Anything But Law
We love law, but we don't always want to talk about it. Who are we outside the boardroom and courtroom? In this show, we explore how our multiple purposes collide and ask the question: where does our motivation to work come from? Community and business leaders join us to share personal stories about their passions, how they stay driven, and what makes them tick.
Anything But Law
Olympic Gold Medalist Damian Warner on Success, Adversity, and Resilience
What does it take to achieve Olympic gold and inspire the next generation? Join us in the Season 3 premiere of Anything But Law as we uncover the story of Damian Warner, the celebrated decathlete from London, Ontario. From childhood games to Olympic glory, Damian shares his journey, the impact of educators, and the pivotal moments that shaped his path.
Discover how his love for sports, sparked by basketball legend Vince Carter, led to an unexpected passion for track and field. Learn about his rigorous training, the balancing act of fatherhood, and the unwavering support from his long-time coach. Damian’s story is one of resilience, dedication, and humility, offering valuable life lessons and inspiration.
Tune in for insights into overcoming adversity, the pressures and rewards of being a role model, and the vital role of family support in an athlete's journey. This episode promises to leave you inspired by Damian Warner's incredible perseverance and triumph.
Presented by: Lerners LLP Hosted by: Mark McAuley Executive Production: Natalee Davis Project Management: Dylan Willems Audio Engineering: Aaron Murray – Charterhouse Studios (Season 1,3), Chandra Bulucon - Puppy Machine Recording Studio (Season 2) Graphic Design: The Branding Firm Inc. (Season 3), Jen Luchka and Dawn Yan Theme and Underlying Music: Mark McAuley and Randy McAuley
Welcome to another season of Anything But Law, where we talk about anything but law. It's literally in the name. This season, we continue to dive into the minds of exceptional people, from entrepreneurs and business leaders to gold medal winning Olympians and thought leaders. We bring you inspiring stories and valuable insights from those who have truly made a mark in their fields. In each episode, we explore the success mindset, the art of overcoming adversity and the powerful lessons learned from failures that have launched extraordinary success. Our guests share their journeys, challenges and the pivotal moments that have defined their paths to greatness. So, whether you're looking for motivation, strategies for success or simply an inspiring story and great conversation, you've come to the right place. Let's get into it. Welcome back to another episode of Anything But Law. I'm going to start this episode off with a funny story. This is a true story. A number of years ago, I was in a chat thread with a bunch of my buddies and we were watching a Sunday football game you know all from our respective couches and we were having this conversation about I think it was Calvin Johnson at the time. Calvin Johnson's got reach he can do this, he can do that. And then we had this, that ridiculous thing that every guy's conversation devolves into who's the greatest of all time. And then you know, we went down the list of all these athletes and then I think it was even me who posed the ridiculous hypothetical which is, yeah, but if you had to pick one of these athletes and of course it was all these guys they were, you know, basketball players, football players and like hockey players. And it's like if you had to pick one to compete in like a multi-sport event, which one would you choose? People are throwing out names I can't even remember who they were now because it's irrelevant and one of my really good friends, shout out to Mike Landell, who I know is listening right now, said, oh, that's obvious, it's Damian Warner. And I said Damian Warner. And then, like you know, there's like ellipses, you know three dots, three dots, three dots. And I was like, oh, yeah, okay, well, that's obvious. I am here today talking to Damian Warner. The odds on Mark McDamianCauley's friends chat thread walk off hall of fame for the multi-sport event challenge.
Host:Now let me tell you something about Damian Warner. If you don't know who he is, because you've been living under a rock. Damian exemplifies athletic excellence and he is a London Ontarian born and raised and he's carved out an incredible and a remarkable place in sports history. He's a master of 10 disciplines. He's a veteran of the Olympics. He has an Olympic gold medal. He has several medals. Let me see if I can list Woo Okay 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medal. Olympic record 9,018 points. That's exactly 9,018 points more than I've ever had in anything. He is also a four-time world championship medalist silver medals in 2015, 2023, bronze in 2013, 2019. And he is an unbelievable, formidable force in international competition. He also happens to be a hobbyist heptathlete and I'm saying that very tongue-in-cheek a world champion heptathlete as well. And before I keep going on anymore and embarrass myself with how excited I am to speak with Damien Warner, I'd like to just introduce you all to the one and only Damien Warner. Damian, thank you for being here today.
Damian Warner:That was quite the introduction, thank you.
Host:Sorry it rambled a lot, but I had to make sure that I got a shout out to my guys, who I know will be listening to let them know that I've met the odds on winner.
Damian Warner:Hey, shout out to Mike. I appreciate that.
Host:So let's start here. I mean this is the question that I know everybody asks. Uh, so let's start here. I mean this is the question that I know everybody asks Um, you know, what is your? What was your journey to decathlete? My thinking when I thought about this was what was the first sport? What was the first thing? What was your first love when it came to sport?
Damian Warner:I think, uh, the first sport that I ever played really is, uh like hide and go seek tag. So part of my story is that I didn't start organized sports until I was in high school, until I was in grade 11. So I just didn't really have too many opportunities. I grew up in a fairly low-income household so I wasn't able to join a hockey team or a basketball team or any kind of traveling league. So I was kind of stuck in my neighborhoods playing road hockey, playing hide-and-go-seek, going to the basketball court, things like that. And it wasn't until I got to high school that I really started to take this sporting thing seriously.
Host:I'm actually genuinely stunned. Grade 11.
Damian Warner:Grade 11.
Host:Man alive, and so I know you played basketball. Was that the first of the sports?
