Charmaine
Crooks was just 17 years old when she made the Canadian Olympic team, starting
an impressive track and field career than lasted 20 years. She and her relay
teammates took away a silver medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and in 1996 at
Atlanta she was Canada’s flag bearer for the opening ceremony.
She
is one of only two Canadian women to be asked to join the International Olympic
Committee, an organization that despite its problems remains one of the most
powerful and recognized groups in the world. Barely a year goes by when Crooks’
efforts, whether humanitarian or sport driven, are not recognized in some form.
She
was recently elected vice president of the executive committee of the World
Olympians Association.
Crooks
sat down in Vancouver with reporter Clare Ogilvie to talk about her life and
her passion for sport, and what the Olympics can really do to create change on
a personal and global level.
Pique:
Vancouver and Whistler have just marked the two-year countdown to the Games.
What does Vanoc need to focus on in the next two years to get ready?
Charmaine
Crooks: Really we are now in the operational phase and we are learning from the
test events, such as the ones that happened recently. It is now about holding
steady on the course. The high praise we just got from the IOC (The
International Olympic Committee visited Vancouver for an update last week) was
confirmation that we are on track but we must never take our eyes off the
finish line.
Pique:
What do you enjoy doing when you are not involved with all of your Olympic,
sport, and humanitarian commitments?
CC:
Well, I am reading two good books right now, (President Bill) Clinton’s book
Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World and I am reading (former chair of
the U.S. Federal Reserve) Alan Greenspan’s book The Age of Turbulence:
Adventures in a New World. It is fantastic. I love reading books about key
leaders who have changed our lives and who have impacted us. But I am a pretty
driven person and I love to work. Of course, I love to have fun and love
gourmet cooking, especially Caribbean food.
I do
some work for charities as well. My dad passed away from prostate cancer and my
mom from a very rare lung cancer, so if there is a chance for me to do
something in their honour I will do that.
A
lot of my focus now on the charity front is with a humanitarian aspect. I am
driven specifically to do some work there.
Pique:
How long have you lived in B.C.?
CC:
I moved here in the end of 1989 (to train with 2006 Canadian Olympic Hall of
Fame inductee Dr. Doug Clement, who is widely regarded as one of the top track
and field coaches in Canada. He is a two-time Olympian who has also been selected
to represent Canada in at least 30 international events as a coach, general
manager and medical staff member.)
Pique:
What do you love most about living in B.C.?
CC:
The people — definitely the people. And I love our beautiful terrain.
Everywhere you go you see either the water or the mountains and it really is
awe inspiring.
Pique:
You are a five-time Olympian and represented Canada for close to 20 years in
athletics. Do you still work out?
CC:
Whenever I travel I have this thing that I will stay on the same floor as the
fitness centre so I can roll out of bed and get to the gym once or twice a day.
I walk a lot and I run maybe twice a week. I love lifting weights. That is the
thing, to build your bones and build your strength. I always say as the age
goes north the body goes south, so lifting weights is important. I watch what I
eat and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
For
me it really is a health matter. When I ran my body was an instrument to
perform, now it is an instrument to stay healthy. It is not always easy but I
try.
Pique:
How did you become a runner?
CC:
We moved to Canada from Jamaica when I was about five years old and all my
(eight) brothers and sisters were involved in sports. My dad was very athletic
too. He used to lift weights and run, and after coming home from work he would
still find time to cross the street and go for a run around the park. And my
mom loved to run and ran track (growing up) in Jamaica.
We
lived right across the street from a park (in Toronto) and the park would be flooded
and I would try to speed skate a couple of times.
But
it was really running that captured me.
When
you have a big family you can’t afford to buy the fancy skates and buy all
kinds of equipment, but running was a really natural activity that we all did.
I
always say that the first running we did was because we were a family of nine
and there were six seats at the table so the first to run and get a seat were
the first shift for eating.
Pique:
When did you first think about the Olympics?
CC:
I always knew that I wanted to go to the Olympics. Watching the 1976 Montreal
Games I remember being inspired by Greg Joy, who was the high jumper. I just
remember the pageantry and coming home everyday and watching the Games and
really being motivated — and not just by how the athletes were doing, but by
the whole bigness of it.
The
common thread with getting involved with sport and with training has been the
real exposure to so many different countries and so many different kinds of
athletes with the same drive to want to be the best, but yet we all had that
unique celebration of our country and who we were and we knew that what we were
doing wasn’t only for us, it was to bring great pride to your community and
your country.”
Pique:
You are involved in the community at various levels. Can you tell me about what
you are seeing particularly for young women in Canada?
CC:
“I think a lot of the encouragement for young girls in sport comes from the
family. Knowing that they have an environment where they are encouraged to be
who they want to be, and sport is another vehicle for that outlet. Schools are
also very important for that.
From
the Olympic point of view and sport participation, participation rates are
going up, it is very clear — there are more kids playing soccer and so on.
But
you get the drop-off around the time they are teens.
We
have to continue to expand and make facilities accessible to young girls and
sport programs for education which tell young girls that, yes, it is possible
to have this career path in sport, but if you don’t have this career path it is
also possible to make sport and activity part of your daily routine so whether
you are eight or 80 you can always have physical activity for your health.
But
I think the best way to really ensure that women in sport is sustainable is by
having female leaders, so they are in a positions to make decisions when these
key events go on.
