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Celebrating Black History Month: Get to know Greg Arkhurst

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In honour of Black History Month, Swimming Canada is taking the time to celebrate the contributions and achievements of Black Canadian swimmers and coaches in our community.

Meet Coach Greg Arkhurst, the Head Coach of Montreal’s CAMO club, where he coaches such swimmers as Olympic medallist Katerine Savard. Arkhurst was born in Ivory Coast, spent his teen years in Paris, and later emigrated to Canada. He competed for Ivory Coast in two Olympic Games, one as a resident of Canada, before retiring as a swimmer after the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal. Arkhurst was part of Team Canada’s coaching staff at last year’s FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in Abu Dhabi, Canada’s most successful ever. He is believed to be Canada’s first black national team coach. Arkhurst recently took the time to discuss his journey from Abidjan to Montreal with Swimming Canada, and share some of the lessons he’s learned along the way.

If there is water, you can swim.

How did you get started in swimming?

I love the sport because of one man, a friend of my parents back in Ivory Coast. He was a French guy named Andrew who was always with us and a sport lover. He’s passed away now but when you’re a kid you always have people you look up to. He was an impressive athlete, a nice man, and a good talker, I was just impressed by him. We did everything together and spent some good times. One day we were playing at racing in the lagoon in Ivory Coast, he looked at me and said, ‘Wow, you could be a good swimmer.’ For him to tell me I was good at something, I fell in love with the water and pursued it. We would find a lagoon of water, three or four guys and we would race. He said, ‘You should swim,’ and I went for it.

What did “going for it” look like in Abidjan at that time?

I was training in a small club two times a week. My parents wouldn’t drive me so I took the bus. The conditions of training are, how can I say.. I learned how to adapt from them. You adapt to what you have. If there is water, you can swim. If there is 10 people, 20 people, 30 people per lane, you survived that. I wasn’t thinking more than that. The competitions there, the atmosphere was very, very different (from Canada). I did my first competition at 11, and I won a couple of competitions, a couple of junior national championships. We had a 25-m pool and we were swimming in a hotel sometimes. There was one good 50-m pool in Ivory Coast. Now there is more, but back in the day there wasn’t that much. The lanes were really ropes, a 4-lane, 25-m pool with lots of waves. The numbers on the clock were painted by hand. The camaraderie and sharing of accommodations at competitions with six or eight to a room, it was very, very interesting. Sometimes you could not even see the bottom of the pool, or could not swim for two months because the pool was broken and they could not repair it. There was no activation on deck.

Did you participate in other sports?

I also did track and field, tennis, I was into a lot of sports, basketball as well. In team sports, you could have an amazing game, defend well, score points, but you lose. Or you play bad and you win. I had trouble with this. I like the responsibility you have to take when you race by yourself. I love soccer and all those sports, but I wanted to swim

How did you end up relocating to Paris and eventually Canada?

I swam at the Olympics in 2000, met my wife there, in 2004 I came to Canada as an immigrant, and now I’m here.

When my parents got divorced I had to move to Paris at 13. I came in thinking I was the champion of the world. My friends sent me to Clichy, my first coach Serge Leclaire told me, ‘OK, we have to learn everything from the beginning.’ But I grinded and grinded and I was the only one from that group who made the national championships in France. I moved on to more swimming, got the opportunity to swim for Ivory Coast, everything went from there. I swam at the Olympics in 2000, met my wife there, in 2004 I came to Canada as an immigrant, and now I’m here.

What are your best memories from your swimming career?

In Africa many times I had different championships where you’re promised to go, you do everything to go, and when you were supposed to go, you received a call that they didn’t have the money, or another sport is going. I experienced a lot of disappointments like this. Going to my first Olympics I knew I would believe it when I was really, really there. I would even say that to my teammates, in the village, I had my accreditation and I said I’d believe it when I’d be in the opening ceremony. That opening ceremony is something I will remember forever, in 2000 it was beautiful. The atmosphere was, wow, the vibes were amazing. The entry, the dancing around, the camaraderie with our team being very small was very good and brought me a lot of joy. The second on is right before my race at the Olympics. I’m in the call room and I see Eric Moussambani. I felt very, very nervous and watching this guy perform at this level and have the support that he had brought me back to my level and I enjoyed the moments before, during and after the race.

You met your wife, two-time medallist Jana Salat, at those Games. How did you get together?

I met her at the end of the Olympics, she was playing for the water polo team for Canada. I took the wrong bus. I was going to the pool and I took the bus going to water polo. I am social and not shy, so I went to these girls and asked them if I was on the wrong bus. My English was very, verv bad at the time, they laughed but they were Quebecois. She was in that group and we connected about three days after. Now I’m here, voila.

How did you stay in touch and end up emigrating to Canada?

I got my coaching degree in France and had the possibility to work abroad and teach in sport-etude. In 2000 my plan was to travel to a foreign country, maybe a French school in a foreign culture. But I decided to keep swimming for four more years. I came here for two years, and eventually decided to immigrate. I met (then CAMO Head Coach) Claude St-Jean in 2001. I decided to swim for him and work a bit for CAMO, it came very naturally. Once I was here, the first 2 years I took an apartment on my own, I wanted to be sure I was here for the right reasons. I decided to do more for coaching, so I trained my equivalency here in Canada, met people in Canadian swimming. When I was finishing my swimming career at the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal, I had been coaching masters for CAMO for the two or three years before that. I joined a small club in St-Lambert, Blue Machine, made a name for myself and moved back to CAMO in 2009.

