“Rooted” is all about the people and places that make us proud to call our community home.
Sometimes the name of a building, street, or public space just becomes synonymous with the area its in. Olmsted Beach is one of those places that was so perfectly attributed to the family of kayakers it was named after, you almost get the sense that it was called Olmsted Beach before Barb or Nancy made their marks in the sport of Kayaking.
“My mother always said that the beach was named after her and we were always happy to defer it as her beach because she was our number one cheerleader,” says Barb Olmsted.
The North Bay native won a bronze medal for Team Canada at the 1984 Olympics in the Women's K-4 500 metres in Los Angeles.
“It is somewhat difficult to describe to someone who has maybe never gotten to that level of achievement in sports, however, I think we all have those moments where we experience some level of tremendous success when achieving a goal,” she says.
“That exhale you have, that feeling of being on cloud nine. You look back on all the hard work that you put into it and you say, ‘this was worth it.’ It's something that you never forget and it's nice to be able to share with those who supported you along the way like parents and coaches. It was a real feeling of euphoria of having achieved a dream I had since I made that commitment in 1975.”
That goal to get there started at a very young age.
“I grew up on Trout Lake, so we were fortunate enough to be able to make use of the beautiful area there. We took swimming lessons there and just being on the lake was a natural way of life for us. The Canoe Club at the time was essentially just down the road on Anita Avenue and I just followed my older brother Peter down to the Canoe Club and that’s how it all started. I was immediately hooked because it was so much fun. I enjoyed being on the water and the comraderies of all my friends.”
Olmstead started to compete and found a lot of success early on. Then in 1975 after winning a silver medal at the National Junior Ladies K2, Olmsted’s coach Tex Mitchell said, “If you really want to be serious about this sport, I would be happy to help you along the way.”
That led her on a decade long journey to that appearance on the podium in L.A.
“The training became much more rigorous and intense and then in 1977, it was that year that I qualified for the Junior World Team and the Canada Summer Games. I competed for Ontario and won three gold medals in the singles, doubles, and fours. So that was sort of the springboard for my tenure on the National Team which I qualified for that fall,” says Olmsted.
“From 1977-1988 I was on the National Team competing for Canada. It was a fairly lengthy tenure and that’s what the experts say, in order to rise to world level competition and be really successful it takes about 10 years and thousands and thousands of kilometers on the water and that’s the commitment I made back in 1975.”
And that commitment paid off, culminating in that bronze medal victory.
“It was something that really kept me focused and it's easy to get down and discouraged because your body is aching, your suffering injuries, there are a lot of obstacles and hurdles you have to overcome, but those are the things that make you more determined to pursue that goal. Standing on the podium and just having achieved that was a pretty special moment.”
Olmsted says no matter what the results were, the competition level to be on the National Team was intense.
“There’s always someone behind you chasing you and you really had to focus squarely on making sure you were as fit as possible and you were doing all the mental and physical preparation necessary to be successful.
Usually, in May we would have selection trials and they were a lot of pressure because that is what would determine the rest of your summer. If you did well at those trials, then you qualified for the national team that would travel to various regattas in Europe and ultimately leading to the World Championships or the Olympics. We basically had to re-qualify for our spots on Team Canada every year. So, if we maintained our spots on the team then we were able to travel, and then we were also eligible for some funding from Sport Canada that really helped to offset some costs associated with training or education.”
And in the 1970s the funding for Canadian Amateur athletes was not as readily available as it is today. Recently there was an announcement by Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli that saw seven different local athletes get a share of $35,000 with the Quest for Gold program.
Olmstead says that would have been a tremendous asset for her and her fellow athletes during their prime. She says, “I think there is more funding now dedicated to athletes which is awesome. I think there’s a much greater awareness of our Canadian athletes competing on the world stage.”
“When I was competing there wasn’t a lot of people who knew what it was that I did and so we would go to these world championships and there would be 10 or 20 spectators in the stands and they were all family,” Olmsted continues. “It is so different now and even in Kayaking there’s a much greater profile and part of that is because Canada has enjoyed so much success with Caroline Brunet and Adam Van Koeverden, so that success brings a higher profile.
When I first made the national team, I think we were eligible for about $400-$500 a month from Sport Canada. And they also covered some tuition. It wasn’t an amount you could live on but it was wonderful that the post-secondary education costs were covered so that really helped offset my ability to go to Queens University and because kayaking is a summer sport I was able to concentrate on my studies during the winter months and then have the summer to compete.”
And it was through that education at Queens that led Olmsted to that next phase of her life.
“Once I retired in 1988, I went back to school and finished my Master's Degree, I already had my Bachelors of Education but I wasn’t really sure if teaching was what I wanted to do but I applied and was successful in getting a job at Widdifield Secondary School which was my former high school so that was really fun to go back as a teacher and enjoy in everything that made that place special.
Olmsted says, “I did that for 12 years teaching physical education and science, then an opportunity came up at Nipissing University and after taking a few years of leave from Widdifield I made the transition to post-secondary full time. The Dean at the time said we need a Phys-Ed program at Nipissing and thought I was the person that could pull it all together.”
With her partner Heather Windrem, the two set out to take a look at what makes a university program work. “Heather graduated from Lakehead and I’m a graduate of Queens and we just wrote down courses on cue cards and we just started shuffling things around, so we essentially married two Phys-Ed programs, bringing together the best of what each program brought,” says Olmsted.
“It had to go through various levels of academic proposals. It did meet some resistance because it looked a little thin and there are so many other Phys-Ed programs in the province, but the timing was right because so many other institutions were transitioning their programs to kinesiology. I felt very strongly that ours had a focus on education and with a variety of requisite activities it would better prepare a Phys-Ed teacher for their careers. And that focus and outline is still in place with that program today. And I think it's one of the best programs of that kind in the province.”
Speaking of best in the province, many will say Olmsted Beach itself has views that can’t be beaten. Olmsted says it is a true honour to have her family name etched in the fabric of this city.
“My dad had a hand in running the North Bay Canoe Club so that carries the Olmsted name and links it there as well. It is an amazing honour and it's pretty special to think that your hometown has acknowledged your excellence in your field. I’ve traveled to almost every European nation to compete for Canada but when it comes right down to it, we’re pretty proud to say we’re from North Bay.”
If you have a story suggestion for the “Rooted” series, send Matt an email at [email protected]