Pique:
You are one of the very few women in the history of the Olympics to be invited
to join the IOC and are still serving with its commissions. You were also
recently elected to the Board of the World Olympians Association. How has this
helped women in sport?
CC:
“Positional power gives you a chance to have a voice at a table, but I think
that it is more than that. It is a collective effort of many people doing many
things, and working with men in key leadership roles as well to help them
understand that their wives are getting involved with sports or their
grandchildren or their daughters.
You
have to work with the organizations that are there to remind them of the value
that can be placed on the women in sport because they can empower other women,
and they are role models for other women whether it is in business, culture, or
sport.
There
is also a huge responsibility that the IOC has along with other sport
organizing committees to ensure that what we do from a humanitarian point of
view can also touch young women as well.
There are programs that try
to ensure that young girls in war-torn countries or countries where traditional
sport might not be acceptable work around religions and traditions and cultures
and those help.
We have to be sensitive to
that so I think when you are a woman on those boards you can be more sensitive.
One of my greatest examples
is Nawal El Moutawakel the first Muslim woman to win a gold medal (hurdles) in
1984 (Summer Olympics in Los Angeles) and a very good friend of mine. She
started the very first women-only race in Morocco. I went to one of the first
ones when there was only about 1,000 people there. Now about 20,000 women go of
all religions and they are running through the streets of Casablanca and it is
because she is a female leader who said; ‘Look, I want young girls in my
community and my country to get involved in sport.’ So she created a sport that
is relevant to the young women there and made that happen. And that had nothing
to do with positional power it had to do with what was in her heart - she did
what was right.
Now she is an IOC member and
that is an example of someone who does great work.
Pique: What would you say to
young people about what the 2010 Games will mean to them?
CC:
I always say to the kids to keep their hearts and keep their minds open and to
find ways to be engaged, to learn about the many facets of the Olympics. Yes,
it is about building infrastructure, yes it is about what we need from a
facility point of view and what we will leave as a legacy, but the Olympic
movement has been around in its modern capacity for over 100 years and it has
remained relevant for a reason.
And
part of that reason is because the lessons are universal. The pillars on which
it stands, sport, culture, education, sustainability those are all universal
and there is something that each and every one of us can grasp from the pillars
of the Olympic movement. The athletes are what you see but there is so much
behind that, so much more.
Pique:
What can the Olympics achieve?
CC:
It can move a young boy across a track, it can move a city to come up with
creative agendas for the community, it can move a country to accelerate
projects that they have, it can move us to really do so much.
At
the end of the day we are all going to be so affected by (the 2010 Games) and
to find the common good and the common goals should be the end goal.
We
can’t be everyone’s answer to everything but we can certainly use what we have
and the responsibility that we have to create those legacies to our full
advantage. We only have a small window of opportunity for some of these things
but the Olympic door really is always open.
Pique:
What can you say about unethical behaviour in sport such as doping? Do you feel
confident that the IOC is tackling this?
CC:
Absolutely. The pressure from sponsors, the pressures from television, the
pressure to not have kids involved in sport by concerned parents is powerful.
We
have to trust the leadership, but I am all for parents putting pressure on, and
paying attention to their kids when it comes to the coaches or other things.
Parents need to be involved.
We
need more kids involved in sport and especially with all the issues going on
kids and parents need to feel that sport is a safe place.
We
have to have trusted leadership so that parents know that we are going to do
the right thing. I feel a great responsibility to that.
Pique:
Are you confident that things are moving along well as far as the budget, the
venues and so on for the 2010 Games?
CC:
I think we are heading for a great Games. There are things we can’t control, of
course. We can’t control acts of God, and we can’t control how the weather is
going to be.
But
I have been to nine Olympic Games and I am confident. And I am also very
confident about the relationship that the IOC has with VANOC (the Vancouver
Organizing Committee for the 2010 Games).
I
firmly believe that our milestones are there, our budgeting is there… We are
doing well, we should celebrate that, but we should never let our guard down.
We
know that the success of these Games can’t be measured until the last person
has left Vancouver and the torch has been extinguished, so we have to remain on
our toes and alert at all times, but that being said we have a team that is
very prepared.
Pique:
You have talked with athletes from other parts of the world, are they excited
about coming to the 2010 Games?
CC:
They are so excited about coming to Vancouver because they know that they can
trust Canadians. We put on an excellent Winter Games before (in Calgary in
1988). We have hosted major championships before in many sports so we have
great technology. We are known for expertise in sport leadership and we also
have a very strong National Olympic Committee, too. I think one of the things
that will define us, and defines every Games, is that we have to prepare our
athletes to stand on the podium.
Pique:
How can we ensure that there is support for sport after the Games are over?
CC:
Well, building a sport culture is a huge part of it and building a sport
culture is cultivating leadership, it is cultivating volunteers, and it is also
cultivating an environment where people feel that our athletes do deserve that
continued support. And not only our winter athletes but our summer athletes as
well.
There
are some great residual benefits in the training legacy and facilities legacy.
But the success of most Games is the success of the local team. We saw that in
Torino in 2006. As soon as Italy started winning, oh my God, everyone was
engaged. So we need the success of the local team, but that being said any
problems that our team gets into people remember that too.
I
have no doubt that we will win some gold medals but I also have no doubt that
we won’t be winning them at all costs.
That
is also very important.
