Out of nowhere bronze from Priscilla Lopes-Schliep aside, it was a pretty pathetic output from the track and field team once again this year. The saddest part of the decline of Canadian athletics, which has won only Lopes-Schliep’s bronze since the double gold in 1996, is that we’ve put together some strong track teams that have had good results at World Championships, but always seem to fold on the Olympic stage.
This year was particularly disappointing, as not only did we lack talented sprinters, but Perdita Felicien was injured, and our middle distance runners almost collectively shat the bed.
Perhaps the most baffling thing about the track team is how, with the exception of 100m hurdles, we never have good women. Like, ever. It’s kind of disconcerting. In fact, across almost all disciplines it seems like we just don’t have the female athletes in quantity or quality compared to men.
But the men we have should be good. 1500m runner Kevin Sullivan finished fourth in Athens; Tyler Christopher is a former medallist at Worlds in the 400m, and Gary Reed won silver at last year’s Worlds in the 800m.
So there was a lot to like with this year’s track team before the Games, and really only Lopes-Schliep to like after. Christopher didn’t even make it out of the first round in the 400m, blaming a flu that he had had a week prior. Sullivan found himself boxed in during his 1500m semifinal and didn’t qualify for the final because of it, and Gary Reed barely qualified through the first round and the semifinal in the 800m before having a good race in the final to finish fourth. However, you knew watching Reed that he wouldn’t be good enough to win a medal in the 800m, as he just didn’t have the talent or finishing kick of the runners who had been so strong throughout all their heats.
Apparently Athletics Canada isn’t doing enough to convince Africans and Caribbeans to immigrate and join our national team—something that made us a sprint power in the first place (and the Americans good at the middle to long distances). They also clearly don’t have the right people running the program; guys like Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin want to be involved, but the offer isn’t there for them to do so. I mean, Bailey is a mentor to Usain Bolt; there’s a very real chance that if Bailey were in charge of the Canadian sprinting program, he could have convinced Bolt to move to Canada (like Bailey did)—perhaps at the World Juniors in Sherbrooke where Bolt tore it up. I’m not saying we should be actively trying to poach athletes; I just think that we should put ourselves in a position where we are an attractive option to those looking to emigrate.
Moving on, why do all track athletes pose with the flag after they win a medal? Without fail, they all do exactly the same thing, in exactly the same way. I understand grabbing your flag and doing a victory lap, but you don’t all have to look the same doing it.
