Captivated by what she had just witnessed, Charlotte Burmester got busy.
She conceived a triathlon course and set it up. Then, despite being the sole entrant, she raced the darned thing. Hard. More than once.
Quite the undertaking for a nine-year-old from Whitby, Ont.
But after catching the performances of the triathletes at the Olympic Games in Paris, Charlotte had been stoked. She was itching to get the hang of this multi-sport business.
Photo by Kevin Light/COC *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Heightening that excitement? The fact that her dad Kurt, a senior assignment editor for TSN, works with Fred Mislawchuk, a Winnipeg-based cameraman who just happens to be the father of triathlon star Tyler Mislawchuk, a three-time Olympian.
In the leadup to the Summer Games, Kurt reminded his daughter about that connection. “And she was right into it.” Which showed. A budding athlete, Charlotte already plays field lacrosse and hockey, and runs cross-country.
And now, thanks to Tyler, triathlon may be in her future.
Tyler had been enjoying a well-deserved break in Spain following the Olympics when he heard about his integral role in the youngster’s appreciation of triathlon. “To be honest, I almost started crying,” he says. “It was pretty emotional, in the sense that I had talked in my post-race interviews about inspiring the next generation.”
The 30-year-old — who, as a kid, had been struck by Simon Whitfield’s courageous silver-medal performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — says athletes wielding that degree of influence is “mind-blowing.” That a little girl would throw herself into a new sport — because of him? Powerful stuff.
“When you wake up and train in the morning, you’re not thinking you could affect someone’s outlook, whether it’s getting into a healthier lifestyle or changing their goals completely or finding a new passion,” says Tyler, a native of Oak Bluff, Man. “Me having such an impact on someone? It’s a crazy thought. It’s a privilege, so you, as an athlete, have to be aware of your actions and words and how you carry yourself.”
Gung-ho from the opening of the Olympics, Charlotte and her brother Maxwell, 6, were eager to soak up the TV coverage. Their mom Donna had been a track athlete in college, so the running events were appealing. The kids loved the basketball, too. And who could not be thrilled by beach volleyball, contested in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower?
But having a link to one of the household names, well, that was special. And seeing Tyler compete, going all in on a steamy day in Paris en route to cracking the top 10, made an impression.
Next thing the Burmesters knew, their daughter was literally plotting her own course in the sport.
Charlotte says it was no big deal because she had a bike and they have a backyard pool. And since she runs cross-country in the schoolyard next to the family’s house, she knew precisely how far one kilometre was.
Instead of designing a typical swim-cycle-run course, Charlotte opted to shuffle triathlon’s order — running two kilometres, pedalling around the block a handful of times, then, according to Dad, “charging down the side of the house and jumping into the pool,” where she promptly knocked out 10 laps.
“Yeah, it was hard,” she says. “A lot of endurance. It’s really tiring.”
Of course, it’s never as easy as elite athletes, such as Tyler, make it look on TV. “I can barely swim one K and they can swim, like, a hundred K,” says Charlotte. “Because they’ve been alive longer than me, they have had a lot more practice.”
Keen now, she’s considering an official triathlon next summer. Her parents are all ears.
“If kids find something they like, you encourage it,” says Kurt. “You find that one thing they want to do and you lean fully into it. They’re going to be better off because of it. Sport provides so many things — structure, lessons, leadership, everything.”
And, often, it’s role models who provide that initial spark. Most of the Olympians can point to idols who helped kick-start their sporting journeys.
“I think everybody looks up to an athlete — you need that,” says Kurt. “Athletic kids, if they have it in them, want something to strive for, especially at this age.”
As a hockey-mad lad in Manitoba, Tyler loved Markus Naslund, captain of the Vancouver Canucks — this was before the Jets returned to Winnipeg. And his dad managed to get him one of Teemu Selanne’s hockey sticks, which is autographed and still stashed in his bedroom.
So, from all perspectives, he knows about the power of heroes.
In 2018, while in Australia for the Commonwealth Games and the World Triathlon Grand Final, Tyler remembers chatting about his sport to young families in the area. Now? Some of those same kids are members of the Australian national team.
“That was the first full circle moment for me, where it was like, ‘Holy smokes, that’s crazy,'” he says. “Maybe it’s one tiny conversation with someone after a race, but it could be held onto for years. Just having that impact …”
Interestingly, Tyler continues to seek out the wisdom of high-profile stars. “I’ll watch different sports and look for nuggets, even now, to help me find inspiration. I don’t think that really changes as you get to a higher level.
“You never stop learning or being inspired — it’s why we still do it.”