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Newsletter By Dan Plouffe, Martin Cleary, Adam Beauchemin, Jackson Starr, & Kaitlyn LeBoutillier
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games officially got underway with a spectacular flotilla down the Seine, and while a water ceremony was a first for Ottawa’s Glenroy Gilbert, experiencing the opening of an Olympics most certainly is not.
The Paris Games mark the 11th time Gilbert has participated in the Olympics, whether as an athlete or a coach, and his 10th consecutive Summer Games.
In his latest High Achievers column, Martin Cleary writes that Gilbert should be in the conversation for Canada’s greatest Summer Olympian of all-time.
Eleven Olympic appearances is believed to be a national record, and if so, it will be matched in Paris by equestrian’s Ian Millar of Perth. Millar, who holds the record for the most Olympic appearances by an athlete at 10, will attend his 11th Summer Games in Paris as Canada’s chef d’équipe for jumping.
A former accomplished Laurentian High School and Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club sprinter and long jumper, Gilbert competed in four Summer Olympics as an athlete – 1988 in Seoul for long jump (22nd), 1992 in Barcelona for the men’s 4×100-metre relay (did not finish, semifinal), 1996 in Atlanta for men’s 4×100-metre relay (gold medal) and for the 100 metres (22nd), and 2000 in Sydney for men’s 4×100-metre relay (11th).
His fifth Olympic appearance as an athlete came at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, when he was part of Chris Lori’s bobsleigh crew that was 11th in the four-man and 15th in the two-man.
After Gilbert retired as an athlete, he joined Athletics Canada in 2002 and was the lead speed and power coach for sprints and hurdles at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics before becoming the team’s head coach for the 2020 and 2024 Games.
As an athlete, Gilbert, who also was a men’s 4×100-metre relay gold medallist at the 1995 and 1997 world championships, earned one Olympic medal, but it was the elusive gold.
As a coach, he was a contributor to many Canadian medals over the past five Summer Olympics. When he was an event coach, his athletes won four of the five medals Canada’s athletics athletes earned at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games.
As the national head coach at the Olympics, Gilbert guided his team to its best-ever performance at the Tokyo Games three years ago with six medals (two gold, two silver and two bronze).
“Some days, I see myself as very fortunate. Going to an Olympics is an achievement whether as an athlete or a coach. It’s a blessing. It’s not lost on me as to how fortunate I am. I’m grateful,” Gilbert, 55, said in a recent phone interview about his Olympic journey, which has covered five decades.
Gilbert has the rare opportunity to see the Olympics from two different perspectives and they’re both challenging.
“As an athlete, you dream about it, you dream about actually doing something that’s impressive,” he added. “As a coach, you do impact the athletes, who make it happen by bringing to bear all they have learned in practice.”
Athletes carry heavy loads on their shoulders as they try to perform on demand for a result that can be celebrated by themselves and their coaches.
“As a coach, I felt my job is to be there (for the athlete) to support, to guide and to navigate. Get them through the pitfalls,” Gilbert continued.
“You start that one to two years before the Olympics. Get the athletes to understand the challenges. It has nothing to do with their event, but with the distractions around every Olympics. You plan accordingly for noise, weather and hydration with all kinds of strategies.”
High-performance athletes have lived through the highs and lows of sport and Gilbert is no different.
“I feel I ran the gauntlet,” admitted Gilbert, who has two daughters, Ella Grace and Sadie, a standout shotputter at Paul-Desmarais high school.
There was no better feeling for Gilbert than winning the Olympic men’s 4×100-metre relay gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. There was no worse feeling than being the sprinter missing a baton exchange and having the team disqualified, which happened in the semifinals at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
“1996 was definitely a highlight because we won,” Gilbert said, recalling that blazing race half a lifetime ago, when the Canadian team ran a national-record 37.69 seconds. “Winning the Olympic medal the way we did was remarkable. We didn’t know we could do it. We struggled in the rounds, but put it together in the final.”
You can read more of Gilbert’s reflections on his journey to Olympics #11 in Cleary’s full column here.
Ottawa Olympians in action on July 27:
Day 1 Preview: Derek Gee riding high into Games fresh off spectacular Tour de France debut
Three Ottawa athletes are in action on what they officially call Day 1 of competition Saturday in Paris (though archer Eric Peters and soccer player Vanessa Gilles already had their first events Thursday).
Yesterday, we told you about tennis player Gabriela Dabrowski returning to the site of her first major triumph at Roland-Garros. France is also undoubtedly rapidly becoming a special place for Derek Gee, who will compete in the road cycling men’s individual time trial tomorrow.
After earning a remarkable top-10 overall finish at the Tour de France and a podium position at the Critérium du Dauphiné before that, the 26-year-old phenom from Ottawa will make it three major French cycling events in a row when he competes in Paris.
