After shocking and distressing testimony on Parliament Hill, and after the admission of a safe sport crisis in Canada, to what extent are athletes safer from abuse and mistreatment ahead of the Paris Olympics?
Canada’s high-performance sport system has been under strain since athletes left the Beijing Winter Games two years ago.
Athletes spoke of current and historical cases of abuse – mental, verbal, physical and sexual – and the fear of retaliation if they reported it.
MPs heard that the well-being of athletes was taking second place to the quest for medals.
The bleeding is not over. After two parliamentary committees held hearings on safe sport, a commission on the future of sport in Canada will once again examine these issues, despite persistent calls from many quarters for a national inquiry.
“There’s still a lot of work to do, but I would say it’s safer,” said federal Sport Minister Carla Qualtrough. “The culture change that we’re all calling for and working towards hasn’t happened yet. There’s a better collective understanding of what’s needed.”
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Carla Qualtrough
The 2024 Olympics officially kick off Friday with the opening ceremonies, though preliminary competitions begin Wednesday. The Paralympics will run from August 28 to September 8.
Some Canadian athletes who will be on the starting line, on the blocks and on the mat in Paris have felt a change in their environment.
“I was under a very abusive coach and it was very hard on my mental and physical health,” said Olympic eights champion Avalon Wasteneys. “I had a lot of health issues during that quadrennial. I felt much more supported than ever.”
“I just feel a lot safer in the sporting environment, from the support staff to our coaches, to the athletes themselves.”
But rugby player Olivia Apps says the system is “more reactive than proactive” when it comes to safety and that national sporting organisations can do more to help athletes feel protected.
“Systematically, with national sporting bodies, I don’t think there’s much in place right now to effectively and sustainably protect athletes over the long term,” Apps said.
Since 2022, the federal government and the Canadian Olympic Committee have together spent approximately $50 million on sport security and on mechanisms such as the Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner and a culture audit and assessment tool for national sport organizations.
It remains unclear how much top-down measures can change the way people treat each other. Culture change doesn’t happen quickly either.
“The wheels are moving,” said walker Evan Dunfee. “I’ve seen progress, but there’s still a long way to go. It’s probably going to take generations, but we’re moving in the right direction, at least.”
Runner Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, who represents athletes on Athletics Canada’s board of directors, says change is in the air.
“There’s a trend where the old-school coaches who put the performance of the coach ahead of the well-being of the athlete are dying out,” he noted. “The coaches who are emerging now and becoming more popular are the ones who are following coaching rules that are more in line with safe sport.”
Canadian athletes won 24 medals, a record for a non-boycotted Summer Games, and seven gold medals in Tokyo in 2021.
COC President and CEO David Shoemaker and Own the Podium CEO Anne Merklinger say it’s natural to want athletes to win medals and to celebrate when they do, but it can’t come at the expense of their physical or emotional well-being.
“I have yet to meet a Canadian Olympian who doesn’t have a strong desire to win,” Shoemaker said. “They all do. It’s up to us to not put one ounce of pressure on our athletes to win that they don’t already put on themselves.”
The Canadian mission in Paris staff includes three mental wellness specialists and more than 50 safe sport officers, Shoemaker said.
“Winning well” is the theme for Canadian athletes in Paris, says Merklinger, whose organization makes federal funding recommendations and provides technical expertise to national sports organizations.
“It’s about building a healthy culture of excellence where people come first,” Merklinger said. “It’s how they go about achieving success that we’re talking about more. If athletes don’t finish their athletic journey as the best people, then we’re not successful.”