Phil Boudreault, former Olympic boxer from Sudbury, shot in Quebec

Former Olympic boxer andHell's Angel member Phil Boudreault was shot Saturday morning in Lachute, Que., says his former coach in Sudbury.

Gord Apolloni, head coach and trainer at Top Glove Academy in Sudbury, said he found out through friends that Boudreault was shot when he was ridinghis motorcycle.

Two bullets entered the 41-year-old's body, punctured his lung and shrapnel landed in his vertebrae. Apolloni told CBC News he does not know Boudreault's current condition.

Apolloni trained Boudreault the only boxer from Sudbury to ever go to the Olympics, says Appolloni and prepared him to participate in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Apolloni called Boudreault "an incredible athlete."

"He was a role model in the gym," he said.

"Not only that, he'd work with anybody from small kids to those heading off to nationals to ensure they were properly prepared as far as sparring was concerned."

An 'incredible fighter'

Apolloni said Boudreault's boxing career is over. In his last pro fight, he injured his Achilles tendon, which detached from the bone.

"I know Phil as an incredible fighter, an incredible boxer, an incredible athlete," Apolloni said, adding Boudreault's family is from Sudbury.

Whenever Boudreault would drop by the Apolloni's gym, it was it was like they never left each other, he added.

"I wouldn't turn him away. He's a product of Top Glove Academy. He's an Olympian. That you can't take away from him."

Police in Quebec told the Montreal Gazette they were "unable to confirm reports quoting eyewitnesses who said another person on a motorcycle appeared to be accompanying the victim before he was shot and fled afterward, likely for their own safety. 'We're still looking for the two suspects who were possibly aboard a greyish blue SUV. [The shooting]is related to outlaw biker gang activities'."

Apolloniwashired to coach the senior national Olympic boxingteam in April 2003, but later resigned, citing the unwillingness of the athletes to conform to his style of coaching as the reason for his decision.A report from CBC News in 2004saidApolloniwasconsidered one of the best boxing coaches in Canada by the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association.