Damian Warner:Basketball was my first sport. It's my love. It's still the love that I have today. I grew up. I wanted to be just like Vince Carter, so I was balling up socks around my house and cutting holes in the bottom of our baskets and hanging up on the door and just trying to practice any kind of dunk that I would see on Sportsnet the next day. And, yeah, I wanted to be just like Vince Carter. I didn't quite grow as tall as he did, unfortunately, but basketball was my one true love and when I got to high school, I started playing basketball. I played football for a couple of years. I love football as well, but that ultimately led me to track and field. What position in football Receiver?
Host:Of course, of course, mike, of course. He would have won that part too. He would have won that challenge too, naturally. So when did you get a sniff of track and think to yourself this is the road, this is the route.
Damian Warner:Yeah. So I got involved in track and field but I never really thought like, okay, this could be something that I was interested in. It was something that my basketball coach Garlation and my other coach, dennis Nielsen. They basically forced a bunch of us basketball players to go out and do track and field because there was only one person on the team at the time and I went out.
Damian Warner:I hated it at first just because I was used to the team aspect. I was used to working with a bunch of guys towards a specific task and this is an individual sport. So whether you win or you lose, that's all on you and I didn't really like that responsibility. So naturally I just hated track and field. But I think once you start to get better at something, you naturally get drawn towards it. And I started getting better at track and field, started to win medals, started to improve, and then I just kind of found the love in it. You know, and I really enjoyed the aspect of if I go out there and I perform really well, this is on me, you know, and if I lose, then this is on me. I can learn from this experience. So naturally I think track and field fits my personality extremely well and that's that's kind of how I got involved with track and field and it's been an incredible journey ever since.
Host:Yeah, I mean that's that's an understatement to say it's been an incredible journey. I mean, I want to ask you this question what is it like getting into the top of the podium, standing up at the top of the podium, hearing your national anthem play, holding that gold medal in your hand? But also I've watched a few interviews with you and read some of the things you've said about crossing that finish line and looking, knowing what time you had to get to make sure, knowing you were going to get a gold, but knowing that you were going to set a record, that you set a record. What does that feel like? Like how does that grade 11 kid living inside of that body, what is happening inside, inside of your mind and your heart and your soul, at that time, that moment?
Damian Warner:Yeah, it's, it's. It's a weird mix of emotions, you know. One of them is like fatigue, because you just ran a whole 1500. The other one is like excitement because you just achieved this dream that you searched for so long, and then like you're holding back tears just because it's like this dream that I said all the way back when I was in high school, public school kind of came to fruition and I grew up watching the Olympics with my mom, so watching athletes like Donovan Bailey, Katrina LeMaydon win their gold medals and, naturally for me, that excited me to be an Olympian, so much so that when I was in grade six, my teacher had us do this project saying where we'd be 10 years into the future, and I wrote this letter, sealed it all up and then handed it to the teacher. She marked it, all that kind of stuff, but she kept these letters and in 2012, I got asked to go back to my public school, Sir John A McDonald, to speak to the kids and I finished telling them my message.
Damian Warner:I just returned from the Olympics in 2012. And she came up to the front of the school and she handed me this letter and asked me to open it and read it in front of the school and I opened it and it said 10 years from now, I'll be a runner in the Olympics. And that was such a cool thing to me, because this was a dream that I set long before I even realized you know Right. To go there to win that gold medal, to stand on top of the podium just like Donovan Bailey, Katrina Lomadon, was an extremely special moment for me and something that I'll never forget, and I always thought that the physical medal itself would be something that I didn't really care about. For me, it was the journey of just being the get that medal. To have some kind of form of evidence that I was able to do so makes it that much more impactful when I go back to those public schools and tell them that, like when I was your age, I dreamed about being here and this is what it got me.
Damian Warner:It's a really cool message, and it's something that I'm extremely proud of.
Host:It's a tangible like you can actually hold up and show them.
Damian Warner:But I think it's an extremely, extremely cool project that my teacher had us do and I have so much respect for her for following through and returning all those letters to all the kids that wrote them.
Host:What was your teacher's name? Her name's Catherine Zeisner Nice.
Damian Warner:Yeah, so she's a. She's a very special person. We've remained in contact and I thought that was extremely cool.
Host:Excellent. We have educators in the family, so I'm always happy to give educators their flowers. It's very important to to plant the seeds in children, children to allow them to see themselves doing something more than what they see, I guess, in their environment. You said two things so far that I really want to touch on. But you weren't playing hockey, there was limited resources, right. So to have this teacher basically allow you to write down your dreams, visualize your dreams, I think that's one of those things that's very, very important to kind of reach beyond where you are and to teach kids how to do that. So much love to Mrs Eisner. Yep, I have a question for you. Then. If you write a letter to yourself right now that says where am I going to be in 10 years, what do you write in that letter?
Damian Warner:That's a tough question. You think I would have an answer after having this story, but we have an Olympics coming up this summer. It'd be awesome to be able to tell in that letter that I was a two-time gold medalist at the Olympics in that letter that I was a two-time gold medalist at the Olympics. But ultimately for me, I think that I would say that I wanted to leave the sport of the decathlon in a better place than it was when I started. I feel that it's done so much to change my life and it's allowed me to experience so many things. The decathlons ultimately what led me to meet Jen, my partner, and we've had our son, theo. So the decathlon has given me everything in my life. That's special.
Damian Warner:So, in order to pay respects, I want to just leave the decathlon in better hands than it was when I started. So that would be one of my first things. But I'm a dad. I hope it says that I'm a great dad, that I'm doing whatever I can to provide for my family, that, yeah, just live a happy life.
