Excluded from 2012 team, Lion on pace for shot put final
By Josh Bell
Tim Nedow
Athletics
Age: 25
Local Club: Ottawa Lions
Olympics: First
Twitter: @timmaythrows
SCHEDULE
Thu. Aug. 18
Men’s Shot Put qualifying round
8:30 a.m. ET
Final
5:35 p.m. ET
In 2012, shot putter Tim Nedow thought he was going to the London Olympics. He was ready, he’d achieved the distance he needed to qualify, and he wanted it. But when Athletics Canada unveiled its selections, Nedow’s name wasn’t on the list.
“I was hitting the marks I needed to be hitting, but unfortunately I had to wait four more years,” reflects the Ottawa Lions Track-and-Field Club representative. “But in 2012, that’s when I realized I was Olympic caliber. Before that I was just in school, having fun with it, getting my education. And then I guess I got pretty good and it’s just taken off from there.”
Growing up, Nedow played all kinds of sports, including basketball, football, hockey, and track. In high school, the Brockville native found a standout throws coach at Thousand Islands S.S. – who he still keeps in touch with several times a week – and also traveled to Ottawa for additional training with the Lions.
Nedow earned scholarships to the University of Tulsa and later DePaul University, though at the time “I wasn’t hitting nearly the distances to make someone say, “Wow, he’s going to the Olympics,” recounts the 25-year-old. “But I really worked hard at it in college. It was in my senior year where I thought ‘Hey, I can really go to the Olympics.’”
Despite the disappointment of missing London 2012, Nedow continued his upward rise. He won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and moved to Sweden so he could work with a top coach at his home base.
Competing just down Hwy. 401 for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games, Nedow won a silver medal. He’s since carried that momentum forward into 2016, establishing a new personal best of 21.33 meters at an IAAF World Indoor Tour meet in Stockholm.
That performance ranks Nedow 7th in the world heading into his Games debut.
“I’m on the right track to do well,” underlines the eight-time Canadian champion (including several national discus titles amongst those). “This is the big one. This is the one everyone wants to win. This is what everyone works towards. It’s pretty exciting.”
Nedow says he does feel “a little nervous” when thinking of the increased attention the spectacle of the Olympics brings upon.
“This is the whole country, the whole world watching you,” notes Canada’s lone men’s shot put representative in Rio. “But I’ve competed enough in competitions that my mentality is pretty good right now. I’m feeling strong there. And as far as the meet goes, I’m ready to roll. I’ve been training for this for a while.”
Advice for young aspiring Olympians:
“I would say do every sport. All of the athletes I know at this level, none of them thought: ‘I’m going to be an Olympic shot putter or high jumper.’ They’re all good all-around athletes.”