PATH TO PARIS: USask sociology student dives into first Olympics

Looking back now six years later, it was all worth it. The 22-year-old University of Saskatchewan (USask) sociology student is counting down the days to her first Olympic Games as she heads to Paris to compete for Canada in women’s diving.

“I wouldn’t have changed a thing,” said Erlam, who moved from Calgary in 2018 to join the Saskatoon Diving Club and has been studying in USask’s College of Arts and Science for the past three years. “It has been extremely difficult and a long, bumpy road, but this is the dream and I was going to do whatever it takes to get there.”

Erlam initially lived with fellow Olympian and diving teammate Rylan Wiens’ family for the first year and a half to help get settled in, although it wasn’t always smooth sailing outside the pool.

“We’re really, really close now, but we always got on each other’s nerves when we first lived together,” said Erlam, with a laugh. “I had never had any brothers or anything growing up so it was kind of weird, and we had the exact same schedule and spent every waking moment together, so it was an adjustment. But now we are closer than ever.”

In Paris, Erlam and Wiens will both be guided by their Saskatoon club coach Mary Carroll, a former Olympian herself and one of the country’s top diving mentors, who has helped both develop into elite athletes. For Erlam, her first Olympic berth was clinched two months ago at the Olympic team trials in Windsor, Ont., where she finished first in the three-metre springboard event on May 20.

“It is still taking a while to sink in for sure,” said Erlam. “In the first couple of weeks after I made the team it was just excitement and just relief. The emotions were definitely high and it was cool to have everyone behind me and excited for me.”

Erlam will have her own personal cheering section with her in Paris, as her parents Gerry and Carole, sister Marti and her husband Noah, as well as family friends make the trip overseas to support her.

“It is going to be really special to have them there,” said Erlam. “My sister’s husband has never watched diving live, so this will be his first competition and he is just over the moon, so excited. And my sister used to be a diver, too, so she understands the pressure and she is really excited that I got to the Olympics and she has been my biggest cheerleader. So it is cool that they will all be able to experience it with me because they have been such a big part of my journey.”

Erlam was only four years old when she first took the plunge head-first in the sport, following in her sister’s footsteps. It wasn’t long before she developed into one of Canada’s premier junior divers, winning gold medals in the 2015 Junior Pan-Am Games and in the 2016 and 2018 world junior championships.

“At the beginning, I just loved being in the water and it was just really cool jumping off a board and then I started winning and I loved that feeling of putting the work in and doing your best and that is what started my drive,” said Erlam. “I just love working out and being active and doing the hard work with training, and that is what pushes me. So there is a lot to love about diving.”

Among her highlights, Erlam earned double gold medals in the one-metre and three-metre springboard events at the 2022 winter national championships, and went on to win a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games with partner Mia Vallée in the women’s three-metre synchro event. This year, with an Olympic berth on the line, Erlam landed an outstanding final dive to beat two-time Canadian Olympian Pamela Ware – a world championship bronze medallist in 2023 – to pave her path to Paris.

Erlam is quick to credit her professors with helping her balance classes and competition in pursuit of her Olympic dream.

“It can be really, really difficult, especially with exams,” said Erlam, who is studying sociology and criminology and hopes to work in the justice system one day. “But I have had a couple of professors who are really flexible and have let me take exams on the road, so that has really helped. But it is definitely long days from going to the gym at seven in the morning and then to classes and then straight to the pool for the rest of the day. It’s long hours, but I have been able to do it and it has paid off.”

Erlam is also proud to be a role model to help encourage young Indigenous athletes to make their own dreams a reality.

“I am of Métis background and I have been trying to get more recognition for Métis people and for kids in sport who are from Indigenous communities,” said Erlam, who received a Bitove Indigenous Award from the Canadian Olympic Foundation in 2022, one of five Indigenous athletes selected annually to receive $5,000 to support training and competition costs. “I am trying to get more recognition for Indigenous athletes and show them what is possible.”

As she prepares for Paris, Erlam is looking forward to the opening ceremonies on July 26 as one of the most memorable moments of her career.

“I have done opening ceremonies at the Canada Games and the Commonwealth Games and that was great, but I think this is going to be something that I am going to cherish for the rest of my life,” she said. “That I am on that stage with the best athletes in the world, like Simone Biles, is going to be really cool.”

At the Olympics, Erlam enters the pool on August 7 for the preliminary round of competition in the three-metre springboard event, with the semifinals the next day and the finals on August 9.

“A medal would obviously be a miracle and a dream come true, but I am not focusing on that,” she said. “I am just going in knowing that I have put all of this work into it and I just want to go out there and have fun. Just learning from it is my main goal and coming out of it proud of myself for all the hard work and knowing that I put it all out there.”