Think about Andre De Grasse’s Olympic career, and you might envision him standing on the podium.
Across the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games, every time De Grasse raced on the sport’s biggest stage, the Canadian sprinter would come through with a medal.
Whatever the circumstances, De Grasse was undeterred.
At these Paris Olympics, though, it seemed the Canadian had finally hit a snag as he failed to reach either the 100- or 200-metre final.
But, once again, De Grasse defied the doubters.
On Friday at the Stade de France, the 29-year-old, who only a couple days earlier revealed he was dealing with a hamstring injury, anchored Canada’s men’s 4x100m relay team to a stunning victory, moving him into a tie with swimmer Penny Oleksiak as Canada’s most decorated Olympians with seven medals each.
This one even seemed to surprise De Grasse. After crossing the finish line, he embraced longtime teammate Aaron Brown with his left hand, still clutching tightly onto the baton, thrown around Brown’s shoulder and his right hand on his forehead and his neck tilted to the sky in apparent disbelief.
WATCH | De Grasse anchors Canadian relay team to gold in Paris:
Andre De Grasse, Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney claim the Olympic gold medal in the 4×100-metre relay with the winning time of 37.50.
And so, even though De Grasse will be 33 years old by the time the L.A. Olympics roll around in four years, it would be unwise to suggest Friday’s relay might be De Grasse’s last moment on the Olympic stage.
It all began with an iconic image in Rio.
Then a burgeoning contender, all five-foot-nine and 154 pounds of De Grasse smiled mid-race up at the legendary Usain Bolt, a giant of the sport at six-foot-five and 207 pounds, who grinned back as if to say, “sure, little brother.”
Yet there was the Canadian, light and cocky and believing wholeheartedly that he could dethrone the king — and having fun doing it.
The scene unfolded in the 200-metre semifinals, De Grasse attempting to use youth to his advantage by pushing Bolt before the medal race. But the Jamaican edged him by two-hundredths of a second, and he ran the same 19.78 to win gold the next day. De Grasse earned a silver at 20.02 seconds.
De Grasse never did take Bolt’s mantle, as it seemed he might for a split-second there in Brazil. Instead, the Markham, Ont., native simply succeeded Bolt as the 200-metre champion in Tokyo, one of six Olympic medals to his name.
The story of Andre De Grasse is one of confidence, consistency and clutchness.
His six medals in six straight events over two Olympics still leave Akeem Haynes, who won bronze with De Grasse in the Rio relay, in awe.
“It’s so much pressure. And one of the things that people from the outside looking in don’t equate and don’t add into the mix is there’s a nervousness that comes. You may not feel it in the heat, you may not feel it in the semis, but in the finals and everybody’s watching for a split second, they’re going to feel it,” Haynes said.
“And Andre has this ability to stay calm in the midst of chaos, to stay calm in the midst of pressure. And that calming feeling is what has helped him throughout his career.”
‘Icing on the cake’
In Paris, things weren’t moving along so smoothly for De Grasse until Friday.
And given the increase in injuries De Grasse has dealt with since Tokyo, and as the rest of the world has gotten faster — De Grasse also missed out on the podium at the most recent world championships — it seemed like the magic may have dwindled.
We know now that it didn’t. But even if De Grasse had left Paris without any hardware, Haynes said his ex-teammate’s already exceeded expectations.
“In my opinion, when everybody says, ‘oh, you know, Andre has this many medals and this and that,’ I personally think he’s overachieved. This is all icing on the cake,” Haynes said.In his early teenage years, De Grasse harboured hopes of a professional basketball career — perhaps an early sign that he would not allow any limitations, height or otherwise, to get in his way.
It is no wonder, then, that he showed up to his first high school track meet in basketball shorts, nor did he bother with starting blocks. Even still, he ran a 10.91 in the 100.
De Grasse broke out internationally at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, where he completed the 100-200 double.
His first encounter with Bolt came later that year at the world championships, where the marquee race was again the semifinal, and where the towering Jamaican beat De Grasse by a hair despite stumbling out of the blocks.
In Rio, De Grasse won bronze in the 100 and 4×100 to go with his 200 silver.
The Rio races raised hopes that De Grasse could follow in Donovan Bailey’s footsteps as the fastest man in the world.
Bailey watched the Rio 100 from the CBC Olympics studio in Brazil, where cameras caught him jumping up and down during the race, stride for stride with De Grasse, and shadow-boxing in celebration when his fellow Canadian crossed the line in third place.
He said he still gets nervous watching Canadian sprinters.
“There’s a standard that I set which was being the greatest sprinter on earth, the greatest sprinter in history and happened to wear the Canadian uniform. And what Andre has done in his career is definitely take advantage of the opportunities every single time he was at the world stage,” Bailey said.
In the wake of Rio, Bolt himself stoked the fire surrounding the De Grasse hype.
“He came through again. He’s going to be good; he runs just like me. I mean, he’s really slow at the blocks, but when he gets going, he gets going,” Bolt said after his final Olympics.
Sense of calm
Bolt’s prophecy proved true, though De Grasse’s flawed starts were far from fatal, as the next Olympic cycle proved.
The Canadian returned to five years later for the Tokyo Games and collected his first gold medal in a 200m race against American Noah Lyles, who did not lose again in the discipline until a stunning loss on Thursday to Botswana’s Letsil Tebogo.
De Grasse also picked up another 100 bronze, as well as a relay silver in Japan.
One year later, De Grasse anchored the relay team to an upset win over Lyles and the U.S. at the world championships in Eugene, Ore.
”I never count him out no matter what’s happening,” said Robert Esmie, a member of the Canadian Olympic champion 4×100 relay team alongside Bailey in 1996. “He’s a show guy. He shows up at the right time, at the right place. His mental attribute is way superior than a lot of the peers out there.”
WATCH | De Grasse reacts to being named flag-bearer for opening ceremony:
CBC Sports’ Scott Russell speaks with the six-time Olympic medallist about receiving the honour alongside weightlifter Maude Charron.
The sense of calmness helps power De Grasse in those relay anchor legs, which can often devolve into chaos.
Haynes said there’s one other reason he succeeds in that spot, too.
“Andre has always been able to deliver on that anchor leg because he doesn’t have to push out the blocks. He’s already upright running,” he noted.
“And there is also this added thing in the relays, it’s like you’re not running just for yourself. You’re running for your group of your boys, your friends, your people.
“And so I just think when Andre is on that anchor, like man, he’s able to just run free and he’s able to just go and just catch guys. And if we got the lead, he’s going to hold it off.”
More left to give
It remains to be seen what the future holds for De Grasse — it was somewhat startling to hear the broadcast note that he was the oldest man in his 200 heat in Paris, when those Rio memories somehow still seem so fresh.
Bailey called De Grasse’s career to date “impressive,” but challenged him for more.
“I’d like to see him rank number one in the world before he retires. I would like to see him get a couple of world records,” Bailey said.
Conversely, Haynes said De Grasse should be satisfied no matter if he competes at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles or not.
“Athletes always have a high level of pressure on themselves and you always want to perform extremely well. And so many times we get fixated on the medals. … But I would just hope that he is just enjoying the moment. I think it’s important for him to remember that like, man, he’s overachieved.”
Yet Bailey and Haynes agreed that if he chooses, De Grasse could have more to give.
“I think he’s going to get better in the next two years, in my opinion, if he can stay locked in and stay motivated,” Haynes said.
At this point, though, De Grasse’s resumé is set with two gold medals among seven total, tied for the most ever for a Canadian.
In a blur of gold, silver and bronze, De Grasse imprinted himself in Canadian Olympic lore.