Local Olympian Aaron Brown looks back on a golden year

By SAM HEFFER

Happy New Year! ‘Tis the season of New Year’s resolutions, but if you’re not into that, January is still a great opportunity to reflect on heart-warming and inspiring moments from 2024, like late last year at Centre 55.

It’s not every day that a professional Canadian sprinter, World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist, sits down for a chat with Santa Claus! But when the Beaches Santa Claus Parade invited four-time Olympian, Aaron Brown, to be Parade Grand Marshal, he agreed, and flew in on the red-eye from Los Angeles in time for the parade.

“I love Canada. I love where I’m from, and it’s really my pleasure to give back to the community in any way,” said Brown, who grew up in the neighbourhood, attending Roden, Bowmore Road and Birchmount Park schools before he headed to the University of Southern California (USC) on a track scholarship in 2010.

Brown has been a Nike Pro Sprinter based in Florida for the last 10 years, proudly representing Canada. At age 32, his longevity as an elite track athlete is remarkable! He competes against the fastest men in the world in the 4X100 metre relay, the 100 metre, and the 200 metre events.

Of course, the Olympics shine a spotlight on Brown’s career every four years. His performances on the Canadian men’s relay team earned him a bronze medal at Rio 2016, silver at Tokyo 2020 (2021), and gold last summer at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

But there’s a lot more to Aaron Brown than blistering speed on the track.

Speaking with him recently, I asked if he always wanted to be an Olympic sprinter. And no, he didn’t. As a little kid he says he was “full of beans” and so his parents naturally put him into sports.

His first love was soccer, but it took a while for him to realize that he was remarkably fast. “I figured out that I could run faster than any kid at my elementary school, even the older kids. And I liked beating them. I loved winning!”

That may have been the end of it had Brown not been a self-described “Sneaker Head” in Grade 8. He loved any “cool-looking” running shoes!

Brown (“AB” to his friends) was eager to move on to his neighbourhood high school with his buddies, but his parents thought he should try out for BEAP (Birchmount Exceptional Athlete Program) at Birchmount Park Collegiate in Scarborough. Only when they enticed him with a pair of grey and yellow Air Force 1 sneakers did Brown take the try-out seriously, ace it, and easily get into the program.

At Birchmount, Brown was content to show up for school track team workouts to keep fit, but said he didn’t take running too seriously. He was more interested in learning football, and then becoming the star player who would lead his team to the Metro Bowl Championships for the first time in the school’s history.

But Brown also caught the eye of acclaimed Phoenix Athletics track coach, Bill Stephens. The summer after Grade 9, Brown was eager to be back in his neighbourhood, and hang out with his friends who hadn’t gone to Birchmount for high school.

Coach Stephens had other plans. He told Aaron, “You’ve got a lot of talent and if you actually tried at this thing (track), you could get a scholarship down to the states for college. The NCAA would pay for school.”

Brown went home and looked up NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). He’d never heard of it, and summer was his social time, not training time.

Stephens tried a different tactic, and offered to pay Brown’s club dues to train at Birchmount Stadium with the Phoenix Athletics Track Club that summer. It was a lot of money. Brown reconsidered: “Bill’s serious. If he’s paying my dues, I’ll give it a shot… I knew I was fast, but it was Bill who saw my potential.”

Going into Grade 11, Brown committed to serious training at the track and literally took off. Today he speaks fondly of “Papa Bill,” as a secondary father figure.

“Any time I see him, instantly I’m filled with gratitude. He’s always telling his athletes about me. He still loves the sport, is excited for new prospects; still looking for diamonds in the rough. I owe a lot of my success to him.”

Heading toward his fifth Olympics, Brown remains highly motivated in his pursuit of superior speed on the track. He loves honing his skill, asking “How fast can I be? What else can I learn? How can I grow?”

He agreed that it can be frustrating when the results don’t happen. At the Paris Olympics, it was a gut-wrenching shock for Brown to false start in his heat at the men’s 100-metre race. But AB prides himself on his passion, self-discipline, and resilience, regardless of adversity.

“I knew I was going to be back in the blocks again (for the 200 metre and as the starter for the 4X100 metre relay). There was nothing more that I could do about the false start. I had to have short term memory about it and get back on my feet. I had to get back out there and start the way I know how to start,” said Brown.

He is also a trailblazer. Early in his career, he began to take social media influencing to the next level with the content he created on his Instagram account, @kingsleysc. At first, athletes asked him what he was doing and why?  But pretty soon they started asking him how they could create compelling content too.

In this and other pursuits, Brown’s quick to pay it forward. For college sprinters, he created his mentoring program, “The Pro Sprinter Blueprint” to help younger athletes successfully turn pro and navigate the track circuit.  

Brown recognizes that there will come a time when the window to participate in the highest level of track will close for him. I asked him what he’d like his legacy to be.

He said he’s eager to inspire the next generation of athletes and young people, including his two small children. “There are a lot of people in the ecosystem of being an athlete,” said Brown.

The most valued member on his team is his wife Preeya. They met in high school at Birchmount.

“I’m always looking through the lens of being the best possible athlete I can be, the best possible husband and father I can be… The reason I’ve had success is because of how I’ve handled adversity. I’ve been able to get back out there and chase my goals. I’m resilient. I’ve never been afraid to dream big, and still set a good example for my kids and the next generation.”

As we lean into 2025, Aaron Brown’s journey is certainly one to inspire us all.

And while I’m not sure exactly how his conversation with Santa went, rumour has it that our AB, Parade Grand Marshal, asked for a pair of extremely flashy sneakers. I’ll bet he got them.