Damian Warner:You know like I just want to be in a position where I can be flexible and I'm in a position where I can help other people as well, because if there's anything that's from my story, it's that I'm kind of a charity case to a certain degree, where so many people throughout my life has kind of given me support at various levels and one of my missions is to kind of pay it forward and to give back as much as I can to show that the respect and the time and the energy that they gave me is kind of being reciprocated. So yeah, I hope that it'd be along the lines something like that, but that's a tricky question. Never got expected to ask that one. Yes, yes, I asked when he hasn't been asked yet.
Host:It's great. Let me pull a little harder on that thread. How has that type of goal setting, um, factored into all of your successes? Cause you have a lot of successes, a lot of successes. Do you visualize all these things, uh, in advance? Are you, are you a meditator? Do you sit down and and uh, uh and like, visualize the outcomes? Or or are you far more, uh, process oriented?
Damian Warner:I would say probably a little bit of both. Um, I don't a lot time to sit down and to meditate for a set amount of time. I would say that, if anything, the way that I've always been is like I'm a daydreamer. So I feel like I'm constantly thinking about these things, you know. So when you go back to the Olympics, when I stood on top of the podium, or that last hundred meters of the 1500 before I won the gold, I feel like I lived that a thousand times before, because it's something that I've thought about so many times.
Damian Warner:And before the Olympics, I remember going through my head so many times and thinking about, like, who are going to be the other people that I'm standing on the top of the podium with? You know, who are going to be the people that I run with in this final lap of the 1500, so that when I was in that experience, I was like it's almost like deja vu, like I've been here before. It's a. It's a very weird feeling, but it's. I think it's because I'm constantly thinking about it, constantly running it through my head. But I also don't think I have the focus or the ability to sit there and visualize a specific moment for half an hour or 10 minutes, things like that. So I'm just constantly playing it over.
Host:Yeah, and I know you would being excellent at 10 things requires a lot of time and a lot of energy, so I wouldn't—I will say, dayd, dreaming is a form of meditation. That's fine. I can't imagine you'd have a lot of time to squirrel away when you have a relative a very demanding schedule. What does that look like? What does your schedule look like? I know earlier we were chatting and you're saying there's light days and there's heavier days. Um, what does that look like? Cause I ran track track. I wasn't very fast, but I know that there were ways to kind of train for peak. But I was just running. That's just one event, that's just one discipline. So I knew there were ways to get ready and to kind of ramp up to peak. But when you're training 10 disciplines, lots of mobility, lots of mod, lots of modalities, lots of various like movements to the body, what does that look like?
Damian Warner:Yeah. So it kind of depends on the season. So right now, since we're still a relatively long distance away from the Olympics I don't compete until August 2nd and 3rd of next summer so right now you're really just doing a lot of work capacity stuff. You're just doing a lot of running, a lot of hills, a lot of weights, getting your body strong, and then just kind of getting ready so that once we get into the season and we're doing the more technical training, the more explosive training, starting to compete, that we're ready to go. So for example, if we went through like our schedule today, we're going to do a lot of sled pulls, we're going to do some tinker around with our blocks and do some technical work for the 100 meters, and then we're going to do some plyometric stuff to kind of get our tendons and ligaments ready for the rest of the work that we have to do this year. So tomorrow we'll do some pole vault, go to the weight room, lift some stuff. On a Wednesday we'll probably go and run some hills, throw the discus, the jab at BMO Center here in London. Thursday we do hurdles. Hurdles are my favorite event. So we'll do hurdles and we'll do some high jump weights again, and then Friday.
Damian Warner:Fridays are kind of a weird day where we kind of just add things in. So if we feel like we need to touch on something a little bit more, then we'll do so. If we feel like we need to take a little bit of rest, we do so. So Fridays are like a little bit of flexibility and then Saturdays will be probably some more running and then some more weights. So you're constantly going through these weeks and you're tinkering with things and you're doing 10 different events over seven days. So it's always a juggling act. That's why we kind of have multiple coaches that kind of oversee our program and make sure that we're doing the right things. But yeah, we're always looking for new ideas and always tinkering with things to try to be the best that we can be. But it's a tough task.
Host:Is there any downtime?
Damian Warner:Sundays are usually our downtime, but I'm 34 years old, so I'm one of the older decathletes. So we kind of allow ourself flexibility. So it's like, okay, you're, you're clearly tired today, or you didn't sleep well last night, take tomorrow off. We allow ourself that flexibility and understand that if we take that time off, it's it's not a hindrance, it's not going to hurt us, but it's going to kind of set us back so that we come back and we're better the next day.
Damian Warner:So, yeah, it's, it's always like a little bit of flexibility and just a lot of communication between me and my coach, just making sure that we're on the right page and we we both have trust in one another, knowing that like I'm not trying to just take days off, that if I ask for a day off then it's probably because I need it and we just kind of work off each other. And the cool thing about me and my coach is that my coach now that's been with me for three Olympics and coming up with a fourth one next year. He was my high school basketball coach, so we've been together for a really long time and he knew me since I was like a really young kid. So we have a great communication and a great respect for one another, so we work really well together.
Host:That's great. I have a question what do you do at that downtime?
Damian Warner:So in the past I would kind of just like lay back and relax, maybe watch some Netflix, but now we have a two-year-old and it's a lot of playing hockey in the house and running around and going for bike rides, things like that. So it's not necessarily downtime, but it allows you to take a step away from your training, where you can kind of just kick back and focus on something different. And yeah, it's needed, but it's also something that I enjoy.
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Damian Warner:Farquharson Arena, farquharson.
Host:Okay, so I thought sorry I got that wrong, but you were training inside and at one point in the interview you had mentioned that you were kind of questioning whether or not that was something that was going to work out.
Host:And in that period of time is when Theo was born, whether or not that was something that was going to work out and in that period of time is when Theo was born and you kind of relaxed back into the process because things shifted a little bit. But I wonder if you could speak to the shift in perspective once you became a father.
