‘WE ARE A FAMILY’
Resilient Canadian Olympians determined to shine in Tokyo despite pandemic delays
Every athlete packs a personal story when leaving for the Olympics and returns home with another as a souvenir.
They’re often tales of redemption: of seizing a precious moment; overcoming injury, personal hardship, family tragedy or political oppression; or of national pride and community support. And they’re usually unique from athlete to athlete.
But the Olympic class of 2020cum-2021 will be bound not only by stories of competition, but by the shared experience that a year-long pandemic postponement has wrought upon the people who will attend these delayed Games.
“Everyone going to the Olympics has always had some element of chaos disrupt their plans,” said Marnie Mcbean, four-time Olympic rowing medallist and Canada’s chef de mission. “Sometimes it’s an injury, sometimes it’s finances, sometimes it’s selection. Whatever it’s going to be, there is always a story that’s part of somebody’s approach to the Olympics, and it’s often way more interesting than their performance at the Olympics, including victory.
“So the message we’ll be sharing this week with the athletes is that this is their journey, this is their story. Everything that’s happened since March, when they were told the Olympics would be postponed and we had to stay home, stay away from our gyms, our training fields and pools. This is the story they’re going to be telling five years from now, 10 years from now.”
The broad strokes will be the same for everyone: months in self-isolation, makeshift training facilities and regimens, cancelled competitions, an eventual return to workouts in a physically distanced environment, the emotional roller-coaster ride toward the inevitable what-ifs following a year-long delay. Their individual stories will only be defined by the smallest of details.
Thursday morning in Canada was already July 24 in Tokyo, the original date of the opening ceremonies. The occasion is less cause for celebration than for reflection on the past four months and projection toward next summer.
That said, will Team Canada be as strong in 2021 as it would have been this year? Apparently so.
“We’ve been able to meet with all (national sport organizations) and identify if any athletes with medal potential had decided not to train and compete for another year,” said Anne Merklinger, CEO of Own the Podium. “Very fortunately, every medal potential athlete has recommitted for another year. So the pool of medal potential athletes we had heading into Tokyo 2020 is virtually intact heading into 2021.”
Olympic prognosticator Gracenote had, as of Feb. 24, predicted 21 medals and a 13th-place finish for Canada in Tokyo. By comparison, Gracenote called for 16 Canadian podiums in Rio four years ago, but the unforeseen six medals generated by Penny Oleksiak and her teammates in the pool swelled the Canadian total to 22.
Canada’s swimmers are poised to deliver another strong Olympic outing, if their record eight-medal performance at the World Aquatics Championship in 2019 is an indicator. They’ll all have to shrug off a long period of inactivity during the first three months of the pandemic, when pools across Canada were closed long after other countries had opened theirs.
But Swimming Canada’s high performance director John Atkinson said its athletes are back in the pool and are drawing support from their belief in the mantra of “focused, professional, relaxed and adaptable,” which all national teams have adopted.
“You don’t count your chickens until they’ve hatched, and we don’t tick medals off because, when we went to Rio, we weren’t ranked to win any medals but the preparation of the team, the focus and the resilience got them through and we stood on the podium six times,” said Atkinson. “So you’ve got to talk in that same sort of range.”
The pandemic pause on most activity, sporting and otherwise, was obviously necessary for health and safety. When the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee both announced they wouldn’t be sending teams to Tokyo even if the Games went ahead, it was still a bold move. Two days later, on March 24, the Olympics and Paralympics were postponed. It was an important signpost in a mental and physical journey that’s now a year longer.
“They were ready. They were honing it in,” Mcbean said of the athletes’ frame of mind in late March. “If they were blades, the blade was made. The edge was there.”
That edge was obviously dulled by the delay and subsequent lack of training. But she’s sure they’ll find their way to Tokyo in top form.
“They have always been optimistic. You’re talking about a population who believes it’s possible to be the best in the world,” Mcbean said. “They have taken every opportunity in their life, whether people saw it as an opportunity or not, and they have tried to figure out how to get better in their sport.”
A pandemic presents an unprecedented obstacle, and Canadian sport leaders went the extra mile to support high performance athletes. Sport Canada, the COC and CPC began by confirming financial support for 2021 and 2022, the federal government kicked in cash and sport organizations made mental health resources available.
“There has been so much support for our athletes, coaches and high performance directors, helping them deal with and accept and move through the very gut-wrenching decision to not be able to go to the Games in 2020,” said Merklinger.
That’s one of the silver linings. Athletes who were injured, like diver Meaghan Benfeito, are grateful for another — time to heal.
Benfeito, who won her second and third Olympic bronze medals in Rio, had to take care of some tendinitis in her left elbow, and the pause afforded her that luxury.
“I took the three months to really do my rehab,” said Benfeito. “I think an extra year is even better, to make sure I don’t have to dive at the Olympics injured.”
She would have been competing in synchro next week, but instead will be taking a weeklong vacation after a month of serious training.
Year 5 of the quadrennial, if you will, starts now. And it complicates daily schedules for athletes who are already challenged financially and logistically to train full-time and either work or study part-time, as they simultaneously prepare for life after sport.
Slalom kayaker Florence Maheu was planning to finish a kinesiology degree after the 2020 Games, then work toward a master’s in sports management.
“So this messes with that a little bit, and I’m a little older for my first Olympic Games,” said Maheu, 27. “So the harder part mentally for me was the after-paddling career.”
She used the pandemic pause to take online classes and is reconsidering her future competitive options, given that the Paris Olympics are due up in 2024, only three years after Tokyo. “Maybe go for another cycle, I don’t know,” Maheu said. “You never truly know until you’re there.”
They’re all working their way toward a common goal, united by an uncommon narrative.
“Once we get to the Olympics, regardless of the sport you’re in, we are a family,” Benfeito said of Team Canada. “Everybody is close, everybody knows what we have to do, and we’re able to relate to each other . ...
“It’s going to be a weird Olympics, but I’m really looking forward to it, because talking to other people makes you feel that you aren’t alone. This is going to be something special.”
... There is always a story that’s part of somebody’s approach to the Olympics, and it’s often way more interesting than their performance at the Olympics, including victory. MARNIE MCBEAN