The Olympics and another, much less important sporting event that happened

By Thandiwe Vela

As if Canadian varsity athletics didn't already get the least bit of attention, this year the provincial track and field championships happened to coincide with the final days of the Olympics. The Olympics, on home soil to boot.

Even my favourite coach Dave Hunt went to Vancouver to cheer on our athletes there.

I too, slept quite late the night before watching Joannie Rochette compete to win bronze.

And there's no doubt many of my teammates stayed up watching the Olympics as well. After all, Olympians are what we aspire to be, no matter how far-fetched that dream may be for some of us.

No worries sports editors, we understand that your departments were stretched with Olympic coverage, so there were no breaking news alerts when Varsity Blue Michael Del Monte [pictured] broke an OUA record. And - please excuse the shameless plug - there were no post-run interviews after my women's 4x200-metre relay team took the silver medal (shout out to my teammates Athena, Alicia and Jessica).

But then again, I don't recall ever seeing reporters and TV cameras clamouring to get a few words from the varsity champions in years before.

And no Canadian sports legend ever felt snubbed by lack of formal invite to the provincial championships.

I did get a little excited when I bumped into CTV's Andria Case at a championship meet last year. Just as I was prepping for my on-air interview, she introduced me to her husband, a track coach. She was off duty that day.

Now that I think about it, inter-university sports never really needed the Olympics to be ignored.

Well, if anyone cares, nationals are next week.

Thandiwe Vela is a student, a track athlete and secretary of the Canadian Association of Black Journalists. Her goals are to graduate, to be president of her native Zimbabwe (if the position ever frees up), and to beat Usain Bolt in a 60-metre match race. tvela24@hotmail.com