How does coaching compare to swimming?

I love what I do and I think I’m even more happy coaching.

Both of them are enjoyable but it’s different positions. I’m a little bit philosophical about it. When you are the athlete, you’re going to create the performance each time you go on the blocks. It’s a creation you are doing, every time will be different and you have to create the best you can with the best tools and skills you’ve developed to do that. Now, I’m not creating the performance because I don’t live it as a swimmer. But I’m creating the tools for them to be able to make their own performance happen. It’s very enjoyable as well to be able to help with all the different aspects of their performance. I love what I do and I think I’m even more happy coaching. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and probably getting wiser but I’m trying to enjoy it. Sometimes it’s good to just watch them, how beautiful it is to watch them move on, to watch them express themselves in their training. It’s definitely different skills.

You became head coach of CAMO after last year’s Trials. What did that mean to you?

That’s something I’m very, very proud of because I think that’s the result of a lot of hard work and consistency in the results I’ve been able to bring into CAMO. I could have had opportunities before but I always wanted to have a shot at doing it in CAMO. We have extremely good conditions with training, a good situation with the town and we’ve created a culture of high performance so I really, really wanted to try that. I’m trying to continue this environment and bring it to the next level or at least maintain that spirit of high performance. I’m very, very excited and since Abu Dhabi I’m even more hungry and extremely motivated to work, use the Centre Claude-Robillard to its best and try to produce the best athletes we can. I know I have to be patient. Developing good swimmers takes time. We have some good older swimmers in Katerine Savard and Mary-Sophie Harvey, but some good younger ones coming up. We have a good mix to create a culture of winning.

You were part of Canada’s coaching staff for the FINA World Championships (25m) in Abu Dhabi last year. You’re believed to be the first black coach on the national team, how important is that to you?

If I can inspire more coaches of colour to go to that kind of job and try to perform in the swimming environment, I’ll be very, very happy for our sport. I know it’s a sport where there are not that many black coaches, but if I can help other coaches to say it’s possible, anything can happen. If I opened the door, maybe the door can be open for them. But I don’t think I was there because I am black. I think it’s because I’m a good coach and I’ve done good work. I want to be known for my competence, not the way I look.

Have you faced barriers based on the way you look?

Even today sometimes it’s surprising. You don’t know where they’re coming from, but you hear things like “blacks don’t float,” or ”a black coach is not supposed to coach swimming, he’s supposed to coach basketball or track.” That’s the impression some people have. Racism, people are going to make you feel that you are different. That was true when I was a swimmer, I’ve gone through it as a coach, and still do. But the best you can do is use that as a fuel, make it positive energy, and care about the people who really care about you. There is nothing much now we cannot change. I feel that I’m very, very well accepted by my community here, by my swimmers, but I know that of course there are people who are anti-something. Sometimes it hurts because it’s unfair. There’s a lot of injustice sometimes, but nothing is just in this world, so you just have to try to swallow it and try to move forward. I never see myself as a victim ever. When it’s time to say, “stop, that’s enough,” it’s happened a few times, people received the message and it’s never happened again. When I’m working I don’t see the colour of people. It bothers me that people have trouble to see that way. There is just one race, the human race.

My wife is Slovak, so my kids, they’re a mix of everything.

Do you have a role model you look up to?

My role model when I was young was Michael Jordan. His attitude, his love for playing and competing against the best, and getting the best out of his opponent to play against them was terrific to watch. I’ve got to say I cried when I watched The Last Dance. He was my idol and sharing these moments with your sons who don’t know much about him was nice because they love sports and they asked questions. They care and wanted to know more and dig into my books about him at home.

What do you like to do away from the pool?

I have a black and white Instagram account. I take a lot of street portraits. I stop people randomly in the street and ask if I can take pictures of them.  I try to see stuff not everyone can see. I’ll see a good picture coming. Maybe there’s a direct connection with what we do as a coach. Observing so much probably helps. I’d like to do an exhibition someday. And I started a podcast because I wanted to keep learning during the COVID period and be creative. I wanted to exchange with coaches and different people outside of sport: culture, cinema, whatever. Those people are high performance people and it’s inspiring to learn from them about the way they developed. They deal with winning, good people, bad people. If I didn’t do it I don’t know what I would have found to stay healthy. As well as sports I love to run, and I love reading.

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Do you have any good book recommendations?

They Came Before Columbus (by Ivan Van Sertima). It’s an anthropology book talking about black people actually. It’s very interesting because historically a lot of people think the first black people coming to America came via slavery but that’s not true. Black people had the power of travel and the current could bring them easily. It’s a true story and a lot of historians know that.

What do you love most about swimming?

Witnessing the creations the athletes are going to do. That’s a very beautiful achievement. To be part of it, to help them be their best version they are as an athlete and really, really enjoy the process. Competitions of course I do like, but watching them grow and take ownership and embrace the process is beautiful to watch.

What would you like to see for the future of our sport?

I’d like to see it as well in general society, but to be accepted for what you can do and what you can bring in the moment where you are, more than what you are representing. It’s already changed for the better and I hope it can continue to change.

Note: Interview has been edited for length and clarity