The Montreal native is the most prolific judoka in Canadian judo history, Nicolas won two Olympic medals and three World Championship medals.

He competed in four Olympic Games and was the flag bearer for the Canadian delegation at the opening ceremony of the Athens Games, in 2004. After retiring as an athlete in 2005, Nicolas chose to dedicate himself to the development of high-level judokas.

He has been National Team Coach starting in 2005 and performed the dual functions of High Performance Program Director for Judo Canada as well as National Team Head Coach from 2009 to 2016. Since 2016 Nicolas has taken on new challenges within the Canadian judo federation as CEO, although he continues to perform the functions of the HPD.