Olympian Hartley tells inspirational tale
When you talk to an Olympic athlete, you can’t help but feel inspired. Just being in the Olympics is a major accomplishment. It signifies an amazing success story.
And through their stories, other athletes — and people in general — can discover important lessons in both sport and life.
The folks attending the upcoming Calgary Italian Sportswomen’s Dinner are in for a treat as the annual affair welcomes guest speaker Blythe Hartley this year.
Hartley became Canada’s first world champion diver in 2001 when she set a world record on the onemetre board. She repeated as world champion in 2005.
The three-time Olympian shared bronze with Emilie Heymans in the 10-metre tower synchronized event at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She also won gold at the 2003 Pan Am Games and the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Hartley was known as one of the strongest springboard divers in the world, and her height on takeoff was much higher than many of her competitors.
As speaker at the Calgary Italian Club for the upcoming dinner, she says she will share a little bit about her story, and hopes that something hits home for athletes being honoured that night as well as for the people attending the event.
“My main message is really about the journey,” she told me recently. “As I look back on my career, my biggest learning and my biggest formative moments, and the most rewarding parts, were always the journey — starting from setting the goals and working toward those goals, and the obstacles and the adversity that you face on the way to get to those goals. So there’s intricacies in how to achieve them.
“For me it was always about the journey rather than the outcome. Don’t be afraid to dream big and set those goals, but don’t focus exclusively on the outcome either.”
Hartley has a message for the three students — Bria Mele from Bishop O’Bryne High School, Christina Oliverio from Bearspaw Christian School and Nicola Paviglianiti from St. Francis High School, who are receiving awards at the Italian Sportswomen’s Dinner: “For students, it’s always don’t be afraid to dream big.
“I often think about my own career and sort of thinking it was a really step-by-step process, in that I was sort of afraid of this daunting goal. People said ‘oh, you can get to the Olympics.’ I never believed them. But it’s amazing how, if you take it stepby-step, and you make those goals and you continue to strive to achieve those goals, sometimes what you achieve is bigger and beyond what you ever expected.”
On her last dive at the 2008 Olympics, Hartley retired from the sport that consumed her life for so many years. Today, she is a human resources adviser with ARC Resources.
The Calgary Italian Sportswomen’s Dinner Association is celebrating its seventh year. This year’s dinner will be Oct. 19 at the Calgary Italian Club.
“The Calgary Italian Sportswomen’s Dinner Association celebrates everything Italian,” says Gabrielle Enns, president of the association, noting the association was resurrected seven years ago after a seven-year hiatus.
“Our mandate is to help graduating female Italian athletes realize their dreams of post-secondary studies. As with all things Italian, we celebrate with food, wine, shopping and a party.
Last year, 275 women attended the dinner and silent auction.
“The purpose of our event is to raise money for the $5,000 scholarships,” says Enns.
“As well, the evening is about friendship, good food and fun — Italian style.”