When COVID-19 shut down the NCAA swimming season last March, Margaret Mac Neil packed up her car and drove home to London, Ont., from the University of Michigan.
In the whirlwind days that followed, Canada announced it wouldnB次元官网网址檛 compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games if they were held as scheduled. The Games were eventually postponed to 2021.
Mac Neil spent the ensuing several weeks of lockdown swimming in her familyB次元官网网址檚 backyard pool.
There was snow on the ground. The pool was 13 metres long and shaped like a kidney bean, which wasnB次元官网网址檛 the typical high-performance sport environment for a world butterfly champion.
B次元官网网址淏ut it worked. I could maintain my feeling of the water and my technique, I guess,B次元官网网址� Mac Neil said. B次元官网网址淏ut it definitely wasnB次元官网网址檛 the same as swimming in a normal environment.B次元官网网址�
The 20-year-old is one of hundreds of Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes whose laser focus on the Games was upended by the global pandemic.
B次元官网网址淐OVID has been the toughest competitor weB次元官网网址檝e ever faced as a high-performance sport community,B次元官网网址� said Own The Podium chief executive officer Anne Merklinger.
Led by double Olympic trampoline champion Rosie MacLennan, CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Olympic and Paralympic teams took the bold stance of withdrawing from the Tokyo Summer Games two days before the International Olympic Committee and organizing committee announced their postponement to 2021.
The Canadian teamB次元官网网址檚 position of human health and safety trumping global competition stood out in the confusing, early days of the pandemic.
B次元官网网址淲hen push came to shove and we realized how serious COVID-19 was, Canadian athletes far and wide came together and said they need to put their health, their familyB次元官网网址檚 health, their communityB次元官网网址檚 health, first, and decided they wouldnB次元官网网址檛 go to Tokyo in the summer of 2020,B次元官网网址� Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive officer David Shoemaker said.
B次元官网网址淚 think weB次元官网网址檒l look back at 2020 and realize that itB次元官网网址檚 another chapter in Team CanadaB次元官网网址檚 book on defining what victory is. Victory isnB次元官网网址檛 always about the real, relentless pursuit of a gold medal. It includes fair play and sportsmanship and now ideals about the health and safety of your community.B次元官网网址�
After drawing their line in the sand, athletes joined fellow Canadians in having plans, dreams and finances disrupted by COVID-19.
Training facilities shuttered for weeks, international competition schedules decimated and travel complicated and fraught with infection risk were among the stresses for athletes working out in living rooms, garages and backyards.
Antoine Valois-Fortier, a bronze medallist in judo at the 2012 Olympics, became a runner.
B次元官网网址淚 had never run much, and I immediately understood why: IB次元官网网址檓 not very good at it,B次元官网网址� the 30-year-old said.
B次元官网网址淩unning became almost in a weird way like meditation. You get negative news all day, a lot of people struggling, and so I just put my headphones in and go for a long run and would just feel much better.B次元官网网址�
Canadian athletes also dealt with the frustration of lighter restrictions in other countries, allowing their rivals to train and compete more than they could in 2020.
B次元官网网址淭hat definitely has been on my mind,B次元官网网址� Mac Neil said. B次元官网网址淔or sure I think (the Olympics) are not going to be a level playing field because people have been under certain restrictions, (while) most parts of Canada are shut down again. ItB次元官网网址檚 not ideal, but I guess we just have to make the best of it.B次元官网网址�
Canada is a winter-sport powerhouse. Those athletes werenB次元官网网址檛 spared the pandemicB次元官网网址檚 destructive force.
World womenB次元官网网址檚 hockey and curling championships and world figure skating championships in Canada were cancelled in March, as were multiple World Cups the country would have hosted in 2020.
Winter-sport athletesB次元官网网址� seasons are delayed or curtailed with cancellations at a crucial time heading into the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
Prize money, appearance fees and personal sponsorships that make up an athleteB次元官网网址檚 financial trapline dwindled or disappeared.
B次元官网网址淭he economic challenge compounds the difficulty for an athlete, and the postponement of one year, according to our statistics, on average costs an Olympic hopeful another $28,000,B次元官网网址� Shoemaker said.
Canadian sport federations leaning heavily on revenue streams from major, international televised games and tournaments at home and abroad took a hit.
Tennis Canada, for example, lost $17 million when the menB次元官网网址檚 and womenB次元官网网址檚 professional tournaments in Montreal and Toronto were cancelled.
Hockey, soccer, curling, rugby and figure skating also draw significant revenue from TV rights and the accompanying corporate sponsorship.
B次元官网网址淲hat we would call the big six, the large-event sports that host major competitions that are essentially entertainment, all over television with huge audiences, many of them have been decimated,B次元官网网址� Merklinger said.
A financial stabilizer of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 high-performance sport system in the pandemic is the federal governmentB次元官网网址檚 commitment to maintain funding B次元官网网址� roughly $200 million annually B次元官网网址� through to March 2022, said Merklinger.
National sport organizations and institutes also received a $34.5-million top-up in COVID-19 emergency funding from CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Heritage Department in May.
Shoemaker says the COCB次元官网网址檚 27 corporate sponsors are sticking with the Canadian team.
B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檙e with us through Tokyo, and theyB次元官网网址檙e with us for this foreseeable future,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檒l be ready for Tokyo. WeB次元官网网址檒l be ready for Beijing.B次元官网网址�
Three-time world para-triathlon champion Stefan Daniel said if thereB次元官网网址檚 a positive to be taken from the roller-coaster last few months, itB次元官网网址檚 a renewed love for his sport.
B次元官网网址淗aving racing taking taken away kind of reminded me that I started sport because I like being active. Training was kind of what drove me, but I was actually able to stay really motivated throughout all of this year, which was pretty surprising,B次元官网网址� the 23-year-old Calgarian said.
B次元官网网址淚 also realized that I canB次元官网网址檛 be a triathlete forever. So, when everything comes back, IB次元官网网址檓 really going to enjoy it as best as I can and not take it for granted. I know it wonB次元官网网址檛 last forever.B次元官网网址�
Mac Neil found solace in her Michigan coach, Mike Bottom, who was a member of the U.S. Olympic team that boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games.
B次元官网网址淗earing his perspective on that, he definitely has helped to show that it isnB次元官网网址檛 the end of the world and that you can do something positive with it,B次元官网网址� she said.
B次元官网网址淔or him it was coaching after that. ThereB次元官网网址檚 always light at the end of the tunnel, and heB次元官网网址檚 definitely helped us to see that.B次元官网网址�
A silver lining of 2020 for Merklinger is the 28 organizations that run high-performance sport in Canada worked together on a task force to get athletes back to training and competing.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e more collaborative,B次元官网网址� she said. B次元官网网址淲e are definitely more resilient in every aspect of the system.B次元官网网址�
Risk-mitigation checklists and return-to-sport guidelines produced in June not only for elite athletes, but for provincial associations and local clubs, injected some confidence back into the sport system.
B次元官网网址淚t might not be exactly the same training they were doing before the pandemic, but virtually all of the national summer and winter sport organizations have returned to training in a way thatB次元官网网址檚 going to help them be ready for both Tokyo and Beijing,B次元官网网址� Merklinger said.
B次元官网网址淭o varying degrees, athletes, coaches and staff are able to return to competition. That depends on the individual sport and where the competition in question might be, even across Canada.B次元官网网址�
Lori Ewing and Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
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