Rio Roundup: On the Eve of the Games

So what are our athletes feeling on the eve of the Games? Certainly nervousness, but there is an exhilaration, an excitement that goes with this moment. They may be wondering if their training and preparation has been good enough for the performance they seek. Will their carefully planned routine or strategy carry the day? What challenges might their competitors pose?

Behind them now are the fatigue and monotony of training and the impossible pressure of selection – that time when they didn’t know if they were good enough for their country, let alone the world.

They are rested and eager with anticipation, almost buzzing with a schedule that forces them to do so much less than they are accustomed to. Some will have trouble sleeping, lying awake pondering all the possible outcomes. Others will sleep like babies (I never understood how, but they do).

But to a person, I can assure you that there is nowhere they would rather be, and no country they would rather be representing.

I always felt that the 15 minutes before a World Championship or Olympic final were the most alive I could feel. The colours felt sharper, the sounds crisper. The red on every Canadian’s uniform will stand out a little bit more than usual in Rio, and Oh Canada, when it is sung, will never have sounded so sweet.

– Jeff Powell, CSCM general manager and former Olympian

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About CSCM:

The Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba (CSCM) was created as one of the many legacies of the 1999 Pan American Games held in Winnipeg. Today, CSCM is the hub for high performance sport in Manitoba. A proud member of the Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, CSCM works to provide a world-class, multi-sport daily training environment for athletes and coaches through integrated services and programs in the fields of physiology, strength and conditioning, nutrition, psychology and support services.

For more information, contact:

Jeff Powell
General Manager, Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba
Direct Line: 204.474.7148 | Email: media@cscm.ca