After shocking and emotional testimony on Parliament Hill and recognition of a crisis in safe sport in Canada, how safe are athletes from harassment and abuse heading into the Paris Olympics?
Canada’s high-performance sport system has faced a reckoning since athletes left the Beijing Winter Olympics two years ago.
Athletes spoke of current and past incidents of abuse – mental, verbal, physical and sexual – and the fear of retaliation if they reported it.
MPs heard that the welfare of athletes was being sidelined in the quest for medals.
The bloodshed is not over yet. After two parliamentary committees held hearings on safety in sport, the Commission on the Future of Sport in Canada will once again investigate the issue, despite repeated calls from many quarters for a national inquiry.
“There’s still a lot of work to do, but I think it’s safer,” said Canadian Sports Minister Carla Qualtrough.
“The cultural change that we are all calling for and working for has not happened. There is a greater collective understanding that this is necessary.
The 2024 Olympics officially began Friday with the opening ceremony, though preliminary competitions began Wednesday. The Paralympics opened on August 28 and ended on September 8.
Some of the Canadian athletes who will be on the starting line, on the beam and on the mats in Paris have already felt the change in their environment.
“I feel much safer in the neighborhood”
“I was under a very abusive coach in the last quad, and it really affected my mental and physical health,” said eight-time Olympic champion rower Avalon Wasteneys. “In this annual quad, I had a lot of health issues. I feel so much more supported than before.
“I feel much safer in this environment, from the support staff and coaches to the athletes themselves.
“This kind of safe sports culture has rubbed off on the way we athletes behave.”
But rugby player Olivia Apps said the system was “more reactive and proactive” when it came to safety and national sporting organisations could do more to help athletes feel protected.
“From a systemic perspective, with NSO, I don’t think there’s much that can be done right now to protect athletes in an effective and sustainable way in the long term,” Apps said.
Since 2022, the federal government and the Canadian Olympic Committee have spent approximately $50 million on sport security and mechanisms such as the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner and cultural audit and assessment tools for national sport organizations.
It is still unclear how top-down action can change the way people treat each other. Nor does cultural change happen quickly.
“The wheels are still moving,” said passerby Evan Dunfee. “I’ve seen progress. There’s still a lot to do. It might take a few generations, but at least we’re moving in the right direction.”
Middle-distance runner Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, who represents athletes on Athletics Canada’s board of directors, said changes are afoot.
Canada won 24 Olympic medals in 2021
“There is a trend where older coaches prioritise coach performance over athlete welfare, that trend is starting to be abandoned,” he said.
“The coaches who are emerging today, who are becoming more and more popular, are the ones who are really leading a training regimen that is more in line with the principles of safe sport.”
Canadian athletes won 24 medals, a record for a non-boycotted Summer Olympics, and seven gold medals in Tokyo 2021.
COC CEO David Shoemaker and Own the Podium CEO Anne Merklinger said athletes’ desire to win medals and celebrate is normal, but it should not come at the expense of their physical and emotional well-being.
“I’ve never met a Canadian Olympian who didn’t have a strong desire to win,” Shoemaker said.
“They all do it. We have to take responsibility for not putting pressure on our athletes to win that they didn’t put on themselves.
The Canadian mission staff in Paris includes three mental health specialists and more than 50 sports security officials, Shoemaker said.
“Winning well” was the theme for Canadian athletes in Paris, said Merklinger, whose OTP organization makes federal funding recommendations and provides technical expertise to national sports organizations.
“It’s about building a healthy culture of excellence that puts people first,” Merklinger said.
“What we talk more about is how they succeeded.
“If athletes don’t finish their sporting journey as the best, then we have failed.”
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