RP

The clan chief, an accountant, curator and a hunter.

Royal Kingdom of Quebec's Olympic team - known for big, diverse and most importantly representative of the nation as a whole - includes competitors with incredible life stories as well as remarkable sporting achievements.

No three people, even with achievements so great, could ever represent a country known for its size and being surrounded by 3 seas, let alone one with a population of 62 million, a penal colony and a diverse ethnic mix of descendants from not just its 4 main groups, but also those from all corners of the world.

But boxer Alexander Eagle Chief, wrestler Juliette Lavergne-Kweon, rider Marie-Therese Faubert and archer Yong Seob Ji are symbols of lifetime development and change, as well as their sporting achievements, that many Quebecois have aspired to, both in past and present as they became the role models of their own right.

Like a large section of the nation, but not necessarily the population, they are people from diverse communities in both remote communities and major cities, in their case of Mishkegogamang, Ontario; Quebec City, Moncton and Minipi Lake, Labrador.

Since its beginnings, sports was used for not just the way to earn money, but also to enrich their lives. While most have opened up to be able to accommodate those who were unable to afford it in the past, the vastness of the nation, wealth required to play and lack of established networks in countryside for certain sports have left those to the likes of yachting, dressage and golf to be still dominated by the rich; it's not really a racial issue as it's more about one's socioeconomic status nowadays. This have also led the fighting and ball sports, as well as athletics, to have far higher percentage of competitors from poorer (though still rich by foreign standards), remote and different backgrounds.

Compared to the past, the balance has shifted to some degree with both sports typically reserved for the cityfolk and the countrysiders. Russell Koo, the athletics administration analyst and sociology researcher about Farrer University, said there's been an increasing number of athletes not from traditional backgrounds in both sides of the sports for Paripana Games. "School systems trying to adopt more sports that they would normally not be accessing much of, through significant financial backing and opening of eyes by spectacular (and non-repeatable) olympic performance, has drawn people to go for what they would not have dreamt of just few years earlier." Koo said.

Already with strong financial backing and popularity, the scale of Royal Kingdom of Quebec's sporting projects is evident in how strong the school and club sports have been for many years. Many of those have entered their sport for life by that choice when in gymnasiums or classrooms, but also recruited by various people. With the choice taken by those of improving their lives, school systems, both competitively and recreationally, have propelled many people forward.

The importance of school system and personal lives is evident in the three interviews below, but so is their determination, family and government support, coaching from their local and/or school clubs, employment and most importantly of all, fans who come out to watch them play. What comes out most strongly is that there are many routes to hit the sporting glory.

[b]Alexander Eagle Chief, Boxing[/b]

Many children have a role model. For some it's a hockey player, for others it's either their parent or teacher. But for Wawa, Ontario native Alexander Eagle Chief, it was his people who helped him propel through his life as the clan chief.

Those of his clan,

oodoodeman


Alexander Eagle Chief grew up in




Robson Conceição, boxing
Many children have a role model. For some, it is a footballer, for others a musician or an artist. But for Brazil’s Olympic gold hopeful Robson Conceição it was a street-fighting uncle who was notorious for brawling during carnival.

The sight of his relative returning home bloody and bruised but unbowed was the inspiration for a boxing career that has taken the featherweight from one of Bahia’s toughest neighbourhoods to a number one spot in the world rankings.

Conceição grew up in Boa vista de São Caetano in Salvador. As a child, he would wake up at 4am to help set up his grandmother’s burraca (street stall) selling vegetables, then go to school a few hours later. After classes, he would return to the market or earn extra money by selling popsicles on the beach at Boa Viagem.

 Robson Conceição
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 Robson Conceição could not afford the bus to train at the Academia Campion, which is 10km from his home, so he used to run there and back instead. Photograph: Jonathan Watts/for the Guardian
“I wanted to help. I am the only child of my parents. I was raised by my mum and my gran. We never went short, but we are a humble family. We are always trying to improve things,” he says.

“He’s always helped like a husband,” said his grandmother Neusa Andredonato, who is the matriarch in the family. “He wasn’t like the rest of the boys. That was a blessing. There is a lot of violence in Brazil. Many kids who grew up with him are no longer alive. Many of his contemporaries died from drugs. “

Today, he is involved with a social project Boa Vista Boxing, which aims to get local kids off the street and away from drugs. “It’s a big problem here in Salvador. It’s important to do something,” he says. “When was a kid, I was invited to join a gang and use drugs, but I was focussed on work.”