Damian Warner:Yeah, so that was a tough time. If I could just touch on the Farquharson Arena thing for a little while, because I think it's a big message from my story, is that, like leading up to that competition, I always envisioned what it would take to win a gold medal at the Olympics. And because I had this vision, I thought that I had to follow these steps that I set out. And when the pandemic hit and when Thompson Arena was closed down and we were kind of allotted Farquharson Arena and that was the only space that we have you start to stray off the path that you thought was the correct one. To add to that, some of my competitors were from different countries, like France and Australia, and they had different rules that were put into place during the pandemic so they were able to train and compete and do all these amazing things.
Damian Warner:And when you go on social media, the danger of social media is that you see everything glitter and gold, right and you look at your situation being like whoa, I'm at a disadvantage. So you automatically think that you're falling behind the eight ball and I just thought to myself that this wasn't possible to win. You know, I thought that I was up against it that it wasn't going to be possible. And I kind of had a moment where I kind of like, no, I never gave up. But there was a moment of like this is impossible. You know, these dreams that I had, I just have to accept that they're not going to come to fruition. So me and my coach had this like big argument and he kind of told me like well, this is all we have, we have nothing else. And just those words alone was just like okay, am I going to give up on my goals or am I going to persist and continue? And obviously we decided to continue.
Damian Warner:But I realized through that whole process that it's not these beautiful facilities and things that you have, it's if you have a solid team behind you and you have like the dedication, then anything is possible. And that's what we had and that worked out for me. But we also had Theo at that time too. So that was enough of a distraction where all the things that I was going through from a track and field world seemed like they didn't matter anymore and I was just focused on being the best father that I could be.
Damian Warner:And yeah, it's, it's been a special, special journey and I don't want to say that I was selfish in the past where I did everything for myself, because that was never the case. But now I definitely look at things more through the lens of a father. So if I'm faced with a tough task, it's like, do I give up or do I persist, so that one day, when I want to tell my son the same messages that my mom told me that you could do anything you set your mind to I want to be in the best position to, so I can give him that message authentically, so I could say that if you want to be an astronaut or a teacher or a lawyer or a doctor or an Olympic decathlete, you can do it. You just have to work hard and trust the process and you can get there. So I look at the everything that I do through that lens now.
Host:Yeah, look at the everything that I do through that lens now. Yeah, yeah, it's Theo. I hope you're listening. Let's talk about little Lord Theo here. When does he get his first javelin?
Damian Warner:He had his first. When does he get it? He's had it.
Damian Warner:He's got a javelin, he has a javelin. He has a pole vault, he has a. He asked for hurdles himself. He has a discus shot put yeah. So the beauty for me is that he's been coming out to the practice for a long time. My, my method of parenting is similar to my mom's, where I don't pressure him to do anything. You know, I want him to find his love through his natural ways and then just know that we me and Jen will be there to support him in any way possible. That's the way that my mom did it for me. She never forced me into sports or anything like that. So it's really cool for me when he comes to the track to watch me practice and he's like where's my javelin? You know, where's my discus? I want to do some pole vaults. So like we just kind of give him the tools and he just runs around javelins and breaking things in the house and I'm just like that's cool, you know, just like when I was a kid.
Host:Oh man, that's wild. My parents would not have stood for that. Four boys in the house hucking javelins and discuses that would have not gone well, not at all, but that's incredible. So is there anything? I mean he's two and a half. You mentioned in our conversations off Mike that he's a fairly daring young lad. Is there that he's a very fairly daring young lad? Is there anything that he's kind of other than, um, death defying stunts? Um, is there anything that, uh, he's showing a certain kind of interest in right now, other than the things that daddy and mommy do?
Damian Warner:For, for whatever reason, it's hockey, really, you know, um, I think it's because we train up at Thompson arena, where they have all the hockey players there, right? So he would come up when we're pole vaulting or hurtling and those guys would be playing hockey. And clearly hockey is much more interesting than the decathlon. Because he's taken an affinity to that. I don't know about that, but he has his London Knights jersey, he has his hockey skates that he walks around the house with the guards on. He's always asking us to play goalie in net or to take shots at him when he's in net. So I mean, it's cool. I never really wanted to be that parent that would be at a hockey rink early in the morning, but if it's something that makes him happy, then it's something that we'll do.
Host:Oh yeah, my daughter doesn't even know hockey exists because I'm avoiding that 5.30 in the morning. That's not in my books. Sorry, baby, that's not my schedule.
Damian Warner:But it's really cool to see him passionate about something, skateboarding. Really, whatever Blippi's doing, blippi he's doing, but yeah no, he's super active. He's been active since he started walking at eight months and it just kind of been going ever since.
Host:But yeah, it's really cool to see. I want to pull on that thread. You mentioned hockey because I grew up in London Ontario, like you did, um, and I remember there were times I felt like the odd one out because I was a black guy in London Ontario. All my friends played hockey, they all had aspirations of um, nhl, glory, um, but I was a black guy in London Ontario making music with my brothers, so I was doing something that was different, sorry, making R and B music. So different. That was from what different from what other people were doing and I look different. Did you ever get that sense of being the odd one out? You're doing something different from other, what other people are doing, and you look different Like. Did you ever get that? Do you ever get that feeling being the odd one out or no?
Damian Warner:Absolutely. Not only that, but I come from like an interracial family, so my dad's black, my mom's white and I spent the majority of my time with my mom's side of the family, so I was always visually different than everybody else.
