Multi-talented Canadian sprinter Jerome Blake yearns for more success after triumphing on the world stage
Model, actor and world champion.
Canada’s rising sprint star Jerome Blake thrives in the spotlight.
On his Olympic debut in Tokyo 2020, the Kelowna, BC native won silver in the 4x100m relay for Canada.
“It was pretty cool because we ran the Olympics together last year,” said Blake after the race. “I have a lot of family and friends watching and that was special to me. Especially having my mom just standing on the doorstep to watch me run well.
Blake, who was born in Buff Bay, Jamaica and works as an actor in film and television while also doing some modeling along with stand-up comedy, moved with his family to the Okanagan region of BC during his senior year of high school. school.
“Kelowna is where my mom lives today. That’s where my two brothers still live. So Kelowna is home and, you know, that’s where my heart is,” Blake told Global News.
LOOK | Jerome Blake inspired by Canadian sprinting legend Donovan Bailey:
On his Olympic debut, Blake won a silver medal in the 4×100 meter relay for Canada and earned a gold medal in the World Championships in the same event.
Blake grew up in Jamaica and was a 400m hurdler, high jumper and long jumper as a student, with a dream to represent Canada in an Olympic Games since listening to Jamaican-born Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey talk about Atlanta 1996.
After moving to Kelowna, BC, he was noticed by a coach who encouraged him to take sprinting seriously.
“Technically, I wasn’t really into sprinting at first because it was super tough,” Blake said in an interview with Canadian Sport Scene. “I wasn’t really the best at it. I was drawn to things I was best at and that was high jump and long jump.”
Blake made his international debut for Canada at the 2018 NACAC Championships in Toronto, but it was a year earlier at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg where retired Canadian sprinter Glenroy Gilbert recalls that a young Blake caught his eye.
WATCH l Canadian men’s gold in 4x100m relay at athletics worlds:
Canada’s Aaron Brown, Jerome Blake, Brendon Rodney and Andre De Grasse topped the podium in the men’s 4x100m at the 2022 World Championships in Athletics.
“[He was] running on pure talent with no strength or development,” Gilbert, now head coach of Athletics Canada, told CBC Sports. “I always thought Jerome could be a good sprinter. [He] finally did what he needed to do, training in an environment of world-class athletes that would push him to run fast. It’s hard to say where the ceiling is for him.”
With the 2023 track and field season underway, Blake is eager to compete alongside his Canadian teammates while focusing on his individual performance.
Blake finished sixth in 20.39 at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet.
“I’m sure it will be fun to compete against each other so early in the season. [maybe] some Canadian [Olympic] trials can look like [in late] July. But my focus is on driving the race as best as possible.”
For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians – from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community – check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project that Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
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