Curt Harnett, the athlete’s advocate

by Paul Gains

This feature originally ran in Vol. 6, Issue 3, June/July 2015 of Canadian Cycling Magazine

>>Harnett was named the chef de mission for the Rio Olympics by the Canadian Olympic Committee

Dressed in a Team Canada track-suit top and blue jeans, Curt Harnett sat on a stool at the back of the Rooster Coffee House, a café not far from his home in Toronto’s Greektown. Harnett, one of Canada’s most decorated track cyclists, took a sip from a cup of herbal tea before he revealed how he valued the journey he took to win three medals in four Olympic appearances more than the medals themselves. “I was asked to bring my Olympic medals to an event at my daughter’s school,” Harnett said, “and I spent half an hour looking for them. They were in a basket of my daughter’s stuffed animals. Some of those animals had been awarded medals at some point in time.”

Harnett didn’t smile at his own joke. A young woman, who was apparently eavesdropping and who perhaps recognized the former cyclist from the numerous television appearances he had been doing, looked up from her laptop. A smile was evident on her face.

Spend an hour with Harnett and you learn quickly that he has a keen sense of humour matching his confidence, humility and infectious positivity. All these attributes make him a perfect choice as Canada’s chef de mission for the 2015 Pan American Games.

Somewhere in his house, besides the 1984 Olympic silver he earned in the 1-km time trial and the two match sprint bronzes from the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, there are two world championships silvers, two Commonwealth Games silvers and a gold and a bronze from the 1987 Pan Am Games. He’d likely have to enlist his daughter’s help in finding those, too.

Three decades have passed since his first Olympic experience. The wellbuilt frame that powered him around the oval has expanded ever so slightly. He still has the full head of curly blond locks that featured in 1992 television commercials for Pert Plus Shampoo. Occasionally, he gets teased about those ads, but the money he earned helped reduce the debt he’d amassed pursuing his cycling career.

Today, he maintains fitness by riding some charity events and also offering corporate rides with his partners at WHM Signature Experiences. Clients have included employees of banks, law firms and venture capital groups who network with as many as 70 riders and Harnett for the day. The company’s unofficial motto is the now familiar line “cycling is the new golf.”

“I do know where the Olympic medals are now,” the 50 year old continued on the significance of the medals as he pushed back his trademark sunglasses that keep his hair above his forehead.

“To me, the journey, especially now, as it has been so many years since I was competitive, the journey means more to me. Even when I retired, I made efforts to transition out of that being my only identity – an Olympian. To me, the greatest value of those medals is what they mean to other people, and the ability and opportunity for people to come into contact with them.”

To illustrate the effect those medals can have on others, he told a story of what happened when he returned home to Thunder Bay, Ont., from the Los Angeles Olympics. A family member who had been unable to attend the Games met the 19-year-old Harnett at the airport.

“I have this suit on and beautiful grey shoes on with pink laces. I have a faux mohawk and a silver medal,” he remembered. “She is there and she starts to cry. And she takes my medal and holds it in her hand, in fricking tears. It still impacts me today. She said, ’Never in my life did I dream I would have the chance to hold an Olympic medal let alone know somebody who won one.’ And she was in tears.

“It was like a train smacked me right in the face and brought me right back down and taught me one of the most valuable lessons I have been taught in my life. Those medals mean everything to me, but I don’t need to look at those medals to be reminded of that journey.” He then wiped a tear from the corner of his left eye and turned away.

Riders remember Harnett for more than his incredible competitiveness, but also his leadership skills. Michael Barry, now a retired pro road cyclist, was a wide-eyed junior when he was booked on the same flight to nationals as Harnett.

Barry remembers the airline refusing to accept blame for damaging a fellow cyclist’s bike in transit. “Curt stepped in, dealt with it and made sure the airline took responsibility,” Barry said. “I can remember the rider saying how thankful he was that Curt was there as he wouldn’t have been able to afford the repairs to his bike so likely couldn’t have raced.”

It seems long before Harnett became the chef de mission, he was already a strong advocate for his fellow athletes, which is one of the many duties he has for Pan Am. His position is a volunteer one that fills his days with appearances and interviews relating to the Games. Occasionally, he rides his new custom Mariposa track bike – which was built by Barry and his father – at the Milton velodrome with members of the media. While the Games have been attacked for their political and fiscal challenges, it would be difficult to find a bigger cheerleader than this man.

“When I accepted the role, to me, it was a chance and opportunity to sort of put my money where my mouth is,” he said. “When I was an athlete, I always spoke about the need for summer sport facilities to take our athletes to the next level. This investment, which was led by the Government of Ontario, to revamp and to explore hosting an event like the Pan Am Games, took a major commitment on their behalf.

Building the infrastructure for the Games also took commitment from the host communities. “We have 16 municipalities hosting events,” Harnett said. “But the municipal- ities were not just given the facilities. They were involved in the design and the build, and had financial skin in the game. With almost every facility, what has resulted is an amazing community centre that has high-performance capabilities or a high-performance centre that is a great asset to the community. You can flip that either way.”

In his youth, Harnett didn’t have any real designs on cycling. He played hockey, football and even raced motocross until he broke a collarbone and, in a separate incident, his wrist. “I was racing a Yamaha YZ 80 and I cried the day it was rolled down the driveway and onto someone else’s pickup truck,” he laments.

Harnett might never have become a cyclist if it weren’t for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. He’d been drafted by the team in 1982. The move, however, didn’t mean he’d be skating with the Knights. He was given two options: play with the Knight’s Junior B team, or go back to Thunder Bay to play juvenile hockey. Harnett went with a third option.

“My high school football coach recognized hockey was a priority for me. If there was a hockey practice and a football game at the same time, I was at the hockey practice,” he said. “He pulled me aside one day – he happened to be president of the Thunder Bay Cycling Club – and was trying to get cycling through the school like football. He said ‘I have the perfect way for you to stay in shape for your hockey during the summer months.’

“I borrowed my brother-in-law’s CCM Target – it was two sizes too big – and showed up at the first training day with a hockey helmet, cut-off motorcycle gloves, gym shorts on and a pair of running shoes and went on to win the Thunder Bay High School cycling championships.”

Leading up to the OHL tryout, he trained and raced his bicycle both on and off the track. Success came quickly. In 1982, he took silver in both the individual pursuit and the 1,000 m, and then won the national junior road race championship. Clearly his career in cycling was lining up. When he was faced with another season in Thunder Bay or pursuing a cycling career, he chose the latter. He credits his parents with being catalysts.

“I don’t think many parents would have been very supportive of this cycling thing: wearing spandex, shaving your legs and following that route,” he said. “My parents were both very supportive. My father effectively jumped into this. I got shipped to Toronto from Thunder Bay in the early years, the 1980s. I had a sister who lived down here.”

For the early years, he couch surfed at his sister’s house and at the Brampton home of his new coach Des Dickie. Through his coach’s connections, he wound up training in Trinidad ahead of the 1983 Pan Am Games. Adequate facilities were not available in southern Ontario in those days, which shaped his perception of the 2015 Games being a boon for the sport community.

After he made the case for a sporting legacy, Harnett shook hands, pushed down his sunglasses and headed out. It was off to the next appointment. No time to slow down.