Damian Warner:So there'd be times when me and my mom were walking down the street and people were like, oh, is that your boyfriend, you know? Because it's like, no, that's my son. And they're like how's that possible, you know? But even even like growing up like I would be like the only black kid in my classes all that kind of stuff Right, playing sports like hockey, road hockey and stuff I'm the only black kid, so there would always be weird moments like that where you feel like you're the odd person out and you feel like you're kind of going against the tide to a certain degree with some of the decisions that you make. But at the same time, I think you just kind of have to trust your process and just do what you love. And luckily for me, I was able to find my passion and find people around me that could help support and foster that passion, so I feel like I was very lucky throughout my whole process.
Host:Do you think that that experience I've said this to people before. I think that that was actually one of the most formative experiences for me was feeling like the odd one out, because I had to forge my own way and try to do things in a way that were authentic to me. There were not a lot of expectations on me to be like the other kids because I was not like the other kids. Did you ever think that that was like? I don't know if you ever thought about this. Was that an advantage?
Damian Warner:Kind of you're already set apart, so you get to be set apart. Yeah, I think so, but I think ultimately for me is that I feel like when I was growing up I didn't really have too many expectations from other people to be somebody or to be a certain thing, you know. So I think ultimately my mom just wanted us to be happy in whatever we did. So I kind of just went about my life and what would make me happy to a certain degree I didn't really have too many like teachers or other family members or other parents that were expecting me to do something and I didn't really have any judgment from anybody else with whatever path I chose. So it was kind of like a weird environment where when I was growing up, I grew up in like a relatively poor neighborhood, so a lot of single parents.
Damian Warner:So I think the danger of that is that there's not too many role models. So to a certain degree I felt like everybody was in a position where they didn't really know where they're going. We didn't grow up in a place where it's just like, oh, this person's son went off to be an engineer at NASA. It was just like, yeah, this person is working at a grocery store. This person is working here, so there wasn't too much outside expectation that was put on me. It was just trying to be as happy as I could and, luckily for me, those teachers that I mentioned Garlation, dennis, nielsen saw something in me and I kind of just trusted them and we kind of went down that path. But yeah, I feel like I was very lucky that I was able to have the flexibility to kind of choose what would ultimately bring me the most joy.
Host:And now kids in those neighborhoods, in your neighborhood, they're very lucky to have you as somebody who came from the neighborhood who shows them alternate paths, because I always think that the most there are role models who have active roles in your life, then there are ones who just show you different outcomes. So now people in this neighborhood are very lucky to have you around to show them different outcomes. And I wonder if, how does that feel? How does that feel to be a role?
Damian Warner:model. At first it was a lot of pressure and something that I wasn't too receptive to. I remember my coach asked me to go back and speak to my high school and I was just like for what? And that was one of the first fights that we got in, because I was like, why would they want to hear from me? This was at a point where I never went to the Olympics. I never accomplished anything. The only thing I did was qualify for a world championships and I wasn't happy with that. I wasn't pleased with that. So when I got asked to go speak to my school, you were pleased with that I wasn't pleased with where I was.
Damian Warner:I wanted to achieve a lot more. I thought that if I was to go back to speak to somebody, I would need to have a lot more credentials to be in that place, to be telling somebody else to work hard or to achieve their dreams right, because I haven't even achieved my dreams yet. This was a couple of years after I had graduated high school and some of the people that were on my basketball team were still in that audience that I was speaking to. But one of the teachers came up to me afterwards and they told me that did you know that the school bell went off twice and none of the kids got up and I was just like no, I didn't really notice that. He's like these kids listen to you.
Damian Warner:And that's when I started to understand that, like, whether I believe that if I'm a role model or not, some of the people in my communities, in my neighborhoods, look up to me, you know, and I think it's a big responsibility and it's something that I take very seriously now, because I think one of the problems is is that we see all these guys like Vince Carter was my idol growing up. You see all these other people on TV stars, justin Bieber, things like that but everybody puts them on a pedestal and thinks that their success is reserved for, like, a certain group of people. You know, and I just I've met some of the people that I looked up to and it's just not true, you know, and it's not a it's not a slight on any of them. Like I met Vince Carter and I expected him to fly out of the room after we were done, you know, but he walked out with ice on his knees.
Damian Warner:You, know, and that's when I realized that Netflix that cries about things, that gets upset about things, that's happy about certain things, he's just a normal person that goes through every emotions, that the success that I have isn't because I'm a special person, it's because I was put in the right situation. I found the things that I was passionate about and I found people that can help me get to where I need to be. You know, and I think that if that message comes true to some of these kids, that maybe that they'll set their dreams and their sights really high and and follow through on those to ultimately achieve what would make them happy, you know. So I think it's a it's. It's a tricky situation to be in, to be a role model, it's a lot of pressure, but I think it it's. It's something that can do great things, uh, if, if, put in the right, the right hands, and I think that I have the ability to, to, to foster that and to take care of that humility, which I think is.
Host:It's not that I expect it different, but, but, um, when you meet somebody who you know we're talking about athletic prowess we're like, okay, so world record at a at the multidiscipline sport at the Olympics. Sorry, olympic record, multidiscipline sport, um, as people said before, normally reserved for the, for folks who end up on the cover of the Wheaties box and you're so grounded, um, you, you don't. Uh, the grown, the greatest athletes of all time, is from my hometown and he's a pretty chill individual. How do you stay grounded?
Damian Warner:Um, I, I think because of my mom. I think that I understood the situation that we grew up in and how tough she had to work. So there's that. But also I remember when I was younger I'm not sure exactly what I did, but I was like bragging and I was boasting all this kind of stuff and my mom was like that's okay, but just understand that there's always somebody out there bigger than you, smarter than you, faster than you, stronger than you, better looking than you, smarter than you, faster than you, stronger than you, better looking than you. And she wasn't telling me that to slight me or to disrespect me or anything like that. She was just giving me a big life lesson.
