Matt Dionne | Sports and Health Editor
Featured video: Excalibur’s exclusive interview with York athlete and Rio Olympics competitor Brittany Crew. | Alexander DeSouza
At the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City, American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos donned Olympic Project for Human Rights badges during the medal ceremony. During the American national anthem, they raised black-gloved fists to the sky in a display meant to shine light on the inequality present in the United States at the time.
At the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, British sprinter Derek Redmond collapsed due to a hamstring injury during the men’s 400-metre semifinal race. Instead of allowing the medical crew to cart him off, Redmond began to hobble towards the finish line on one leg. The crowd erupted in cheers, and Redmond’s father Jim Redmond fought off security and rushed onto the track to help his son cross the line and finish the race.
At the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette’s mother passed away just two days before she was to compete in the Olympic short program. Rochette decided to compete despite the tragedy and ended up winning a bronze medal, which she dedicated to her late mother in an emotional display.
The Olympics have been inspiring and uniting us for decades, and during the Summer Games this past August in Rio, three York students had the opportunity to make their mark on the Games and etch their names into the annals of history.
Khamica Bingham, Arthur Biyarslanov and Brittany Crew competed in sprinting, boxing and track and field events, respectively.
Twenty-two-year-old Bingham competed in the women’s 100-metre race and the women’s 4×100-metre relay race. In the 100-metre race she placed 25th, finishing with a time of 11.41 seconds.
In the 4×100-metre relay, Bingham and the rest of her team made it all the way to the finals, where they finished seventh with a time of 43.15 seconds.
Twenty-one-year-old Biyarslanov, nicknamed The Chechen Wolf, fought in the 64-kg light welterweight division. His first fight was in the round of 32, where he squared off against Obada Al Kasbeh of Jordan.
The bout lasted the full three rounds and went to a decision, which Biyarslanov won unanimously to move on to the round of 16.
Unfortunately, Biyarslanov wasn’t able to advance beyond his second fight, as he was eliminated in the round of 16 in a bout that again went to a decision.
German boxer Artem Harutyunyan won the first two rounds. Biyarslanov would have needed a knockout to win the fight, which he was unable to accomplish.
After the match, Biyarslanov took to Facebook to voice his frustration with the officiating, writing, “Words can’t describe how disappointed I feel with the judging…we train for years for this moment and they just rob you like that. I felt good in the ring and was sure I won unanimous[ly] but this is what happens in amateur boxing and you can’t do anything about it. Those who watched me and supported me and prayed for me around the world thank you all!”
Biyarslanov isn’t the only one who has been critical of boxing’s officiating in Rio, as Richard O’Brien of Sports Illustrated described it as, “at best incompetent — and at worst corrupt.”
Biyarslanov doesn’t plan on competing at the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo, and instead has set his sights on going pro.
Twenty-two-year-old Crew competed in the women’s shot put event, where she placed 18th with a distance of 17.45 metres.
Crew remained focused during the games, and didn’t allow the moment to overwhelm her.
“I was experiencing some deal of stress leading up to the competition day. The most overwhelming moment was when I was finally selected for the team. Everything you worked for is realized and recognized on that day.
“Leading up to the Olympics I would train anywhere from two to three times a day, five days a week. I would have one to two throwing sessions a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and a lift. We were trying to mimic a typical day of competition at the Olympics where the qualifying was in the morning at 10 a.m. and the Final was at 10 p.m,” says Crew regarding her training regime in preparation for the Games.
Despite all the cameras, Crew didn’t feel any additional pressure to perform. “To be honest it didn’t really feel like the eyes of the world were watching. Since I competed in the early morning during all of the qualifying rounds, there weren’t many people in the stadium. There were many cameras in your face all the time but you aren’t really focused on that. You are there for a job and you are there to focus on what you need to do in order to get the job done,” she says.
According to Crew, the Olympic Village had a lot of amenities, but other than free McDonald’s, it wasn’t that special.
On bonding between athletes, Crew says, “I’d say most of the time we stuck with our own teammates from our own sports just because we had similar schedules and trained in the same area. However, if you went up to the athletes’ lounge at night to watch all the events on the TVs upstairs, that’s when you got to meet and chat with athletes from different teams. Those nights crowding around the TV were probably my highlight of the Games.”
Crew was disappointed she wasn’t able to meet any athletes from other countries because of her schedule, but she did get to reconnect with several other fellow shot putters she had met during other competitions.
“I was a little disappointed with my performance only because I set goals that I didn’t achieve. I wanted to make the top 12 which would have allowed me to qualify for the finals at night, and I also wanted to get a personal best. However, I was ranked 27th and ended up finishing 18th, so I can’t be too upset about that.
“I also was the highest-placing women’s shot putter Canada has ever had at the most recent Olympic Games, and at 22 I’m still very young. Women shot putters don’t peak until their late 20’s early 30’s,” Crew says of her performance.
Crew plans to attend the next Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, and has already begun preparing.
Overall, Canada performed well in Rio. Canada finished ninth overall in medal standings with four gold, three silver, and 15 bronze for a total of 22 medals. The women performed particularly well, accounting for 87 per cent of Canadian medal winners. Canada’s top performers were Penny Oleksiak and Andre De Grasse. Oleksiak won a gold, a silver, and two bronze medals in swimming, while De Grasse won a silver and two bronze medals in sprinting events. Perhaps in 2020 we’ll get to see Crew and Bingham standing on the podium.
