A golden boy from Nanaimo returned to the city where he grew up to celebrate his Olympic triumph.
Ethan Katzberg, who grew up in Nanaimo, scored Canada's first gold medal in hammer throw at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris with a throw of 84.12 metres Aug. 4. He was honoured in the Harbour City Thursday, Sept. 26, first at John Barsby Secondary School, his alma mater, and then at Nanaimo Rotary Bowl.
The Canadian Olympian said Barsby helped him build a good foundation for his athletic career and the numerous sports he played all contributed in some way to the first-place finish at the Olympics.
"Oh, man, I did everything I could," Katzberg said. "Basketball, cross-country, track and field at John Barsby – I did some football too. All the fun lunch-time volleyball tournaments, all that good stuff. I wanted to do it all and eventually, I siphoned everything out and decided to do the hammer throw, and kind of took it from there."
While Katzberg wasn't really contested after his first throw in the hammer throw competition in Paris, he said he kept a level head.
"You never want to assume that you've done enough on the first throw, he said. "There's so much competition left to have so I tried staying focused … I put into my head there was no point in throwing less than 84m now, I might as well just go for it, so I was going for it, and I was trying my best, but 84 was enough, and then I started celebrating."
At the Rotary Bowl ceremony, Leonard Krog, City of Nanaimo mayor, declared Thursday, Sept. 26 Ethan Katzberg Day and christened the hammer throw area "Katzberg Hammer Cage."
Katzberg was also a member of Nanaimo Track and Field Club, but admitted he never really fantasized about being first on the Olympic podium.
"I approached it slowly, and I built on each day of training, and that was kind of my focus … I went from there and just really fell in love with it and realized that I could make an Olympic team," Katzberg said. "And I thought just making the team was cool and coming out on top of the world was a nice little cherry on top."
Following some rest-and-relaxation, Katzberg will then prep for the 2025 World Athletic Championships in Tokyo, where he is also defending champ.
"I have to get my training in line for that, but I just want to keep improving, keep developing the sport in Canada and growing it," Katzberg said.
– Files from Chris Bush, Nanaimo News Bulletin
