By Kristina Groves

I suspect it can be easy to lose faith in the sanctity of sport. We are frequently bombarded with tales of cheating, doping and moral transgressions. Inside, we are not immune to such revelations, but being focused on the task of achieving our goals can diminish their impact. Yet it is impossible to deny the sometimes-dirty world of sport. Its reality can become disheartening to even the most idealistic among us.

When faced with such challenges, those issues that attack the very core of what I do, I have happily discovered the best antidote is simply to reopen my eyes to the reason I began my sporting journey: inspiration. Were it not for the cross-country Olympic torch relay in 1988 and legendary Canadian speed skater Gaetan Boucher, my life may have taken quite a different turn. 

At the young age of 11, I was wholly captivated and inspired by the spirit of the Olympic Games and the sport of speed skating. The Olympic flame ignited the inspiration and provided the spark to get me started. That inspiration has fuelled me for 23 years and led me to fulfill many of my life’s goals and dreams. It has guided me to four Olympic medals.

Inspiration is often the reason you decide to do something, anything worthwhile. We are surrounded by sources and moments of inspiration every day.

If you simply open your mind and let yourself absorb these moments, they can be life changing. Inspiration is free, infinite and the most powerful motivational force on the planet. My years in sport have allowed me to experience both ends of the spectrum: from being inspired to being the inspiration. A few weeks after the Vancouver Olympics, I received a letter from a childcare worker in Hamilton who needed to break up a little tussle in the playground one day after my 3,000-metre race. Some kids were running around fighting about “who got to be Kristina Groves.” He smoothed over the situation by telling the boys they could take turns being Kristina Groves and subsequently watched as they raced around in circles with one arm on their backs. I laughed out loud when I read this and many other letters I received in the weeks and months following the Games. This was just one of several heartwarming stories about the small, but far-reaching impact I had made on the youth of the nation.

I have come full circle on the cycle of inspiration. The best thing is that if you choose to hang on, you can keep going around forever.

To me, that is the true power of sport: its ability to inspire. The greatest legacy we can hope for from the Vancouver Olympics is that it will spawn the next generation of Canadian heroes.

There will always be naysayers who dispute the necessity of sport in society, who claim the money would be better spent elsewhere. Indeed it is difficult, if not impossible, to measure the impact that sport and the subsequent inspiration it generates on people around us, especially the young ones.

Perhaps that is what makes it so powerful and unique: you cannot count, quantify or categorize inspiration – it is ubiquitous and immeasurable. What sport represents is that intangible, magical quality that mysteriously brings out the best in all of us. And that is priceless.

Four-time Olympic medallist Kristina Groves is Canada’s most decorated athlete at the World Single Distance Championships, with 13 medals. At the Vancouver Olympics, she added silver and bronze medals to the two silvers she captured at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Photo courtesy Ewan Nicholson

January February 2011 Issue