Warner out to turn change into gold
It was an emotional decision, but decathlon medallist has a new coach and training base
During the Rio Olympics, the spotlight shone brightly on Canada’s summer athletes who, on the whole, performed better than ever before. This is the first in a series on six Olympic athletes, their experiences in Rio and what life has been like for them since then.
When decathlete Damian Warner stood on the Olympic podium in Rio, he knew he was one of only three people in the world who could do that. He was proud of the achievement, but also deeply disappointed.
There was a bronze medal hanging around his neck, not the gold one he felt certain he could win before he started his two-day, 10-event competition last August.
“Everyone knew we were capable of more, so that was kind of tough,” Warner said.
“We” is a reference to his coaches, some of whom had been with the 27-year-old since he was in high school. Warner felt the medal was theirs, too.
Warner went home, gave himself permission not to think about track and field for a month, and then started thinking about the one decision he thought he would never make.
Warner decided to leave London, Ont., for a new training base in Calgary, Alta., and a new coach, Les Gramantik, who has coached some of Canada’s great multi-eventers.
“That was just the hardest thing I’ve done in my life.”
London was where Warner developed into an Olympian through the circle of support that started with his high school teachers and basketball coaches, Gar Leyshon and Dennis Nielsen. They saw what he could be long before he did. He refused to leave for opportunities elsewhere despite pressure from Athletics Canada.
“I remember driving over there and I parked in the high school parking lot and started crying because I knew how tough it was going to be,” Warner said, recalling the day he told Leyshon and Nielsen he was leaving.
“It goes bigger than sport, they were family to me,” he said of all his coaches, including Western University’s Vickie Croley who came on board in 2010 and was his lead coach heading into Rio.
“They made me feel better about it than I did going in,” Warner said. “Just like everything else I’ve done, I’ve been very lucky to have so many strong people to guide me and support me through the decisions I make, and to know they’ll always be there in the future meant a lot.”
In December, Warner and his girlfriend Jen Cotten moved to Calgary to begin his training cycle for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I’ve been able to medal in every single international competition there is . . . but in certain competitions such as the world championships and the Olympics it’s not the colour that I want,” he said. “And I really want the gold medal in those competitions for sure.
“I can’t see into the future and I don’t know 100 per cent if there’s any coach in the world that can get me to that next level but I felt that I needed to try something because it’s been a downfall of mine at the world competitions, where I get there and perform well but my pole vault is bad — so that’s one of the events that needs to change along with a couple oth- ers,” Warner said, explaining his decision to work with Gramantik.
Warner holds the world record for the 100 metres and 110-metre hurdles in the decathlon, but his pole vault is weak and his other jumps and throws can be inconsistent.
“Improve those glaring weaknesses, even by just a little bit, and be able to bring my best on the day of . . . if I’m able to do that I can score the points that me and everybody else knows I’m capable of,” he said.
And if it works out the way he hopes it will, it won’t just be Gramantik he thanks for his success.
“In sport it’s never just one person,” he said. “It’s always going to be the lead-up of people that you’ve worked with throughout your career.”