Damian Warner:And I understand that now. And it's like sure, I'm in a position where I went to the Olympics and I broke the record and I won a gold medal. But that record's gonna get broken at some point in time. You know, just live happy with the successes that you have and just kind of go through life. So I try not to just because I want a gold medal, I don't believe that I'm better than anybody else, right? You know, everybody's equal and everybody has the same opportunities for success. And I just kind of go about my life in the way that I know how.
Host:Are there any sports that you're really bad at? If we're in the playground and we're playing X sport and somebody was like, okay, who do you pick? And I'm like I'm not picking Damian for this one. He's really, really bad at this.
Damian Warner:I wouldn't say bad. I think it's just like a lack of like experience. But soccer is not a sport that I've really played too much of. Soccer would probably be the one that I would say the most Everything else I've kind of played around a little bit with right and I think people oftentimes see like a finished product. You know they'll say like, oh my gosh, this guy's an amazing basketball player, or this guy's really good at pickleball, let's say. But they don't realize like all the time and effort that they put in right. Someone can say like, oh, you're an incredible singer, like this is a natural gift. But they don't count all the times that, like, you worked on it right, you got lessons, you did all these different things to show off that finished product. It's not something that just happened.
Host:Yeah.
Damian Warner:And I think sometimes people think that like, oh, this guy's an incredible athlete, and I'm not going to deny that. There's not gifts that I was born with, that I got genetically from my parents but I tried to do whatever I could to accentuate those gifts so I can compete the best that I can, you know, oh man, I can't bait you into saying anything that's like not humble.
Host:That's annoying, daddy, it's time to take a break. Are you a new business owner starting out on a new venture? Or perhaps you're at the other end of your entrepreneurial journey, eyeing a smooth transition to retirement? Maybe you're planning to expand and take on the next chapter of your business? Whatever your need, lerner's Business Law Group is here to help. Our team has the expertise and dedication to help you achieve success. With decades of experience in business law, we provide personalized solutions tailored to your unique situation. Whether it's navigating complex regulations, securing contracts or planning for the future. We've got you covered At Lerner's Business Law Group. Your success is our mission. Let us guide you through every step of your business journey, ensuring peace of mind and a solid foundation for growth. Ready to take your business to the next level, contact Lerner's Business Law Group today and let us help you achieve your goals. And now back to the show.
Host:So there's something I've been asking basically everybody not basically everybody that we've spoken to this year, this season and it's to be resilient. You have to first go through some sort of adversity, and I always think there is adversity that comes from without and there's adversity that comes from within and I say this in a loving way, because I always this is the way I term it there are things that I failed at that I can laugh at now, or that have permitted me to become better at what I am. So, my, the way I phrase this question is what's your favorite failure? What is the thing that you failed at that taught you the most and that has allowed you to get to where you are right now?
Damian Warner:That's a good question. I would say so. When I was in high school and I first got introduced to track and field, I started out as a jumper. So I started doing long jump, triple jump and high jump and long jump was the best of those three for me and I remember that I wanted to go to the Olympics as a long jumper. That was one of my goals. You know, my goal was to get that Team Canada outfit and put it on and go to the Olympics and compete as a long jumper, long jumper.
Damian Warner:And I remember I went to my final competition of high school off the track and field. I think it was in Hamilton or something like that, and I was one of the favorites. But when I was warming up I had like a little injury or something to my ankle and I competed horribly. I think I finished like sixth or seventh overall and I was supposed to win. And this was the last competition that I had of my high school career.
Damian Warner:And because I went through high school in a way that was not responsible to a certain degree, like I skipped school all the time. I was never doing anything bad, but I just didn't understand the importance of school, so I skipped all the time Because I started doing competitive sports relatively late. I wasn't on anybody's radar for a scholarship or anything like that, so I didn't have the grades to go to Western. So the only thing that I could do is go to Fanshawe College, which is not a bad thing, but they don't have a track and field team.
Damian Warner:So I thought that my my journey in track and field was over, and I remember going back to Montgomery secondary school and doing a workout on my own and like just crying on the track, thinking like where do I go from here? You know, um, and it was not too long after that where, um, my coaches invited me into their office and they said that there's this thing called the decathlon that we think you would be really good at, and really, for a lack of opportunities, I said yes, um, and to make a long story short, I've been able to accomplish some of my biggest goals by doing this decathlon, but I would say that it's like my failure of being like an Olympic long jumper would probably be the best thing that happened to me, and at the time it seemed like it was the most devastating thing that ever happened to me, because this was my dream and it failed. And then I, through that process, I found the thing that ultimately was my passion.
Host:I mean, you still did a little.
Damian Warner:And I still get to do long jump.
Host:You still get to do long jump.
Damian Warner:To add, like cherry on top, is that there's always been this part of me that it's like a thorn sticking in my side where I wanted to still win a long jump gold medal or go to the Olympics as a long jumper. And I get to do that as a decathlon. But at the Olympics in 2021, I jumped 824 in the long jump, which would have won a bronze medal in the open long jump. So it was kind of like a little icing on top of my whole Olympic experience.
Host:Man, man alive. Just hearing you talk about your athletic prowess makes my knees hurt. Man alive Just hearing you talk about your athletic prowess makes my knees hurt. Okay, so you've mentioned Netflix a couple times. I'll ask you just a couple more questions. But what are you watching on Netflix these days?
Damian Warner:Nothing right now but this isn't on Netflix, but I just started watching a little bit of Ted Lasso, oh, yeah, so I like that. But then I kind of like the Ozarks, things like that. Yeah, so off the top of my head it's tough. But yeah, the Office is my go-to. Whenever I'm at competitions or things like that, I just throw in an episode of the Office during my downtime and I've watched all the episodes like 20 times, so I don't really need to watch it. I just kind of just smile and laugh, but anything kind of to distract you during the process of the decathlon, because you're competing for 48 hours and it's impossible to stay, uh, in tune with the decathlon and extremely focused during that time.
