni. So, I really feel like I'm very Canadian."
An Edmonton Oilers fan, Jackson continues to follow and play the game today.
The 2024 Paris Olympics will be Jackson's second after she finished 32nd in road cycling at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.