The 2024 Paris Olympics have finished and Canada did admirably, even if we found ourselves on the wrong side of two gross scandals. However, as runners, there was much to applaud and lots of lessons to learn from the performances of our elites, folks like Malindi Elmore, Marco Arop, Alysha Newman, Mo Ahmed, and the Canadian men’s 4×100 relay team, Brendon Rodney, Jerome Blake, Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse. These are some applicable lessons you can immediately apply as you dial in on your fall training and race goals.
1. It’s never over.
Andre De Grasse had every reason to give up on his last race, the men’s relay. Not only did his coach Rana Reider get forced to forego his Olympic credentials because three women were suing him for sexual and emotional abuse but Canada’s most decorated track athlete admitted to a hamstring injury. Somehow, however, De Grasse was able to maintain focus, work through injury and not only anchor the prestigious event with his teammates but valiantly pass three lead runners to win gold for his country. No one thought the Canadian men could do it. The Canadian men had different ideas: don’t give up.
2. 44 is the new 17.
Malindi Elmore is 44 and, in the second half of the women’s marathon, passed younger competitors on the difficult, hilly course as if they were spectators eating croissants on the sidelines. Summer McIntosh, Canada’s swimming sensation, 17, showed poise, pacing and a coolness to win three golds and one silver medal, beating women bigger, stronger and more experienced than the kid not yet old enough to drink a beer. Together, these two women proved than anyone can do anything and we do not need to be held to previously held beliefs. Break conventions and ignore history: create your own rules.
3. Attitude Over Everything.
Alysha Newman, Canada’s silver medalist in pole vault, had a rocky road to success. She’d been down, disappointed, made bad choices and lost lots of years to the rigours of competition. This Olympics, she had a different approach, she proceeded with joy. After working with a neurologist, Newman reframed the task before her: what if this was fun? And the results for Ms. Newman, her best ever, was triumph. Enjoying your training, the process, nutrition, your workouts, the racing: happiness is athletic gold.
4. Accept What You Can’t Control.
Mo Ahmed is a beloved figure in Canadian track. A three-time Olympian, Ahmed, originally from Somalia, holds many Canadian running records and his disposition is warm, approachable and refreshingly honest. When he went down in the men’s 500 metre race, it was stunning and disappointing, to say the least. Ahmed appealed to be reinstated and, when he was turned down, Ahmed took the decision in stride, blaming himself. We can’t control race day: the weather, errant water stations, overzealous sideline fans. What we can control are our emotional responses: results—over the long run—surely follow from humility and egoless grace.
5. Hills Can Be Beaten.
Elmore, again, is our north star. Malindi, lacking the natural speed of some of her opponents, compensated with toughness, something she worked on in the gym (and has innately as a mother of two). Like Krista DuChene at the hail storm 2018 Boston Marathon, the tougher circumstances get, the better Canadian women do. When a race gives you lemons, remember: everyone else is getting those same lemons, too. Don’t look for excuses. Make challenges your friend.
6. Watch Out for Coaches.
Andre De Grasse and the Canadian Olympic Committee vet their team very carefully. And yet an accused predator still got through to the highest ranks. At iRun, we’ve heard horror stories of runners finding online coaches or otherwise falling under the clutches of running coaches with nefarious plans. We all want to achieve at our highest levels. But be very careful when working with someone you don’t know (or even may know and trust). Keep lines of communication open and, when possible, work together with a friend. It’s an unfortunate state of the world, but running, though we wish it wasn’t, is still part of the problematic larger world.
7. Run the Course.
So what, we’re talking about Malindi again. But Elmore, in Paris, ran bits of the marathon before her race, even though she’s based in Kelowna and her event was in France. Lots of us have our goal races at home and there’s nothing like experience—not only for confidence, but also for rehearsal. Practice on your home course, run the tough bits before your race, and get used to fuelling and race day conditions. A prepared runner is an runner, and for many of us, it’s just about paying attention: do every little thing that you can.
8. Be Thankful.
Time and again from all of our athletes, they seemed to be living their best life. This is sport. This is what they trained for. They made it to the highest level and it was, under the spotlights, competing for their country, a privilege and a joy. The same applies to all of us at our races. All of us have suffered and will suffer again. But on race day, in our running finest, all spiffed up, trained and competing, we are not suffering now. Lean in to the moment and embrace it. Our fall races may not be the Paris Olympics, but for us, it has the potential to be the exact same thing.
