Justina Di Stasio, the only Canadian indigenous athlete who has her ticket to Paris | Paris 2024 Olympics

Justina Di Stasio did not seem to know that she is – at least for the moment – ​​the only Indigenous Canadian athlete qualified for the next Olympic Games in Paris.

Faced with this news, the wrestler member of the Nation shouts Norway House, in Manitoba, was both surprised, but also calm.

People have already done it before me. It’s a great opportunity to be the person people can look up to, but I don’t take it as pressure. Only it would be cool if there was more [d’Autochtones].

Justina Di Stasio has attempted to qualify for the Olympics several times in recent years. After coming close to obtaining a ticket to Rio, then to Tokyo, the 31-year-old wrestler was finally able to confirm her place at her first Olympic Games at the end of February.

Over the last few years, she has been able to build an increasingly prominent place for herself in the world of wrestling.

Justina Di Stasio first stood out at the 2014 Pan American Wrestling Championships by winning bronze in the 69 kg category. At the same championships, she will then win gold in 2015, 2016 and 2017 in the 75 kg category, then in 2020 in the 76 kg category.

But it doesn’t stop there. At the Pan American Games, Justina Di Stasio won silver in 2015 (75 kg) then gold in 2019 (76 kg). At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the wrestler won gold for 76 kg.

Of all her accomplishments, the athlete considers that one of her finest moments dates from 2018, when she won the world title in the 72 kg category.

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A Cree heritage and an Italian heritage

Justina Di Stasio’s parents, the Italian father, the Cree mother from Manitoba, each knew how to infuse their own origins into their daughter, who lives in the suburbs of Vancouver.

She says she is equally fortunate to have unconditional support from both sides of her family, regardless of ancestry, and even sees strong similarities between the two cultures, particularly with regard to family and respect for elders. .

There is a culture of respect and family values ​​that is similar. […] It’s all family, love and kindnessshe explains.

Instead of saying: “My grandmother cooks the best pasta”, you say: “My uncles and aunts are keepers of knowledge.”

This duality of identity, however, will have led the athlete to certain questions about his place as an indigenous athlete. The wrestler admits that, by her name and appearance, she has never faced any form of nuisance or racism.

Being indigenous has only helped meshe admits. I wish this were the case for all Aboriginal people.

Justina Di Stasio says she sometimes fears that this situation of privilege sends the wrong message about the current situation of Indigenous people.

: “Native people have no problem”. My experience is completely unique.”,”text”:”I’m always very careful when I talk about being Indigenous, because that’s my experience. [Je ne veux pas que les gens] say to themselves: “Aboriginal people have no problem”. My experience is totally unique.”}}”>I’m always very careful when I talk about being Indigenous, because that’s my experience. [Je ne veux pas que les gens] say to themselves: “Native people have no problem”. My experience is totally unique.

To this end, the athlete says she is very grateful to the people who paved the way, and admires the people who do not have the same privilege as her.

It seems unfair to me that I’m the person getting the attention, when other people were there before me and did much harder things.

The wrestler admits to having long felt the need to be perfect in order to properly carry their indigenous identity. Now she considers being herself and doing her best to be the most important thing.

What I do is just sport. At the end of the day, everyone will still love me. I ain’t got nothing taken away from me, no one’s gonna treat me badshe emphasizes.

Justina Di Stasio receives some love. Its community of the Nation cries of Norway House recently welcomed her as a hero following her qualification for the Olympic Games.

To this end, he was notably offered a blanket from the nation, in addition to offering him a pearl necklace, always bearing the image of the nation. Her community also financially supports her career, as she, in addition to her athletic career, is also an English teacher.

The wrestler also felt a weight off her shoulders when she learned she wasn’t the first athlete from her community to go to the Olympics.

Benjamin Joe Keeper was an Olympic athlete also from the Cree Nation of Norway House. A survivor of a residential school for Aboriginal people, the man went to the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, coming fourth in the 10,000 meters and ninth in the 5,000 meters.

Although he died several decades ago, Joe Keeper will have been able to inspire Justina Di Stasio.

Being the first person to do something, I enjoy it. But it’s also cool to see that someone has experienced the same thing before you.

The tough review of indigenous athletes

If Justina Di Stasio is – for the moment – ​​the only indigenous athlete qualified for the Paris Olympic Games, others will have preceded her, mainly at the Winter Olympic Games.

However, indigenous participation remains limited in general. Indigenous athletes and academics say poverty, isolation, health issues, intergenerational trauma from residential schools, cultural barriers and a lack of opportunities are holding back many Indigenous athletes’ participation in the Olympics.

Otherwise, it is not easy to identify indigenous athletes within the Canadian delegation. In view of the 2022 Olympic Games, the Canadian Olympic Committee explained to Indigenous Spaces that Indigenous identity is not something it lists.

In 2021, he had already told CBC that he only started asking his staff to give their identity that same year.

At least four Canadian athletes present at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games had Indigenous origins: Liam Gill, Jocelyne Laroque, Jamie Lee Rattray and Alexandria Loutitt. A fifth, hockey player Abby Roque, is American, but is a member of the Wahnapitae First Nation in Ontario.

At the previous Winter Olympics, in Pyeongchang, in 2018, there were six, according to information shared by the International Olympic Committee.

The indigenous presence within the Canadian delegation has become much rarer at the Summer Olympic Games.

In Tokyo, in 2021, Mohawk Jillian Weir was probably the only indigenous athlete from Canada, according to certain specialist sites.

In 2016, in Rio, volleyball player Jaimie Thibeault seemed, again according to certain specialized sites, to be the only indigenous athlete in the Canadian delegation, she who comes from the T’Sou-ke Nation, on Vancouver Island.

Indigenous people in Canada have participated in the Olympic Games for many decades, in small numbers. Athletes like Mohawk athlete Peter Deer (St. Louis 1904), Mohawk kayaker Alwyn Morris (Los Angeles 1984) and Métis equestrian Monica Pinette (Athens 2004) have left their mark on Canadian sport in their own way.

If Justina Di Stasio will also mark the Paris Olympic Games in her own way, can we also hope to see her at the next Summer Olympic Games, in Los Angeles, in 2028?

Although she does not completely close the door, the main interested party affirms that she does not have the City of Angels in her plans, in particular because of her age and her financial situation.

Maybe it would be different if I didn’t live in Vancouver. It’s very expensive here. I definitely need to take care of my body after the Olympics and start making money.

In fact, the wrestler even found some satisfaction in reaching the Olympics only towards the end of her career.

It feels good to know that the journey has been so long and that it is finally coming to an end, here, towards the end.

Justina Di Stasio, however, does not intend to diverge from her goal: the gold medal.

With information from Alex Wauthy (CBC Sports) and The Canadian Press