But in his teens, Conceição fell under the not entirely benign influence of his uncle Roberto. “He beat up everyone,” he recalls enthusiastically. “He was always starting something, sometimes he would have four or five fights in a day. Uncle Roberto did what he wanted. He was famous.”

Being a street fighter is quite a boast in this part of Bahia, which has so many boxing gyms it is known as the Cuba of Brazil. Many of the country’s past boxing stars hailed from this neighborhood, including another of Conceição’s idols, Acelino ‘Popo’ Freitas, a former WBO and WBA featherweight champion.

Like Popo, Conceição wanted to learn how to fight formally. He joined the Academia Campion, which is 10km from his home. With traffic, the drive takes 20 to 30 minutes. But when Conceição was young, he could not even afford the bus so we would run there and back. “I was tired, but I had no choice,” he says.

The gym is located amid a cluster of evangelical churches on a leafy street, Ladeira do Ipiranga. On the ground floor is a boxing ring and punch bags, which are used by a mostly young amateur crowd. A floor above is an octagonal mixed martial arts cage where bigger, older fighters go through their moves. In between is a blue and yellow staircase with a different virtue printed in bold black type on each stair, rising up from Honor to Cooperation, via Focus, Discipline, Faith, Confidence, Humility and Persistence.

Coach Luis Carlos Dorea Junior said Conceição’s strongest quality was determination. “He always knew what he wanted. He was always training. Very focussed. Straight away, he felt he could be a champion.”

In the 20 years since the gym was opened by Dorea’s father, more than 5,000 boxers have been on the books, including 20 Olympians, but so far no champions. “Robson is our best ever chance for gold,” Dorea Junior believes. “If he could get a gold, it would bring joy to the neighborhood.”

Conceição, now 27, has a Chicago Bulls basketball cap, a light beard, trimmed eyebrows and scars over both eyes. Neither, he says, came from a punch. “I got one when I was a kid. I don’t remember how. The other was an elbow in the face from an opponent who swung and missed me.”

As he drives from the gym to his family home, he points out the Pinto de Carvalho gym, where he had his first fight in a ring. “I was 15 years old and I lost,” he grins.

In the 12 years that have followed, there have been just 15 defeats in 200-odd fights. Inside the family home – an elegant modern building in their old neighbourhood of São Caetano – he takes me to a trophy room, where his and his wife’s belts and medals fill cabinets and the walls are decorated with framed clippings of newspaper articles about their achievements.

Conceição is a seven-times national champion, three-times continental champion and one-time world champion. His wife Erika Matos rivals him for success with 11 national champions belts and four South American titles.

The couple met in 2005 at Esparto Total, a gym that staged fights every Friday. “He had many other girlfriends then,” she laughs. “But in 2008, we became serious and we haven’t separated since.”

Their relationship became the subject of national interest during the Pan American Games in Mexico in 2011, when Conceição proposed live on television with a banner reading, “Erika, I love you. Do you want to get married?”

They are undoubtedly the first couple of Brazilian boxing and the family jokes about the prospects for their young daughter, Sofia, who they claim started boxing before she started walking.

In the nearer term the focus is on Conceição’s chances in his third Olympics. Until recently, he had 12 consecutive months as world No1, but earlier this year he slipped several positions due to a lack of fights.

His previous Games record is not encouraging. In Beijing and London, he went out in early fights to local boxers. After winning a preparatory tournament in Cuba in June, however, he is confident that this time will be different

“My goal is gold,” he says. “There is a lot of competition, but it’s not impossible. This time I have more experience. I’m tougher and I’ll be at home.”

His close-knit family will be watching and supporting from Bahia. We go to meet the notorious uncle Roberto who lives on the slopes of a steep valley in nearby Boa Vista. “That’s where I first trained. Up and down those stairs,” Conceição says.

Contrary to his pugnacious reputation, Roberto – now 35 and retired – cuts a humble figure but he has tales of gory glory. Conceição looks on proudly as his uncle describes how he had a bottle smashed over his head and once had a tooth knocked out. “I enjoyed the fights,” he says, somewhat nostalgically. “Nobody recorded my classics, yet Robson is always on TV.”

His most recent fisticuffs were during Carnival earlier this year, but Roberto insists his scrapping days are over. This is in part because more people are using guns, but also because he is now a father. “I have a son so I have to be more mature now,” he says. “Life is getting boring. I just don’t have the energy any more.”

But the uncle is looking forward to seeing his nephew carry the family banner in the Olympics. “I admire him. He’s educated,” he says.

[b]Juliette Lavergne-Kweon, Wrestling[/b]


[b]Marie-Therese Faubert, Equestrian[/b]

[b]Yong Seob Ji, Archery[/b]