Canadian track contingent golden on arrival
Breakthrough evidenced by 13 medals
TORONTO • “Run fast, vault high and go crazy,” George Barber said with a smile. It was a throwaway line at the end of an interview, about an hour after his son, Shawn, clinched a gold medal in pole vault Tuesday afternoon.
But Shawn Barber’s winning leap was just the beginning for Canada’s track and field team at the Pan American Games. In the days since, George’s slogan has looked downright prophetic.
Midway through the athletics competition, Canada has won 15 medals — seven of them gold — and surpassed their haul from each Pan Am Games since 1999. They earned 15 track and field medals that year in Winnipeg. In Toronto, there are 19 finals to go.
“That’s what we’re really looking for as a team: to do something we’ve never done here at the Pan American Games,” Shawn Barber said.
“It’s just a high that everyone gets on,” said Melissa Bishop, who won gold in the women’s 800-metre race Wednesday night. “It’s a train ride, right — everyone gets on board, and they all want to get a piece.”
“We want to be excellent,” said Alex Genest, the silver medallist in men’s steeplechase, who finished behind Canadian teammate Matt Hughes. “We don’t just want to compete, but we want to be excellent.”
So why has the breakthrough come at these Pan Ams?
Location helps. As the host country, Canada automatically qualified two athletes in every athletics event, and quantity is a natural precursor to medals. In addition: “If the Pan Am Games would have been in Chile, I don’t think many people would have gone,” Genest said.
But something else is afoot, too.
Multiple athletes — and head athletics coach Peter Eriksson, who has overseen Canada’s Olympic program since 2013 — pointed to a fundamental change in attitude from Athletics Canada. They say the organization is committed to winning at major events; they are not merely content to be there.
Genest said the mentality swung after the 2011 world championships in Daegu, South Korea, where Canada won only one medal. At the next worlds, two years later in Moscow, they nabbed five.
“It’s refreshing. I’ve been part of this shift and I love it,” he said.
“It’s great seeing people come into major Games and just wanting to do well and compete well. But we’re enjoying ourselves as much as we were, and even more, because now we have success.”
“I think Canada’s now starting to wake up and put money into athletics and all the other sports,” said Nikkita Holder, who won bronze in women’s 100-metre hurdles Tuesday night.
“We’re a major country, and we have a lot to offer. I think we’ve been sold short in previous years, but it’s turning around, and I think it’s great.”
The most tangible demar- cation point may be the arrival of Eriksson — a longtime coach in Canada and the United Kingdom — two summers ago.
Under his stewardship, Eriksson said, Athletics Canada has changed the way it manages and funds its elite athletes.
The organization used to run seven training centres across the country, but cut that number to two (one in Toronto and one in Victoria) in an effort to be more efficient.
“We also invested the remainder of the money into the athletes, where they’re training in their home locations,” Eriksson said.
Star decathlete Damian Warner, for instance, is allowed to train with his personal coach in London, Ont., rather than being shoehorned into a regimen at one of the central hubs.
“He ain’t going to move anywhere, so we invest in him there, with giving (money) to camps and competition and for his coach and so on.”
Eriksson has bolstered Athletics Canada’s resources by adding four sports psychologists to the staff and implemented physiology and nutrition programs. (“They’re bringing much more to the athletes,” Genest said, “and it’s great.”)
There is still room to improve, Eriksson added, but there is also valid hope for better results down the line, starting at next month’s world championships in Beijing.
For now, significant hardware remains up for grabs in Toronto — and for all the reasons Canada has thrived so far, their results to date may be yet another indicator of what is to come.
“You see your friends that are on your team with you win a gold medal, or win a medal, or place very high, and it’s just like, ‘Well, if they can do it, why can’t I?” said Hughes.
“I think it’s just that mentality that we have, this young group of people coming up. We’re just taking the bull by the horns, and we can take the world on.”
We don’t just want to compete, but we want to be excellent