Speedskating star and Olympic champion Clara Hughes still has lots to shoot for

It's out there, and Clara Hughes is still looking for it after all these years as an elite athlete.

The perfect race.

That one magical day when everything goes right. That combination of mind and body working in perfect fluidity, when motion isn't betrayed by cramping legs and burning lungs, when the brain doesn't need to coax more from limbs that have nothing left to give.

That rare moment when an athlete knows he or she could not have possibly done anything more in a competition.

"I look at every race I've done and I've won the Olympics but I've never felt like I've perfected a performance," the veteran speedskating star said in a recent interview. "That's what I work for, just to be better than I ever have been. I don't have any control on how that compares to everybody else, but what I can focus on is just getting more out of myself than maybe even I know is there."

Those are strange words to hear from someone as decorated as Hughes, who heads into the 2010 Vancouver Games with five Olympic medals to her credit, including 5,000-metre gold in 2006. But they also offer a telling glimpse into why Hughes has remained a leader in her sport through a switch from cycling to speedskating about a decade ago, and countless laps around the oval since.

At 37, there isn't an ounce of complacency in the Winnipeg native nor is there any sense Hughes feels she has all the answers. She isn't just open to finding new ways to improve, she's driven by it.

"For me, what is most satisfying is when I kind of get to that level of one my races being an out of body experience, where I feel like it's literally happening through me," said Hughes, who now lives in Glen Sutton, Que. "That's why I train, to get to that point of just pure efficiency of movement and just being completely connected to every cell of my body.

"It's just the most incredible feeling."

Incredible feelings are something that eluded her most of last season, and for a long time left her wondering whether she was already on the way down from her peak.

Her best finish in 10 World Cup races at various distances was fifth but Hughes was more concerned by the way she was skating. The oomph in her stride was gone, and rather than seeking ways to improve, she was looking to simply avoid a regression.

"Sucked is a good way to describe it," she said of the campaign.

Salvation came during the world single distance championships at the Richmond Olympic Oval last spring, when she broke through with a gutsy skate in the 5,000 metres to win silver.

Gushing with emotion afterwards, Hughes talked of how she felt that race was in her all year and that she just couldn't find a way to get it out. With time to think about it over the summer, she realizes now how important it was to remove all doubt before this Olympic season.

"Without (the race), I would have continued to worry that I couldn't skate anymore, and that's what I felt like last year," said Hughes. "I felt like I'm so fit, I'm so strong, and I'm no longer able to speedskate fast. My husband Peter said to me after that race, 'Clara, you really needed that.' And I needed it in the sense of continuing to believe in my ability, not just as good as I have been, but to be better than I ever have been."

That's a goal Hughes has been pursuing ever since she watched the 1988 Calgary Olympics as a teenage girl in Winnipeg and fell in love with speedskating. She started soon after but a year later she switched over to cycling, a sport she quickly took to and made a name in.

Mirek Mazur, who at the time was coaching Manitoba's provincial team, took her under his wing and became instantly impressed with his new charge. She followed him to Dundas, Ont., when Mazur took over Ontario's program and it was under his guidance that she won a pair of cycling bronze medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"I didn't really think much of her when I first met her," said Mazur, who now coaches privately in Dundas. "But over time you could see how easy things were coming to her.

"It's hard to find someone with such (work) ethic. When there was a plan to do something, she did it. She had questions, she was curious about things and she had dedication. When it was snowing she would ride beside me and the guys, or be the first one to go out.

"She's a leader on an everyday basis."

Hughes continued to cycle through the 2000 Sydney Olympics before she decided to pursue her initial dream of speedskating at the Winter Games.

While one might think a decade away from the sport would have hurt her chances of success in it, Mazur believes the cycling years actually helped her reach the upper levels of speedskating.

Her teenaged stint on the ice provided a technical base upon which to work, while the explosive power she built up through cycling helped put her on par with her rivals while she ironed out the kinks.

The results were quick to come. A bronze in the 5,000 at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics made her just the second woman and fourth athlete to win medals in both the Summer and Winter Games.

"She gained so much physically from cycling," said Mazur.

Progress continued from there as she refined her technique and the hardware continued to pile up. Aside from the 5,000 gold in Turin, she also added a silver in the team pursuit, leaving her tied for second in career medals among Canadians at five.

At the same time Hughes began to grow into an activist, doing extensive work with humanitarian group Right to Play and speaking out on environmental issues.

She's far more than just an elite athlete now.

"I want to stay connected to humanity and contribute to the human condition and try to make it a little better maybe," Hughes said with a shy laugh. "That's always been a goal of mine and I feel like as an athlete I have this incredible platform to try and make a difference for people."

That being said, the chance for a crowning moment on her career comes in Vancouver, where in a sense the Olympic dream born 22 years earlier during the Calgary Games comes full circle when she competes on home ice.

And the timing seems to be just right. All the worries she had from last season are gone, and she's back on the hunt for the perfect race.

"I feel like everything I went through, because I was able to keep a good perspective, made me so much stronger, and connected me in a really good way to what I do as an athlete," said Hughes. "It's such an opportunity as an athlete with all the experience I've had over 20 years now, I feel like I get to put the best of everything I've ever done and ever learned into this huge opportunity, a home Olympics.

"It's just exciting."

A quick look at speedskater Clara Hughes, one of Canada's medal hopefuls at the 2010 Olympics:

Born: Sept. 27, 1972

Hometown: Glen Sutton, Que.

Event: Speedskating

Olympic competition: Feb. 14 (3,000 metres), Feb. 24 (5,000 metres).

Past Winter Olympic results: 2006: gold in 5,000, silver in team pursuit, ninth in 3,000; 2002: bronze in 5,000, 10th in 3,000.

Past Summer Olympic results: 2000: sixth in road time trial, 43rd in individual road race; 1996: bronze in road time trial, bronze in individual road race.

Career highlights: Began her career as a cyclist and won two bronze medals in '96 Atlanta Games. Switched to her initial love of speedskating after 2000 Games in Sydney and won bronze at 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Became an Olympic champion in 5,000 four years later in Turin.

Did you know?: She's just the second woman and fourth athlete overall to win medals at both the Winter and Summer Games?

Quote: "I just want to connect as many people as I can. The more people that are excited about the Olympics the better, and it makes me happy to feel like this really means something - an opportunity to motivate and inspire a nation."