The Journey of an Olympian

Madeleine Kelly represented Canada in the 800m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. How she got there and the role of her dad, her coach, and Olympia Sports Camp makes her journey an example of a level of tenacity and commitment that makes the return all the more rewarding.

Maddy first attended Olympia as a camper when she was 12. She loved everything about the place and felt she came into her own, surrounded by like-minded people and positivity that allowed her confidence to flourish. The counsellors motivated her, to the point that she too wanted to be a counsellor some day. She was a camper for two more years and decided that "the best thing ever"would be to try to get hired at camp. 

But there was a problem. After her group interview in Etobicoke she was asked if she would come to camp as a sailing instructor. She loved the idea but the problem was that she didn't have any of her lifeguard qualifications in order to do the job. After that interview in the early spring she called on her dad to drive her around Ontario to get her lifeguard qualifications before June. They got it all done and Maddy was on staff in 2012.

Something else changed Maddy's focus in 2012. Maybe a confluence of events that eventually had her heading to Tokyo nine years later.

Gaining ever-more confidence in her three years as a camper, her one year on staff gave her the focus she needed. 

" Confidence is hard to come by and harder to hold unto as a teenager," Maddy reflects," At Olympia I felt seen and valued for who I was as a person. It was a place where we felt safe and appreciated. I didn't feel like I was a little weird or I didn't fit in. I was flourishing just being me."

" I wonder the impact of Olympia on my future success in running, but I know the process of qualifying for Tokyo took a lot of confidence to pull it off. That was Olympia, and that was coach Terry."

Maddy is from the small Ottawa Valley city of Pembroke, where she grew up downhill skiing and started doing some running when she was 12, representing her school at county meets. She ran cross country and track throughout her career at Fellowes High School, winning the Eastern Ontario High School Athletic Association 800m and the Renfrew County Senior Girls 5km Cross Country. 

But it was watching Melissa  Bishop- Nriagu, herself a Ottawa Valley girl from nearby Eganville, and a huge role model for Maddy,  run the 800m at the London Olympics in 2012 that gave Maddy the belief that she could pursue running at the post-secondary level, and then perhaps beyond. 

Maddy attended the University of Toronto and her training and running path for the next 12 years was determined by meeting one person: Her coach, Terry Radchenko, who coached Maddy throughout her intercollegiate career with the Varsity Blues and stayed with her on her journey to the world level. Their relationship, which Maddy described more as a friendship over the time together, took Maddy to 4 World Championships, 3 Canadian 800m titles, the British Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, and of course the pinnacle of the Olympic Games.

 At the University of Toronto,  Maddy won three straight CIS/USports 4 x 800m titles from 2016 to 2018 and a 4 x 400m title in 2017. She was also a member of the Gold-medal winning Cross Country team in 2017. She is a three-time OUA first team all-star and U SPORTS first team all-Canadian.

On the national level, 2019 was a big year. In any journey there are pivot points and the Canadian Bell Track and Field Championships in Montreal were that for Maddy. She captured her first Canadian 800m championship, edging out Bishop-Nriagu at the line.

"That was a big day for me and changed how I saw myself in the sport," Maddy says.

Maddy went on to win two more national titles, in 2022 and 2023. Her personal best of 1:59.71, which she ran in 2022, stands as the eight fastest in history among Canadian 800m runners.

It is the journey to Tokyo that most impresses when one follows the journey of Maddy Kelly.

The world was in chaos with COVID 19 restrictions causing many events to be delayed or cancelled all together, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 2020 Games were moved to July of 2021 and the push was on for athletes to qualify. The goal was to be in the top three in your country and to meet Olympic qualifying standards. This was a dream of Maddy's for over ten years and she went all in. Maddy ran an incredible nine 800m races in three months before the Olympic Trials in Montreal where Maddy finished third to earn her spot to Tokyo. 

Do the eyes tell the tale? I saw this picture of Maddy and Melissa Bishop- Nriagu and thought how cool it must have been for Maddy to celebrate this moment with her role model. Its great when the smiles mix with tears.

Maddy had been chasing this dream for maybe longer than she even knew she was chasing it. After Tokyo she ran professionally for a few years before retiring in 2024. She is still involved in the running community as a writer for Canadian Running Magazine, a job she has done since 2018.

When one realizes a dream they can look back on the journey, knowing all the sacrifice was worth it. Maddy's journey from Pembroke to Tokyo is inspiring, and one can picture that 12-year old sitting in on Dave Talk and learning that she too is a hero of her own story. Congrats on a great career Maddy!

A Hero’s Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp chronicles the people that make up the history of Olympia, but it does far more than that. It serves as an inspirational guidebook for readers to become the hero of their own path. In order to do this the book examines the history of the land on which the camp has been built, from its indigenous origins to the European settlement process of the 1800’s. and the use of the land by the Royal Norwegian Air Force during WWll. The book is built on a collection of stories related to mentorship, sports psychology, and community building. This book honours the 50-year history of the camp while giving us all a window into seeing a deeper level of understanding of the world and our place in it.

Books Available at: 

 - Amazon and Indigo.ca

-  Indigo, Burlington Brant Street location.

- The Different Drummer Book Store on Locust Street in Burlington\

- Cedar Canoe Books on Main St in Huntsville

- Etransfer me $30 and I'll drive it to your house ! 

- available online at aherosjourney.ca

- audiobook version is available at Audible, Amazon, and iTunes 

If you would like us to come to your town for a book event or get copies into your favourite bookstore , email me at coachdools71@gmail.com. We travel well.