The free hamburger offer that started David Moulongou’s Commonwealth Games dream

By Anfal Hanif

Long before David Moulongou earned the chance to compete among some of the world’s best at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, he was just a high school student running with his friends and looking for a reason to be able to skip class.

But the offer of an unusual prize from his coach at Merivale High School changed his outlook on the sport and set him on course to become a star for the Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, and now with Team Canada in the men’s 400-metre hurdles.

The challenge was straightforward – break the 53-second barrier in the (barrier-free) 400 m, and coach Ryan Gibson would buy him a free burger from Harvey’s. Moulongou accepted.

“I took him up on the offer and I broke that barrier,” he recalls. “I qualified too (for the 2019 OFSAA high school provincials while in Grade 10), but I didn’t know what else was out there. I was just another high school student doing track with my friends.”

At the time, track and field was something Moulongou enjoyed, but he never imagined it would lead him to the international stage. He was focused on the friendships, the competition and the experience of being part of a team.

Deep inside of him, however, lived a tremendous work ethic ready to be unleashed. Growing up in a single-parent household, Moulongou helped his mother care for his older sister, who has autism.

“I always helped my mom, and took care of the family alongside my mom. It kind of made me mature a bit earlier than usual,” reflects the 23-year-old.

Moulongou feels his upbringing gave him perspective and has helped him stay grounded through the highs and lows of his athletic career.

“I understand that even though I haven’t had the best hand of cards, it could be a lot worse,” he notes.

Moulongou was an emerging talent when he earned the free meal at his coach’s expense, but then COVID cut short his high school track experience, leaving him with a career-best result of 18th place at the OFSAA provincial championships.

But before starting his studies in biomedical science/neuroscience at uOttawa, he ramped up his training in anticipation of joining the Gee-Gees track team.

When Moulongou first joined Lions/Gee-Gees coach Normand Séguin’s training group six years ago, he was still figuring out his place in the sport. In a group of mostly girls, he was quiet at first, but gradually became more comfortable through the relationships he built with his teammates and coach.

Séguin quickly saw something special in Moulongou, even if he wasn’t yet pushing himself to his full abilities.

“For the little bit he was doing, he was superior to the average. I knew we had talent,” signals Séguin, who also saw his potential as a hurdler in addition to the flat 400 m.

“He knew the whole time that I could be a great hurdler, but I didn’t know that yet,” recounts Moulongou, whose coach introduced hurdles in training and allowed him to discover the event and its possibilities “through my own actions.”

As he improved, the 400 m hurdles became the event where Moulongou’s strengths came together. His speed, coordination and composure helped him develop into one of Canada’s top athletes in the event.

“When I did produce times that I’m proud of, it was really thrilling, rewarding and exciting to see because I put even more effort and got even more out of it,” says Moulongou, who was rewarded with a silver medal at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games and later represented his university and Canada at the 2025 FISU World University Summer Games in Germany.

“He is probably the most clean runner over the 400 metres that I know in the world,” Séguin adds. “He’s got that ability to compose with his body over the hurdle.”

While on-track pursuits got more serious, Moulongou says the connections he made and the fun he had with teammates who shared the same passion are among the biggest reasons he’s continued to push forward in the sport.

“I felt like I fit in,” he underlines.

In a strange way, Moulongou’s close friendships led to one of the most difficult moments of his career, but ultimately allowed him to emerge stronger.

During the most recent university season, he helped the Gee-Gees establish a new Ontario championships record in the men’s 4×400 m relay. But when his team was gunning for gold at the U Sports nationals, Moulongou missed the check-in window for the event and wasn’t allowed to race. Running with a substitute, uOttawa still won silver, but for Moulongou, the disappointment went beyond missing the chance to compete.

“I can take a mistake that can affect my own performance, but what really affected my mental health is that I was affecting my three and I guess four other teammates,” Moulongou explains.

The experience became a turning point. With support from his team, he began working with a mental skills coach.

“That challenge made me into the athlete I am now,” highlights Moulongou, who explained to the Ottawa Sports Pages last month at the 2026 Canadian Track and Field Championships that he needed to overcome “imposter syndrome” to believe that he could compete at the highest level.

Read More: Hometown athletes claim 5 Commonwealth Games berths at Canadian Track and Field Championships

“He used to be, ‘I don’t belong here,’ and now he does know, and he does say, ‘I belong here,’ which is probably the biggest progress in his career,” outlines Séguin, who believes kindness remains Moulongou’s most defining characteristic.

“He is so generous,” he adds. “David is a person that will help his enemy to run faster.”

Moulongou has learned that having self-confidence doesn’t mean that he has to abandon the humble traits that are part of his roots.

“I just want people to remember that I’m someone who loves to laugh,” he says. “I just love being positive. I love laughing. I love smiling. I love being happy.”

There likely wasn’t a bigger smile seen at Ottawa’s Terry Fox stadium during June’s Canadian Track and Field Championships than Moulongou’s.

In advance of the home nationals, Moulongou had eclipsed the 50-second barrier when he blazed to a 49.92 400 m hurdles performance in early June in Guelph – part of his individual and team championship season in the Canadian Track and Field League.

In the national final in Ottawa, Moulongou carried the lead heading into the final straightaway, but after clearing the last hurdle, he realized another runner was closing in on him.

It wasn’t certain who’d won until the results flashed on the scoreboard and showed that Moulongou finished first by 0.07 seconds.

“It was like 1,000 pounds on my shoulders had been relieved,” recalls Moulongou, who then got to celebrate with his many supporters draped in the Canadian flag. “The biggest thing isn’t necessarily winning a national championship and isn’t necessarily making a Commonwealth team, but really, truly, it is being able to rejoice with the friends and family and the people that were in my corner the whole time.”

It was a heartwarming moment as Moulongou hugged his mom and told her, “we did it.” Winning the first national title of his career and getting the chance to wear the maple leaf at the Commonwealth Games “means everything” to Moulongou, still in awe of his journey.

“The small Black kid in Grade 3 who didn’t speak a lot of English quite yet – I knew only French – he doesn’t quite know if he can achieve his dreams and doesn’t quite know if the world is lying and would allow that to happen,” reflects Moulongou, who now believes anything is possible.

Once hungry for a free meal as a teenager, Moulongou is now hungry to compete at the L.A. 2028 Games, with his family top of mind.

“I would love to make an Olympic team in 2028,” underlines Moulongou, who is eyeing a top-half finish for his senior international debut at Glasgow 2026, which comes Wednesday for the men’s 400 m hurdles heats.

“And I would love to procure myself a contract with a shoe company and make this more affordable so I can not just continue to grow in sport, but also support my family.”

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