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CHASING RECORDS
I won my first gold medal at the 2020 Olympics – this year in Paris I’ll become ‘the fastest Canadian ever’
De Grasse is chasing one goal to immortalize his Canadian legacy
CANADIAN sprinter Andre De Grasse has already reached the top step of the podium at the Olympic Games, but he is striving for more.
De Grasse is Canada's most decorated Summer Olympian, but he feels there is more he can achieve before he is done competing internationally.
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De Grasse's career truly began in college, where he attended Coffeyville Community College in Kansas from 2013 to 2014 before transferring to the University of Southern California for his senior season.
Competing for USC, De Grasse ran a 9.97 second 100 m which won the Pac-12 championships.
Those games kickstarted his professional career, as De Grasse immediately started racking up medals.
He won gold in the 100 m and 200 m at the 2015 Pan American Games and then bronze in the 100 m and 4x100 m relay at the 2015 World Championships.
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De Grass debuted at the Olympics in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro and captured three medals.
He won bronze in the 100m and the 4x100 m relay, and won silver in the 200m.
The 2020 Olympics was where De Grasse broke out, winning three more medals.
He captured gold in the 200m, silver in the 4x100m, and bronze in 100m.
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Despite getting to the top of the podium, De Grasse is hungry for more, and is looking forward to the Paris Olympics to further cement his Canadian legacy.
"I want to be one of the best ever," De Grasse told The U.S. Sun while promoting Invisalign.
"In the world, not just in Canada, I want to be known as one of the greats worldwide. That's kind of what keeps me going."
Going into his third Olympic games, De Grasse is focusing on the things he hasn't accomplished yet, with an eye on the 100 m sprint.
"I don't have a 100 m gold, so I kind of look at stuff I haven't done yet," De Grasse said.
"Whether that is I already won a bronze, so I want to win a silver or even a gold. I the 200 I won a gold medal but I want to defend that title.
"There are newcomers coming up, some guys that are trying to get my title, so I want to be able to defend that and say 'This is still me, I'm still one of the best.'"
Adding medals to his trophy cabinet is important to De Grasse, but he has a personal goal that he is striving to complete above all.
"I just want to get faster and faster, there are goals that I've been chasing for the last few years," he said.
De Grasse owns the Canadian record in the 200 m with a 19.62 to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
However, he is still chasing the 100 m Canadian record and is focusing on becoming the fastest among his countrymen in that event.
"The 100 m Canadian record is 9.84 so I'm pretty close to it," he said.
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"I want to be the fastest Canadian ever."
De Grasse is pretty close to that mark. His personal-best time in the 100 m is 9.89 seconds, only .05 seconds off the record.
He shared that having a goal like the Canadian record is something that keeps him "motivated and hungry" to continue competing at the highest level.
De Grasse is 29 years old for this year's Olympics, and is prepping hard to get over the hump to win gold and break records.
"As I'm 29, turning 30 in November, I do a lot of things differently now," he said.
"More sleep, make sure my nutrition is good, my hydration, not staying up and those things.
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"My recovery is not as quick as it was when I was younger, that probably plays a role of why I have to be so much more focused on things I do."
The two-time Olympian shared that his training routine has expanded as he gets older.
"Back then I was only training three, four times a week. Now I'm more intense, more serious with it," De Grasse said.
"I want to be one of the best so I'm training five or six times a week now, just getting after it with my teammates or watching film with my coach.
"Just doing things that I've probably never done in the past that I'm now doing more of."
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The Olympics kick off on July 24, and the Men's 100 m begins on August 3.
De Grasse will look to continue his streak of winning three medals at each Olympics he competes in at the Paris games.
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