Gee previously raced in track cycling at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, and now he’ll make his first Olympic appearance on the road for the men’s individual time trial, followed by the men’s road race alongside fellow Ottawan and Israel Premier-Tech pro teammate Mike Woods.
“Derek’s a fellow Ottawa boy, and I’m really proud that he’s made the (Olympic) spot. He’s been racing so well,” Woods said in an interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Adam Beauchemin last week. “It’s going to be really special to be racing with him, and especially as I really think he’s the future of Canadian cycling.”
Gee will be racing in familiar territory as he’ll head into the Olympics fresh off of a spectacularly successful first-go at the Tour de France. Gee placed ninth in the general classification standings and became only the third Canadian to finish in the top-10 at the Tour and the first since 2010.
“Just to line up [at the Tour de France] this year in Florence was a dream come true,” Gee wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. “After three weeks of the hardest racing of my life, I’m so proud to come away from my first Tour in the top 10.”
Gee started racing professionally in 2021 and joined Woods at Israel Premier-Tech in 2023. While this will be his Olympic debut on the road, he is no stranger to the Summer Games.
Gee competed in the velodrome with the Canadian men’s pursuit team, which finished fifth in Tokyo for Canada’s highest placement in the event since 1932.
Gee, who is known as a strong time trial racer, will have his second Olympic event one week after the first. He’ll compete in the road race on his birthday, Aug. 3, when he turns 27.
The men’s road race course in Paris will cover a total of 273 km and features 2,800 metres of climbing and 13 named ascents. Riders will have to maneuver over cobblestone roads and rolling landscapes as they race against a backdrop of iconic Paris landmarks including the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides and the Château de Versailles.
“I’m unbelievably excited to represent Canada for my second Olympic Games in Paris this summer,” Gee said in Cycling Canada’s Olympic team announcement. “Tokyo 2020 was an experience of a lifetime and was a real privilege to race with the maple leaf on my back on the world’s biggest stage.
“Having spent some time in France already this year and seeing the build up, I can’t wait to experience the atmosphere in Paris this summer. I think it’s truly going to be unparalleled, especially at the cycling events.”
Preview: Delayed start to engineering career rewards gymnast Sam Zakutney with title of Olympian
Sam Zakutney will realize his long-held dream when he makes his Olympic debut tomorrow morning in Paris. The 25-year-old Ottawa gymnast will compete in men’s artistic gymnastics qualifying as a member of the Canadian contingent that will end a 16-year absence in the men’s team event.
“This is the first time since 2008 that gymnastics has sent a full men’s team, so we’re really trying to make the most of every opportunity here,” Zakutney notes in a phone interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Adam Beauchemin. “The guys are looking good, so we’re ready to do a great job.”
Zakutney’s road to the Olympics started with the National Capital program in Nepean, where he began competing at age 8, and he clinched his berth to the Olympics in the capital region too.
Zakutney earned his spot on Canada’s Olympic team with an all-around performance that put him solidly inside the top-four at June’s Canadian Championships in Gatineau.
The journey to this high point in his career hasn’t always been easy though, underlines the athlete who also represented the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre before moving to Montreal.
Since 2021, Zakutney has dealt with multiple major injuries, including a torn pectoralis major muscle, a ruptured ACL knee ligament and multiple tears in his right meniscus.
But, even tougher than dealing with the injuries was making the decision to become a full-time athlete once he graduated from Penn State University.
“I’d been a student-athlete for almost my entire life,” recounts the member of the Nittany Lions NCAA men’s gymnastics team. “Then once I graduated from Penn, I knew that I wanted to really give the gym the most attention that I could.”
Zakutney graduated from Penn State in 2020 with a double bachelor’s degree in biomedical and mechanical engineering. Rather than pursue a career in his field of study, Zakutney chose to bet on himself and throw all his energy into gymnastics.
“That was a very stressful decision, knowing that all of my friends are now working the typical nine-to-five and they’re thinking about the rest of their lives, and I’m still kind of chasing my dream,” he highlights.
Now, making his first ever Olympics comes as a massive payoff to a years-long journey built upon a leap of faith.
“Sometimes it can seem almost delusional to some people, but now that I’m here, and now that I actually am living the dream that I’ve always wanted, it’s just so rewarding,” Zakutney reflects.
Zakutney will compete on all six apparatuses (high bar, floor, pommel horse, rings, vault and parallel bars) in the qualification round. He and his teammates will be looking for a top-8 ranking to advance to the team final, while top-8 individual scores on each apparatus will also earn places in event finals.
Dabrowski begins her Paris 2024 women’s doubles tournament alongside partner Leylah Annie Fernandez against a pair from host France. Theirs is the fourth match scheduled on Court 9 at Roland-Garros.
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