Olympic dreams bloom at Canada Games
Twenty years after his last visit to Manitoba, Adam van Koeverden is making a return trip.
The last time the Oakville, Ont., product was here, he won a Canada Games medal and a new boat — before going on to make kayaking history.
This time, van Koeverden is here for the opening ceremonies of the 2017 Canada Games, two decades after Manitoba last hosted the event in Brandon.
“My experience was great,” the four-time Olympic medallist said from Toronto. “It was my first multi-sport games experience. It was the first time I got a track suit. I think it was the first time I got on a plane to go to a race. It was a lot of things to me.” It also produced a story van Koeverden, now 35, loves to tell. At a family barbecue before the Games he asked his father if he’d take a bet: If van Koeverden won a medal in Manitoba, his dad would have to buy him a new boat.
“He went into the house pretending he was going to get barbecue sauce or something,” van Koeverden said. “And he called my coach and asked, ‘What are the odds of Adam getting a medal — should I take this bet?’ ”
Van Koeverden was just 15 in an 18-and-under sport, so his coach told his dad the bet was safe.
Well, the kid won a bronze medal.
Van Koeverden would take that Canada Games experience — and his first expensive, personally owned, custom-built kayak — and become a household name, only retiring after last year’s Rio Olympics.
“It really kicked off something special, being on teams and racing in a boat by myself,” van Koeverden said.
“But also being a member of a bigger team. And that Canada Games experience, racing for Ontario, was my first experience like that.
“Looking back at it, everything was really special. I got a chance to spend some time with some older athletes, which is also really important ... it was definitely an important time in my career.”
Ditto for sailor and windsurfer Nikola Girke, although her Canada Games experience carries an undertow of tragedy.
Girke was on Team B.C. at the same Games in 1997. Then 19, she had set her sport aside while attending university as her father battled cancer. His death, days before she was to leave for Manitoba, threatened her ability to take part. Deciding she needed the distraction, Girke decided to compete.
“It gave me something else to focus on,” she said. “It gave me an opportunity to continue what I’d worked so hard for, and tribute it a little bit to my dad: I’m just not going to give up because things have changed. This is the sport I loved and I was always so supported by him. So I wanted to continue that.”
Like van Koeverden, she’d go on to compete in four Olympic Games: Athens, Beijing, London and Rio. Brandon was the stepping-stone.
“You get to see so many different athletes — just to be amongst them, to see how other athletes are training, it’s a real unifying experience,” Girke said. “It gave you a glimpse. The Olympics is the world stage. This is the Canadian stage. And the Olympics is so much bigger. But it’s the same atmosphere.”
There may not be another van Koeverden or Girke in Winnipeg over the next few weeks. But the next Olympians? Bet on it.