With more than a week remaining in these Olympics, we already know the two major Canadian themes – unlikely excellence and girl power.
Late on Saturday night, heptathlete Brianne Theisen-Eaton fell somewhere in between.
Her bronze at the Olympic Park was both a battling performance and a bittersweet one.
Her podium represents Canada’s twelfth medal of these games – all won by women. Most of those were either unexpected or well within the current average of the performers. Theisen-Eaton’s represents a small step back from her gold medal aspirations.
She entered the second day of competition in sixth place. After the morning session – the fifth of seven disciplines, long jump – she had moved up a spot.
During the afternoon break, Theisen-Eaton waded into a small kerfuffle involving her husband, American decathlete Ashton Eaton.
Eaton attended the first day of his wife’s competition wearing a ‘Canada’ ballcap. Some people – presumably Americans – took offence.
Eaton defended himself on Twitter: “Who RU2 shame me?”
Theisen-Eaton then attached her comments to the note: “Ashton is my biggest fan and I couldn’t do this w/out him.” It was the first time she’d used Twitter since the Games had begun.
After a good showing during the morning session in one of her stronger events – long jump – Theisen-Eaton had pulled herself back into the podium equation. It was an odd moment to leap into a different sort of fray.
Theisen-Eaton and her husband work hard to market themselves as the Ward and June Cleaver of elite sports. In one of their recent Visa ads, they putter about the house trying to beat each other at mundane tasks – finishing a book or waking up first in the morning.
This need to build and sell their brand has created an occasionally uncomfortable dynamic. It’s hard not to notice that while they do essentially the same thing, one is not quite like the other.
When they met at the University of Oregon, they were both winning championships.
Since rising to the senior level, Eaton has outstripped his wife. He is the defending Olympic gold medallist, a two-time world champion and is expected to win again in Rio. He is probably the greatest decathlete ever. Theisen-Eaton remains stuck in the ‘she’ll break out any time now’ stage of her career. This was not that.
Whether or not she deserves to be compared to her husband, the couple has invited people to do so through the crafting of their collective image. As such, it’s hard to believe that the difference in what they’ve accomplished creates no psychological spillage.
Theisen-Eaton was heavily favoured to win at last year’s world championships. She finished a disappointing second.
As she walked out, a reporter asked if she thought she was “cut out” for her job. Theisen-Eaton said, “I don’t know.”
“(I) remember thinking that was probably the lowest point ever,” she’d later tell the New York Times about the incident. “To say I didn’t believe in myself.”
Rio 2016 was meant to be the cure for all that.
Follow Cathal Kelly on Twitter: @cathalkelly
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