HOW TO SUPPORT
DANIELS AND
OTHER CANADIAN
ATHLETES
Donate flight points
stockpiled on your credit
cards. Athletes can use
them to pay for car
rentals, accommodations
and flights.
On Daniels’ website, buy
a hand-carved canoe
made by her father for
$250, while $500 will get
you a private canoe or
kayak lesson.
Make a donation online
to the Canadian Olympic
Foundation, which helps
Canadian athletes access
tools and training to
assist them on their
journey to the podium.
training is in beautiful mountainous
or tropical places — we are
working very hard,” Daniels says.
While she’s an elite athlete, she’s
still human. Some days it’s tough to
avoid hitting the snooze button.
“I lack motivation some days
and feel fatigued but I think what
makes us elite is that we choose to
push through the hard mental or
physical days. When we are home
in the winter, if the temperature
in Calgary is above zero, we are on
the water even if there is ice and
it’s snowing because that’s what
we need to do to be the best at our
profession.”
What drives someone to get into
a canoe when it’s snowing outside?
For Daniels, the Tokyo 2020 games
mean a lot.
It might seem like an obvious goal
for a canoeist who has consistently
earned her spot on Canoe Kayak
Canada’s National Team, and
represented Canada on the world
stage in World Cups and World
Championships, but before now it
wasn’t possible to compete in the
Olympics as a female canoe athlete.
It’s a right that Daniels and many
other female canoe athletes had to In 2017, the IOC announced
that women’s canoe events will be
added to the 2020 Games.
Joannie Verret, communications
coordinator for Canoe Kayak
Canada, says the move is a big step
forward for raising the profile of
women’s canoeing, and inspiring a
whole new generation of female
athletes to try the sport.
“As a kid, you want to have
the Olympic dream,” Verret says.
“Before you couldn’t have that. It
was a long process and we finally
made it.”
“There’s a lot of times I
wondered why I was still doing
this,” Daniels says. “My goal was
going to the World Championships,
World Cups, but it was so hard
to fund myself to get there. I
was having to work full-time,
go to school full-time and be an
athlete. Now that we’re working
towards the Olympics it makes the
motivation so much stronger.”
Now female canoe athletes are
able to access funding through Sport
Canada’s Athlete Assistance program.
This covers Daniels' living expenses,
but not her travel expenses to
international competitions.
fight for.
Daniels and female canoe
athletes from around the world
banded together to lobby for
gender equality, putting pressure
on the International Canoe
Federation (ICF) and International
Olympic Committee (IOC). They
wrote letters, talked to media
and petitioned for their right
to compete.
“Every opportunity I had in
front of a reporter or camera, my
main goal was to share the story
of canoe women so that it would
continue to remind those involved
in the decision process that we are
still actively lobbying for gender
equality,” Daniels says. “There was a lack of awareness,
so my mission is to continue to help
people understand it’s still very new
and we still need a lot of support,”
Daniels says. “It’s going to be really
exciting to see us debut.”
“It’s important to push for our
women because it’s the beginning
of everything,” Verret says. “Tokyo
2020 will be a really big moment
for all Canadians."
And how does this busy athlete
relax? She gets in a canoe.
“Mostly I get out for day trips
with my family,” Daniels says. “We
bring our dog Skoki, get out on
the water, enjoy the sun and each
other’s company. I look forward to
those days.”
19