Evan Dunfee

Evan Dunfee, BKIN 2014, Team Canada athlete Track and Field, 50km race walking event.

Evan Dunfee is recognized as a KIN Community Champion for serving as a model of grace in the face of adversity during the COVID-19 outbreak and for inspiring us to serve the greater community.

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My name is Evan Dunfee, I graduated from UBC with my BKIN in 2014 and I am currently pursuing my athletic goals with Team Canada in the Track and Field event of 50km race walking. I have dreamed about becoming an Olympic athlete since I was 9 years old, and it has been a goal I’ve chased day-in and day-out for the last decade of my life. Sport has helped me grow, it has taught me about teamwork, dedication, sportsmanship, perseverance and goal-setting. Sport is also what lead me to university and allowed me to fall in love with academics.

In 2016, my dream of representing Canada at the Olympics came true. I finished 4th in the 50km race walk. Most recently, in 2019, I won the bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships – my first individual global medal to go along with my two World Team silver medals won in 2014 and 2016 with UBC teammates Inaki Gomez and Ben Thorne.

When I was a kid I defined success as winning and everything else as failure. Luckily through sport, and with the help of some great and patient coaches, I have since learned to redefine what success looks like. While my goals remain the same, I want to break world records and win Olympic gold medals; I no longer define success by whether or not I achieve those things, rather by how far the pursuit of those goals takes me. As 2019 came to a close, I had my sights set firmly on the Tokyo Games in 2020 with the belief that I could stand atop the podium in August.

In March, the International Olympic Committee finally decided to postpone the Tokyo Olympic Games until 2021 due to the COVID-19 global pandemic wreaking havoc on the world. Days earlier the Canadian Olympic Committee had announced that they would not be sending a team to the Games in 2020 and urged for a postponement. Everything I was working towards was suddenly on hold, and up in the air. My first reaction, surprising even to myself, was one of pride. I was incredibly proud to represent a team that puts the collective good first. Our leadership stepped up as global role models giving us, the athletes, the opportunity to step up to be role models in our own communities.

When we wear Canada across our chests we get to be ambassadors for all the good that Canada stands for. While the Olympics have been pushed up by one year, the fire inside me still burns bright. And when 2021 rolls around, I’ll stand on that start line, Canada spread across my chest, somehow even more proud than I thought possible to be able to represent this great country.

And finally, in these uncertain and often anxious times, the best advice I’ve learned from my 20 years in sport is to never underestimate the power of a solo walk to clear your mind and reset. It’s exercise for the mind and body and I often find myself doing two of them a day.