There's no way to sugartcoat the story of Ryan Wedding. Once an aspiring snowboarder from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wedding qualified for the 2002 Olympics as a member of the Canadian team. He didn't medal. Two decades later, he was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, being compared to the likes of El Chapo and Pablo Escobar by American officials. After years on the run, Wedding was apprehended in January of this year in Mexico City, and he'll soon head to trial facing up to 19 felonies for his role in allegedly importing nearly 60 tons of cocaine into the US and Canada with the Mexican Sinaloa cartel. How did Wedding end up here? Perhaps, as a famous writer once put it, "gradually, then suddenly". But he's well on his way to becoming one of Canada's most infamous criminals, and a new podcast series explores how an athlete from Northern Ontario found himself among the most wanted fugitives in the world. Michelle Shephard, Canadian journalist, documentarian and the host of the CBC/Toronto Star podcast, The Most Wanted Olympian, alongside Toronto Star journalist Calvi Leon, walks us through what we know about Wedding's journey and what we're still waiting to find out...
There's no way to sugarcoat the story of Ryan Wedding. Once an aspiring snowboarder from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wedding qualified for the 2002 Olympics as a member of the Canadian team. He didn't medal. Two decades later, he was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, being compared to the likes of El Chapo and Pablo Escobar by American officials.
After years on the run, Wedding was apprehended in January of this year in Mexico City, and he'll soon head to trial facing up to 19 felonies for his role in allegedly importing nearly 60 tons of cocaine into the US and Canada, working with the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
How did Wedding end up here? Perhaps, as a famous writer once put it, "gradually, then suddenly". But he's well on his way to becoming one of Canada's most infamous criminals, and a new podcast series explores how an athlete from Northern Ontario found himself among the most wanted fugitives in the world.
Michelle Shephard, Canadian journalist, documentarian and the host of the CBC/Toronto Star podcast, The Most Wanted Olympian, alongside Toronto Star journalist Calvi Leon, walks us through what we know about Wedding's journey and what we're still waiting to find out...