'We want to try and go faster and farther': Olympian Adam Van Koeverden treats movement as medicine

Cheer for Adam in Rio in Men's kayak single 1000m event on Monday, August 15.

Four-time medalist Adam Van Koeverden is competing at his fourth Olympic games this summer in Rio. In this conversation with Candy, he shared some of his favorite moments from each one of the Olympics he has attended.

"Every Olympic experience is totally unique, you look forward to a different set of challenges and a different set of opportunities," Adam told Candy.

He was watching the athletes in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi when he was inspired to write about the unique experience of pain endurance in sport. In the blog, he writes that it may seem masochistic for athletes to put themselves under such duress just to get to the finish line first. But to athletes like Adam, it's a challenge.

"It's what we want to do, we want to try and go faster and go farther," he explained.

Adam also talked about the idea of movement as medicine, and explained to Candy how he finds the motivation to keep going past the point of exhaustion. 

Watch Adam talk about endurance in sport at TEDxToronto: