In the world of professional sport, nothing spurs an entity on more than competitive rivalries do. Such as the fabled rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, in football, the storied tales headlining cricket in India vs Pakistan. And the athletic superiority of the USA has had an influence on the tracks of Canada for good or for worse.
Canada’s seven-time Olympic medallist, Andre De Grasse, who is in India for the Tata Mumbai Marathon, gave a glimpse of the efforts of the nation in their strive towards making the great white north an athletic superpower, during a media roundtable.
“We’re a smaller population, and America, our next-door neighbour, has a huge population. So they have a lot of talent and a lot more people who want to participate in
the sport,” the 31-year-old began.
“So, you know, our pool of people is going to be very small, but you know, we tend to obviously work hard. We’re just as hard-working as they are.”
“And we’re starting to gain a little bit, you know, get a little bit better on the world stage. You know, I think the last world championship, we came home with about five or six medals. So, I think that was one of our highest ever. And then at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, I think that was our highest Olympic medal count as well in athletics,” he explained.
“So we’ve definitely come a long way. We still obviously need some more work to do because, you know, we’re still trying to build up with the resources and everything with our Olympic sports. But yeah, we’re, I think we’re doing a good job.”
“Of course, America’s a powerhouse when it comes to athletics, and they do a lot more to support their athletes. And of course, they have the facilities and the resources to be able to compete at a high level. And that’s what we’re trying to do as their neighbours to be able to do the same thing,” the Scarborough-born star said.
“Competing against rivals such as the Americans when I compete on the world stage for the sprints. And I think as we see in the marathon the countries that have been doing well are the African countries because they do so well with the altitude, I believe when they go there and train,” the Tokyo Olympics 200m gold-medallist said.
“I’ve been to Africa one time, and when I was training there, it definitely was able to help boost my training, I think. So they definitely have a little bit of an advantage there, but I think other countries are starting to catch up as well.”
The geography of the regions and the impact they have on the training and development of athletes can’t be waived at the very top level.
“When you have great weather or great climates it can play a huge role in the performances, that’s one of the reasons why I train in the US, I train in Florida because in Canada it gets very cold during this time of the year and it starts to snow,” the sprinter who helmed Canada’s gold medal thrust at the 2024 Paris Olympics said.
“So for me in my sport, I need to be able to sprint, I need to be able to try to run fast and I need that good weather to be able to not pull a hamstring or have my joints too cold at this time of the year.”
“Definitely, I think all that plays a role. But I feel other countries are starting to do more training camps and be able to travel a bit and be able to travel a bit and go do like high camps before a competition,” the 2023 Diamond League 200m winner continued.
“So definitely, I feel like that’s what they’ve been doing. I mean, even for us, like I remember when I was getting ready for the Tokyo World Championships, we end up going to Tokyo for one to 2 weeks before the championship just to acclimatise and try to prepare for the championship.”
“And I think a lot of countries are starting to go early and do that as well. So that also plays a big role in performance,” he concluded.
De Grasse also touched up on his first-ever visit to India and his excitement over the Tata Mumbai Marathon, slated to be held in the nation’s Maximum City on the 18th of the month.
“I’ve always wanted to come to an international marathon and Mumbai is one of the biggest ones with I’ve 65,000 participants . I haven’t even been to India before.”
“So I thought it would be a good opportunity to come and see the country for the first time. I’m just really excited, really happy to be here and be a part of it.”
“I’ve only been to, you know, small marathons like like the Miami or New York Marathon. So this is a, this is a great opportunity for me to come to a big one like like Mumbai,” he signed off.
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