Olympic champion sprinter Bruny Surin chosen as Canada's chef de mission for Paris 2024
CBC
He's an Olympic champion, world champion, an Order of Canada member and now Bruny Surin can add Team Canada chef de mission for the Paris 2024 Olympics to his long list of accomplishments.
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) made it official on Friday morning more than two years ahead of the Summer Games.
"I received a call from the COC board to tell me I was the chosen one for Paris and I was just jumping up and down," Surin told CBC Sports. "Even as I'm talking to you now I am at a loss for words. I'm so excited. I'm so happy. And you know, since my retirement, I've always wanted to stay involved with athletes with the new generation to stay in the Olympic movement. This is a great gift."
The 54-year-old, who lives in Montreal, is best known for his involvement in one of the country's greatest sporting accomplishments.
Surin was part of Canada's 4x100m relay team in 1996 that won gold at the Atlanta Olympics, handing the U.S. it's first-ever loss in the event at a Games.
WATCH | COC names Bruny Surin as chef de mission for Paris 2024:
Surin competed for Canada at four Olympics, beginning as a long-jumper in 1988 in Seoul before switching to sprinting. He was inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.
An entrepreneur, athlete, coach, mentor and father, Surin said he'll be able to lean on so many of his life experiences to help lead Canada in Paris as chef de mission, whose primary role is to serve as a spokesperson for athletes in the lead-up and during an Olympics.
"You know what, it's not something that happened overnight. That's something that I was thinking, I would say at least from the last two Olympics. I reached out and told the COC my intention to be involved in everything. Good things happen to those who wait," Surin said.
His mantra ever since he was competing as an athlete has been "the me I see is the me I'll be" – and Surin said he saw himself in the role of chef de mission for Team Canada.
"From years ago, I pictured myself in that role. And that is happening. You know, that's why I said to people, you have to be patient, you have to always think positive, you have to do the work," he said.
"I'm going to give it my all. This is something that I am going to take it very, very seriously."
Surin was originally born in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti before moving with his family to Canada in 1975.
He remembers what his mom shared with him when they first arrived in Quebec to begin their life in a new country.
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This First Person column is the experience of Andrew Stetson, a writer and storyteller in P.E.I. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.
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