Damian Warner:So, you have to have these little strategies to kind of check in and check out, and I use the office that way.
Host:Do you have, uh, any guilty pleasures? Do you hide tubs of Ben and Jerry's in places?
Damian Warner:My guilty pleasure would be cheesecake, so I'm a sucker for cheesecake. I remember anytime that I go to a competition and I come back, my mom would always make me a cheesecake and it got so well known that after the Olympics in 2021, I came back and, like everybody from my family, made me a cheesecake and it's like what am I going to do with all these cheesecakes? And you eat them.
Host:You eat the cheesecake.
Damian Warner:It doesn't bode well for the upcoming season, where you kind of you're doing all the hills and you have to work it off. But that's the price that you pay, I guess.
Host:Yeah, and you gotta, you gotta suffer for your art. Sometimes You're a business owner now.
Damian Warner:Yeah.
Host:How do you uh? How do you like that?
Damian Warner:It's uh, it's cool. It's uh, it was one of those things that was a lot of pressure as well. Anytime that you put your name on something is, uh is a tough, tough pill to swallow. To a certain degree, you want to make sure that you're doing it right and, um, everybody's doing an awesome job and the gym's doing really well right now. And um, we're in there three times a week doing our workouts and people are always coming up giving compliments and seeing people work really hard in there. It's yeah, it's really cool and it's so awesome that it fits right in with what I've done for the last 15 years of my life. It's like everybody's pushing towards a dream or a goal that they have and it's really cool to see.
Host:Yeah, I wonder what that journey's like. I mean, you'd mentioned something that I thought is really interesting, that I'm going to probably have to think about for a while. But when you talk about adjusting your vision as you're moving towards the Olympics at Farquharson, not Thompson Arena and then how to adjust your vision as you're moving down a path, that is not something that you'd necessarily scripted out at least in your mind.
Host:And I wonder if there's been any journeys towards business ownership or on the early days of business ownership that you've had to adjust your path or adjust your vision, or if it's still early days to kind of have that.
Damian Warner:Yeah, I haven't really had too much time to focus on that just because it all happened so fast and I think it's it's too early for me to have any kind of visions like that. I think right now I'm still kind of in like a a passenger seat or in the backseat when it comes to that. Like I'm, my main focus right now is on the Olympics, but I imagine after the Olympics I'll take some bigger roles into like day-to-day stuff and things like that. But right now there's a lot of people that are doing what they need to do, um, to make sure that the gym operates, and they're doing a really good job. But right now my mission is solely focused on trying to go to Paris and win another gold medal.
Host:Of course, um, and you know we'll all be rooting for you here in London, ontario. Um, I'm so happy you've been here today. There's only one thing that I think I'd like to discuss before we go. Obviously, family is very important to you. Your mom comes up in a lot of interviews and, to the extent that she's listening, I'd like to give her a big shout out for raising a wonderful young man and an amazing ambassador for sport for the city of London, for Canada. I mean unbelievable.
Host:What people often ask? This question of athletes. You know, what would you say to aspiring athletes? What would you say to people who are coming in? They want to follow your footsteps? And my bigger thing would be what do you say? I mean, this would be a question for your mom, but what do you say to a parent of a young not even aspiring but like thriving athlete? Obviously, the relationship between you and your mother is something very special. What advice would you give to those people? I mean, obviously your mother's been an unbelievable amount of support for you and a source of support for you. What advice do you give to those people? I mean, obviously your mother's been an unbelievable amount of support for you and a source of support for you. What advice do you give to that parent?
Damian Warner:Yeah, I would say let the kid find their own journey and support them wherever you can. You know, I see too often being involved in sports and being around athletes is that the parents almost want the dream more than the kid, right. Or some of the parents will be like I want my kid to be like an NHL hockey player and it's not necessarily the kid's dream and I sometimes I can see that in the kid's eyes. You know that they're doing it because they don't want to let down the parent.
Damian Warner:Yeah, but I feel like when you're faced with those situations, if the kid faces adversity, then they're probably more likely to give up if it's not their goal. But I think that if the kid decides that, okay, I want to be a hockey player, I want to be an Olympic athlete, that if they face adversity then they're more likely to push through. So I think that you have to let the kid find out their passions and just be there to support them. You know, be the shoulder to cry on when things are not going well and then the kick in the butt when they need it, you know. So just kind of, just be there for support. I think that's the ultimate thing and let the kid kind of find their own path. I think that's the only way that it can work out where both sides will be happy.
Host:All right, well, I got a lot to think about. I got a lot to think about. I, oh man, I have so many questions for you. I have so many questions for you. Fine, this is the last question. Is there, is there such thing as a gold medal mindset?
Damian Warner:hmm, in what sense?
Host:so I think about this all the time. I'm one of those people who thinks that if you can fix the process, I'm probably stuck in my cerebral, I'm stuck in my head all the time, but like, if you fix the process, you can kind of standardize your outcomes. Some version of this, that is, you talked about resilience, you talked about overcoming adversity there's got to be this version of gold medal mindset that applies to that. Doesn't have to be, but is there a mindset that?
Damian Warner:applies to striving for, and trying to achieve success in any arena I believe so.
