Aaron Brown, the heart and soul of Canadian sprinting, gets his golden moment
Toronto native has dedicated life to track and field in every sense
If Andre De Grasse is the face of Canadian sprinting, Aaron Brown is its heart and soul.
The 32-year-old Toronto native has competed for Canada in each of the past four Olympics as well as six separate world championships.
And while he's never claimed an individual medal at either event, Brown is now an Olympic champion, thanks to his lead leg of the men's 4x100-metre relay on Friday at Paris' Stade de France.
"What I want to leave behind is that I'm someone that always did my best. I'm someone that no matter how many times I fell down, I always got back up. I'm someone that tried to inspire the next generation and give them as much advice as I could when I was in the moment and I was kind of in the spotlight," Brown said ahead of these Olympics.
"I want to be known as someone that gave his all for Canada and really cared about his country and those that supported him."
WATCH | Canada wins 4x100 relay gold:
Across his career, Brown has fully devoted himself to the track and to his teammates. On top of showing up at every opportunity, Brown established himself as a business advocate for his fellow track-and-field athletes, pushing for increased attention and prize money.
"We devalue ourselves too much as athletes in Track & Field. We have to change the game," he once tweeted.
Well, changing the game is a lot easier when you're an Olympic gold medallist — not to mention a silver and bronze medallist as well, from the relays at Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016, respectively. The relay team won the world championships in Eugene, Ore., two years ago, too. And Brown is also, remarkably, a 12-time winner at the Canadian championships across the 100 and 200, where he often topped De Grasse.
Perhaps it's no coincidence, then, that relay coach Glenroy Gilbert said it was Brown who stepped up and delivered the inspirational speech the night before the golden relay in France.
The Canadian squad was being counted out after none of the four men who touched the baton — Brown, De Grasse, Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney — reached an individual final. They entered the final with the slowest qualifying time and raced on the outside Lane 9.
"Before we went in I said a lot of doo-doos happened. I didn't use that word, I used the cuss word, but I'm not gonna say that on TV," Brown told CBC Sports' Devin Heroux moments after the race.
"But I said the best deodorant for doo-doo is an Olympic gold medal. We can cover up anything that happened with gold and that's exactly what we did. I love these guys and I wouldn't be out here with anyone else."
WATCH | Brown and co. discuss relay victory:
The relay splits reveal that the gold medal was truly a team effort. De Grasse's anchor leg was slower than the silver and bronze medallists. Brown was sixth-fastest out of the blocks.
But backing up the face and heart were the guts of the team in Jerome Blake and Brendon Rodney, each running third-fastest in the middle legs.
Altogether, it added up to victory.
Rodney told CBC Sports ahead of the Olympics that after about a decade of running together, the quartet knows each other intimately.
"I've known Aaron probably since I was 14," he said. "It's good for us to be around each other all the time. We're all in the same room at the Olympic Village. We spend 90 per cent of the time together unless we're competing. That's the only time we're not together.
"After 10 years, it's not really much you can say. I know what this guy is going to do. I know what that guy's going to do. And I think they know the same about me."
For their efforts, the relay team will receive $50,000 US from World Athletics to split among themselves — the prize money is a new initiative introduced for Paris gold medallists, and it will be expanded to the rest of the podium at the 2028 Olympics. Individual gold medallists received $50,000 to themselves.
In April, Brown called for every finalist in every event to receive prize money.
Brown has said he draws inspiration from LeBron James, who set the standard for top NBA free agents by never accepting less than the maximum.
"Track and field athletes are overdue for some innovation," he told CBC Sports in 2022. "We shouldn't rely on shoe companies and prize money to subsidize our sport. We need to shoulder some responsibility for the current state of affairs. We need to take ownership of our perceived value and manufacture more of it."
WATCH | Donovan Bailey breaks down Canadian performance:
Now that he's an Olympic champion, it will be interesting to see what comes next for Brown.
His eloquence — he seamlessly dropped a "hang it in the Louvre" line in the post-race interview — may portend a career in media. Perhaps he invests more of his time in business, taking advantage of the moment he's created for himself.
Or, maybe, Brown will return, at 36 years old, for Los Angeles in 2028. Donovan Bailey, who won the 100 with a world-record time at Atlanta 1996, and also anchored the Canadian relay team to gold there, said he wouldn't rule it out.
"There are goals you should pursue," Bailey said, noting his personal accomplishments. "So go get it, man. There's so many things that these guys can still do."
With files from Karissa Donkin, CBC Sports
