Lawrence Steinke just wrapped up his sixth trip to the Olympic Games.
In Paris, the head coach of the University of Lethbridge (U of L) Pronghorns track and field team served as a coach for Team Canada’s Athletics roster.
Steinke says, “it’s nice to be back in my own bed.”
The lead-up to the Games was busy for the coach, as he was part of a pre-camp in Barcelona for about four weeks before the Olympics started.
“We say, ‘coach-led and athlete-driven’, but the reason we do the camps is to make sure that we’ve got all the kinks ironed out beforehand,” Steinke explains, adding the pre-camps are an opportune time to make sure athletes are healthy.
At the Games, he says coaches try to take advantage of any free time they can get, but “you’re spending a lot of time focusing on the athletes.”
“You’re pretty much going from about 6 a.m. until about 11 p.m. at night, if not longer.”
He notes when Richmond, B.C.’s Camryn Rogers captured gold in the women’s hammer throw, athletes and staff members were at the venue until about 1:30 a.m. waiting for the post-competition doping test. Eventually, Steinke says they were out until about 4 a.m. before getting the next day started just two hours later.
“As a coach, you’re pretty busy the whole time, basically trying to make sure that things are good enough for the athletes to perform at the level they’re accustomed to or want to.”
Despite the busy schedule, Steinke says it’s a great feeling seeing athletes compete on the world stage, recalling the emotions felt by the whole team after Rogers’ gold medal win.
“Especially the hug from Camryn afterwards where she almost pulled us over the edge of the stadium,” he says with a laugh.
“It’s just so heartwarming to see. I’ve known her since she was about 12 or 13-years-old when she used to come to competitions here on [U of L] campus, so I’ve known and seen her grow up as an athlete and as a person.”
Steinke explains that he oversaw most of the throwers on the roster and tag teamed the thrower events with Richard Parkinson, who coaches shot putter Sarah Mitton. He notes some of the athletes have their personal coaches with them for an experience like the Olympics, “so we’re kind of a liaison [for] what they need to do and get them access to be able to be there at the same time as we are for the training programs.”
Steinke says there is a lot of logistical work on a coach’s agenda, to ensure everyone is where they need to be during the Games. He is proud of the performance of all of Canada’s athletes, saying, “We had fabulous results across the board.”
In total, the Athletics team captured five medals at the Paris Olympics, including gold medals won by Camryn Rogers and Ethan Katzberg in the women’s and men’s hammer throw events, respectively. Alysha Newman won bronze in the women’s pole vault, while Marco Arop captured silver in the men’s 800 metre. The team of Jerome Blake, Aaron Brown, Andre De Grasse and Brendan Rodney won gold in the men’s 4×100 metres relay.
Full results from the Summer Games are available here.