Damian Warner:So one of the things that I mentioned earlier is like a message that my mom told me when I was younger, and that's you can do anything you set your mind to. And that's something that I truly, truly believe. That, whether you, it doesn't matter which path you are on, like whether you're in academics or sports or entertainment. I think that if there's something that you want to achieve, I always think that there's a path to get there, and that doesn't mean it's going to be easy, it doesn't mean it's going to happen overnight, and it doesn't mean that you can just write it down on a piece of paper and it'll happen. But you have to follow a certain process. You have to surround yourself by people that can help you get to where you're ultimately trying to go, because throughout life, nothing of importance will happen alone. You're going to need people that help you, and that's something that I've learned throughout my path.
Damian Warner:I didn't even know what the decathlon was. My, my coaches knew what the decathlon was, but they didn't know the day-to-day training or any of those processes. We had to reach out and we had to find people that understood those categories so that, ultimately, we can get to where we go. So my path is very like unorthodox, but that goes with what a lot of people are doing, you know. But it just shows that if there's something that you really want and you're willing to fight for it, if you surround yourself by the right people and you work hard and you believe, then you can get there. And I truly believe that for anything, for anybody that's going through any kind of journey or walk in life Awesome.
Host:I want to ask you a question I guess it's twofold, because you were talking about coming from uh background. You know, modest beginning at beginnings, um, this is a two-part question. It is number one how do you fund the preparation for uh to become a world-class athlete? Because I can't imagine that's something that is um, inexpensive. That's the first thing. And then you know what is the re-entry back into the atmosphere like for somebody who who sets an Olympic record and comes away with a gold medal? I can think of some conversations I've had with past gold medalists who were kind of unhappy with how, how much they thought it would change their life from a financial perspective. So I'm kind of asking it's a two-part question how do you fund it? How do you get there? And then how have you found that journey, kind of re-entry back into the world with the rest of us?
Damian Warner:Yeah. So from my experience, I can only speak from my experience. What I've gone through, of course, yeah, my experience, what I've, what I've gone through, but it's a it's a tricky path because early on, coming from the modest beginnings like you mentioned, I didn't really have money. You know I would feel guilty. Or I wasn't able to go to my mom and ask like, hey, do you have money so I can fly to the Canadian championships in Vancouver? Uh, in two weeks. So so for me I was in a position where I had to rely on a lot of people to support my dreams, so teachers at Montcalm Secondary School, people from thank you to all these people. You know I don't have a time machine and I don't have enough money in my bank account to pay everybody back. So that's one of the toughest things, but it's needless to say, it's one of the hardest things is the early path when you have not accomplished anything but you're telling everybody like, oh, we think that in time he'll get to this place. So you're kind of relying on other people to support your dreams, and that's the complete opposite of where I am now.
Damian Warner:I feel like being from Canada.
Damian Warner:We don't have too many athletes that won a gold medal at the Olympics.
Damian Warner:So when I won my gold medal and I came back, I was surprised by how many sponsors and people reached out.
Damian Warner:Surprised by how many sponsors and people reached out. You know, I I think for that first little while I was like on zoom nonstop, like talking to like people out of business and um doing Q and A's at this company, all for financial, uh return, and the amount of people that reached out and kind of sponsored me, uh, so I feel like there's not many of us probably here in Canada, um, but I would say that there's probably like a handful of us that are able to make a really good living doing this sport. And I feel very fortunate that I'm in a position where I am now, where I can kind of build for my future that one day I can be in a situation where I can give things to Theo that I never had and opportunities to Theo that I never had when I was a kid. So I feel like I'm in a very privileged position now. But that's certainly not the position that most people in track and field find themselves in.
Host:Is there, um, um, are there things that we can be doing? I think, as, like you know, I mean I don't represent athletics Canada, but I mean, are there other things that we can be doing to to make this journey not easier but easier is the wrong way to put it Is there a way, are there things that we can be doing or we should be doing as a country that you've seen other countries do, that you think would make this kind of better for our athletes?
Damian Warner:Yeah, it's always a tricky situation because, like you mentioned before, if I was born in a country like Germany or I was from a place in Europe that track and field is much more celebrated. You kind of get financial benefit for the accomplishments that you might have Versus here in Canada. It doesn't kind of happen the way that you want. So the position that I'm in now is, I would say it's a good one and I'm very pleased with the position that I'm in, but at the same time, you think that if you go to the Olympics and you achieve all these things that you set out to that you would come back and it would be yeah, you're just like swimming in money, right, but that's not necessarily how it happens.
Damian Warner:Athletes a little bit more Uh, I'm not sure how that would look from like, uh, um, a structure, but I think the situation that we have now is is not necessarily a great one, right. I think that there's a lot of athletes that are taking out loans and things like that so they can pursue their Olympic dreams, and I just think that in a, in a sport like this, where you're going off and you're representing your country, that it should be kind of compensated a little bit better, um, but I, I sport like this, where you're going off and you're representing your country, that it should be kind of compensated a little bit better, um, but I, I understand that there's a lot of athletes that you have to take care of, um, but yeah, something has to change at some point in time, of course.
Host:Yeah, Damian, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate you being here and the whole city of london um no, I don't speak for the city of london, but on behalf of the city of l, but on behalf of the city of London. We're so proud of you and we wish you nothing but success and we're looking forward to seeing you in Paris.
Damian Warner:I appreciate that. Thank you so much.
Host:Take care. Thank you for listening to this episode of Anything But Law. I hope you found it as inspiring and insightful as I did. This episode is recorded at Charter house Studios in London, Ontario, with sound design and editing by Aaron Murray. Our theme music is by the Mcauley Boys. Special thanks to the marketing team at Learners, especially Natalee Davis and Dylan Willems. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate and leave a review on your favourite podcast platform. It really helps us reach more listeners, just like you. If you have any questions, feedback or would like to be a guest on the show, reach out to us at marketing@ learnersca. Anything But Law is a Learners Business Law Group production. Thanks for joining us Cheers.