James Juhasz of Oakville, Ontario is the one of the latest young athletes to be making strides for the summer Olympic games. Its been two months since the 21-year-old moved to Malta, to begin a new chapter in his Olympic training career. Since moving to Malta, James is now currently training with some of the best young sailors from around the world.
“As a group they are working with a young coach who has a lot of ambition and has Olympic experience from 2016. This combination under the oversight of world-renowned Olympic coach Trevor Millar, based in the amazing sailing destination of Malta is hopefully putting James on a course to success,” explains Samiha Fariha, public representative for James.
Trevor Millar’s coaching record is to say the least, impressive. With his athletes winning everything from Olympic medals, to World number one rankings, it’s hard not to get excited for the young Olympic hopeful. But, the dream to represent Canada on the world’s biggest stage will have to wait another four years.
Canada’s sailing team did not qualify for the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. But, that gives the young laser sailing star more than enough time to train and prepare for Paris, to which he has been doing just that.
These last two months for James have been spent: six days a week sailing on the water and five days in the gym, which has certainly been an adjustment for the laser sailor.
“Having spent the last few months with limited training in Kingston and no gym access, the first week was a shock to the system to say the least,” said James.
With so much training to be done within the next four years in preparation for Paris, James currently has his eyes set on more recent upcoming events, such as the 2020 Laser Senior European Championships taking place from October 6th to 13th. The event (which was originally to be held in Athens, Greece), is being held in Gdansk, Poland and even that is still up for discussion.
“The regatta schedule over the past month has been turbulent to say the least as regulations surrounding COVID-19 are in a constant state of flux. Furthermore, there are rumours that the venue may be changed to Vilamoura, Portugal if the situation in Poland deteriorates,” said James.
COVID-19 has made the sporting event world a living nightmare. With the summer Olympics being postponed to 2021 and other sporting events being rescheduled or canceled, it’s fair to say Canada’s young athletes have been left in limbo. However, there is hope. Recently the Ontario government announced it will be investing more than $21 million to help its athletes and their coaches train and continue their quest for gold.
“This has been a challenging and unprecedented time for Ontario’s amateur athletes and sport sector, but today marks an important step in their recovery,” said Lisa Macleod, Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries.
“Helping out high-performance athletes return to the podium is part of our government’s commitment to supporting a double bottom line, that drives our economy and strengthens our cultural fabric,” said Minister Macleod.
The program in which Ontario is directly providing its athletes with financial support, is known as the Quest for Gold Program. Athletes that take part in the Quest for Gold Program will receive funding to help offset the costs of training and living expenses including rent, costs to attend a training camp, equipment, and tuition/education expenses.
Past Olympic medalists such as Penny Oleksiak (Swimming), Andre De Grasse (Track), and Gabrielle Dalemen (figure skating) have all received Quest for Gold funding.
Of the 43 Ontario athletes who medaled at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and Paralympics, 34 were Quest for Gold athletes.
This is excellent news for James. With the support of Ontario behind his back, James’ goal of representing Canada in 2024 is looking less like a dream and becoming more of a reality.
If you want to keep up to date on James Juhasz progress, you can follow him on Instagram @james.juhasz or donate to Wind Athletes Canada.