Ottawa Lions Sprint and Relay Coach Glenroy Gilbert is leading Canada’s relay program toward the 2012 Olympics.

In 1996, Ottawa Lion sprinter Glenroy Gilbert was part of the Canadian 4x100m relay team that won Olympic gold in Atlanta. In the next two Olympics, however, Canada’s relay teams were unable to re-create the success of the 1996 team, and did not qualify for finals in either the Sydney or Athens Games.

Now, with the funding commitments of the “Own the Podium” program, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Sport Canada, Athletics Canada has introduced six National High Performance Training Centres, including a Relay Centre based in Ottawa. Headed by Glenroy, the Relay Centre ensures that athletes from the 4x100m men’s and 4x400m women’s teams have access to top of the line coaching, sport science and sport medicine specialists, training and competition.

“The best of those things will result in the best performance,” said Glenroy. And indeed, Canada’s relay team performances have rebounded.

With Glenroy as coach, the men’s 4x100m team qualified for the Olympic finals in Beijing in 2008 and placed sixth. More recently, the team earned a fifth place finish at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Now, Canada is aiming for a podium finish in London in 2012.

“That’s the plan,” Glenroy states. “(Reaching the podium) is always the plan. We’re moving in the right direction.”
One of the most important factors in reaching the podium is being able to get athletes to international competitions where they can regularly line up against the best in the world. The increased funding for the relay program has provided this opportunity. “Now that we are able to do that, we’re getting better,” says Glenroy. “Now going into major games, we’ve competed against the best in the world.”

Members of Canada’s relay teams meet in Ottawa four or five times per year to work with Glenroy. Currently, the men’s 4x100m team is Bryan Barnett, Jared Connaughton, Sam Effah, Hank Palmer, Gavin Smellie, and Ottawa Lion Oluseyi Smith. The women’s 4x400m team is Ottawa Lion Esther Akinsulie, Kim Hyacinthe, Jenna Martin, Carline Muir, Amonn Nelson and Adrienne Power.

On the road to London, the men’s 4x100m team is looking for a podium finish at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and a top-4 finish at the 2011 World Championhsips in Daegu, South Korea. The women’s 4x400m team is aiming for top-eight finishes at all three events.