By Canadian Press

Hopeful Canadian Olympic first-timers get a taste of the pre-Paris spotlight

Dec 14, 2023 | 4:30 PM

MONTREAL — Canadian athletes who hope to make their Olympic debuts in Paris 2024 are getting a taste of the spotlight they’ll face when they compete on one of the world’s biggest sporting stages. 

In a downtown Montreal hotel on Thursday, athletes were shepherded from room to room for nearly 12 hours of back-to-back interviews and photo shoots as part of a media day organized by the Canadian Olympic Committee.

For Eric Peters, who competes in archery, the camera flashes and increased scrutiny are both cool and “a little nerve-racking.”

“I’ve kind of flown under the radar for a long time, and to be standing out like this is a new experience,” he said in an interview.

Peters said his sport is low-profile enough that members of the public sometimes ask him whether he’s a hunter. He doesn’t know what to expect on the big Olympic stage, or what opportunities might come his way as a result, which is part of the excitement.

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The moment he’s most looking forward to is hearing the clock beep in Paris, and shooting his very first arrow.

“If (the shot) isn’t good, it’s unfortunate, and I’ll figure it out,” he said. “But if it’s good, it will be a relief and it’ll be the first thing I think about when I think back on the Olympics and the rest of my life.”

Twenty-one year old gymnast Felix Dolci, for his part, is eager to use the Olympic run-up to help promote his sport to the wider public. The 21-year old Quebecer is brimming with confidence after a year that saw him win the Pan American artistic gymnastics all-around gold in Santiago, Chile, and help Canada qualify a full men’s team for Paris for the first time since 2008.

“I really want to take advantage of (the attention) to forward the message that gymnastics is a crazy sport that makes you develop crazy abilities not only physically but mentally,” he said.      “I love to be able to perform, show my sport, show my work. Showing my sport to my country is something I’m really proud of.” 

Philip Kim, a 26-year-old breaker known as Phil Wizard, said he’s “excited to be a part of history” in his first Olympics as the first Canadian to qualify in the new Olympic sport of breaking. 

The B.C. athlete said moving from the street culture of breakdancing to the mainstream Olympic orbit has been an adjustment, but a positive one. While he never dreamt of the Olympics as a kid, he’s excited to promote the culture of breaking and to create opportunities, including financial ones, for those who compete.

“When I started there weren’t a lot of viable paths within breaking,” he said. “It wasn’t seen as something that you should invest your time into, and that’s something I want to see change.”

Earlier in the week, some of the athletes in Montreal also got a taste of Olympic prep as they joined in a two-day Olympic lab, which reunites athletes, coaches, and staff to learn about what to expect in Paris.

For 14-year-old Toronto skateboard phenom Fay De Fazio Ebert, seeing other athletes working toward their goals has provided the inspiration she needs after a slump that had her “not feeling the best” after her Pan American Games gold medal in October. 

“I was skateboarding, but felt like I wasn’t skateboarding enough and I didn’t feel motivated to go,” said De Fazio Ebert, who showed up for her interview with her skateboard and a ukulele in tow. “But now I feel after these two days of people talking about motivation and the Olympics, I want to get going again. I want to keep moving forward.”

The Paris Olympics will feature a return to packed stands and spectacle after the COVID-era Games of Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022. While she competed in Tokyo, Quebec weightlifting champion Maude Charron says the atmosphere already feels “way more exciting” this time.

Charron said her gold in Tokyo in the women’s 64 kg division represented a “perfect result.” This time, she says, a podium finish is less important than getting to compete with family and friends in the stands.

“As long as I have my picture with everyone and the (Olympic) rings, I can put it on my wall at home and that will be my medal,” she said. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2023.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press