De Grasse trades spikes for books, fulfilling promise to mom

Andre De Grasse is on a break between classes at the University of Southern California, and for once he has nowhere to be.

There have been no track practices or lifting sessions for the 21-year-old for weeks. He hasn’t run down the track since his stunning Olympic debut at the Rio Games. It’s been all about the books as he finishes his sociology degree — fulfilling a promise he made to his mom Beverley.

“I made a promise to her and a lot of people, even here at USC, that I would come back and finish what I started because I didn’t want to leave that chapter of my life behind,” De Grasse said after class, from Los Angeles. “I enjoyed my time here at USC so much, and a lot of people see me here putting in a lot of work and effort, and I didn’t want to let that go to waste, and I thought this would be the perfect time now that the Olympics are over.”

The sprinter from Markham, Ont., took two months off since he captured a silver and two bronze medals in Rio. He kept active playing pickup basketball or soccer with friends.

But it’s back to training today. De Grasse was set to fly to Phoenix on Thursday night to work with his coach Stu McMillan for the weekend, and the plan is to spend two or three days per week in Arizona until his schoolwork is complete, and he can move back to Arizona. He’ll finish his degree in December.

De Grasse was in dire need of the break, McMillan said.

“When you look at Andre’s last 18 months of his career, it’s been pretty hard, I think he needed a longer recovery than most,” the coach said from Phoenix. “He pretty much went straight from worlds in 2015, took a couple weeks and was back into training, so it was long 18 months, 24 months of training for him with two major competitions and a lot of stress, so just felt it prudent that we take a longer recovery for him.”

De Grasse’s career has skyrocketed since he left the USC campus last winter, forgoing his final season of NCAA eligibility to turn professional. Returning to the USC campus, his college friends were quick to bring him back down to earth.

“A lot of people joke around because they knew me before that happened, so they’re always trying to tell me ‘Hey, don’t get too big-headed now, we knew you before all that happened,”’ De Grasse said, laughing. “They keep me humble.”