Eric Gillis

2016 Rio Olympics

It was Gillis’s third Olympic Games, and in the best Olympic performance by a Canadian man since Drayton’s sixth place in 1976, he finished 10th. “I was on another level, compared to London – being in control, consistency in workouts and generally in enjoyment of the process,” he recalls. “I was 22nd in London. It gave me confidence, and gave me curiosity as to what I could do in Rio.”

Gillis had been practising mindful running techniques, and began imagining a top-10 finish to cap his illustrious career. “I stepped on the line, and I knew if I was going to have a really good race and be in the top 10, I would have to be ahead of guys like Callum Hawkins [of Great Britain] and Jared Ward [of the U.S.],” he explains. “The race didn’t go out that fast. Everyone was in a big pack, so I just stayed behind them.

“I always kept those guys in the back of my head. I needed to pass them if I was going to be in the top 10. Around 32 km, I was in the top 30. Then I passed a few more guys. I didn’t see either one of them, so I decided to put more of a risk in than ever before. I didn’t want to have any regret, because I was feeling good. I was getting frustrated, because I was passing guys, but I couldn’t see them.”

There was a good reason for this. Ward also had the run of his life, finishing sixth (2:11:30, a PB), while Hawkins finished ninth, in 2:11:52, just ahead of Gillis (who finished tenth, in 2:12:29). Gillis celebrated with an ice cream cone from McDonald’s.