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Vanessa Gilles jokes that she has been practicing her Queen Wave for the occasion.
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Deep down though, Ottawa’s Olympic gold medal-winning soccer star is humbled by the attention he’s receiving after finally returning home, including honoring the Ottawa Redblacks in their game against the Hamilton Tigers. -Cats on Wednesday.
Last week, she toasted a ceremony at City Hall, where Mayor Jim Watson proclaimed it “Vanessa Gilles Day.”
And then there was that visit to his old soccer club, when he was waiting for a couple of kids to show up.
Instead, a crowd of 200 young footballers surrounded her, wanting to know anything about the crazy race for the dream gold medal in Tokyo six weeks ago. The tense final ended with Canada knocking down Sweden, when even the penalty shoot-out round went into extra time.
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“I didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation until one of my former soccer coaches asked me to speak,” he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “I thought it was just going to be a team. The whole club showed up and I took photos with everyone. I felt like I was walking into a nursery with a bag of candy. “
Gilles, 25, possesses a modesty that goes along with his sense of humor, apparently still a bit in shock from the Olympic experience and where his footballing life has taken him.
A former competitive tennis player, she gave up that racket because she preferred a more physical and team-oriented environment. He hadn’t given soccer much thought, but when his Louis Riel high school team needed a goalkeeper, he gave it a try. Turns out, she didn’t really like the position, but it was natural in the game.
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“I felt too isolated (as a goalkeeper), so I moved to central defense, and I’ve been there ever since,” he said.
Ultimately, that led to a scholarship and great success at the University of Cincinnati, followed by signing with a semi-professional team in Cyprus.
He is now in his second season with Bordeaux in the French top league, taking a break from the schedule to return home to Ottawa.
It’s certainly been a wild ride over the past few months, a newcomer to the national team taking on a bigger role as the Olympics progressed.
The family was unable to reach Japan due to COVID-19 restrictions, but as the gold medal celebration progressed, they reached out to their brother, Sebastian, so they could enjoy the moment together.
The two have always been competitive with each other, “it was like World War III, growing up,” he said, but over time, he has become a voice of advice, support and humor in her life. Their personalities are similar.
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“It was the first call I made on the field,” he said. “I asked him, ‘Is this real life, did this really happen?’ He said, ‘Yes, it’s real life.’ And then he hung up and went back to work. “
While much of Canada was still celebrating Olympic soccer triumph, Gilles returned to France to play in Champions League matches for his team.
That, he says, helped him keep his feet on the ground.
“When we were at the Olympics, of course, we were on Cloud 9, but when I went back to France, it was just another day,” he said. “France was not even at the football Olympics.”
The Olympic soccer team has kept in touch through group chats and she acknowledges that there has been a “collective calm” at times, with everyone lowering themselves a bit after reaching such high heights. The club will meet again next month during the “FIFA window”.
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At this point, Gilles is enjoying the time he can spend here with family and friends, whom he says “fuck it” all the time to keep his sanity.
She can’t help but think about how great it would be to play games in Ottawa, if there was a will and a way to have a professional women’s league in Canada.
“Absolutely, I’m reflecting on that,” he said. “I’m in a cabin with three friends from Ottawa. Everyone has the talent to play in a professional league, but they just didn’t get the opportunity like I did.
“If he did not have a French passport (his father, Denis, was born in France), I am not sure I would have had this opportunity. I should have started my career as a non-athlete. “
In 2019, Gilles spoke at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York, talking about the relative inequality in professional sports between men and women.
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“Male athletes have 200 times more opportunities to play as professionals,” he said. “And then when you factor in being Canadian, the (gap) is even bigger.”
Gilles is well aware of the difficulties the world’s best female hockey players have had in trying to establish a suitable and viable professional league in North America.
“I think the more we talk about it, the more people will think about it,” he said. “People are incredibly surprised when they hear those statistics.”
It will be on Gilles’ mind on Wednesday, as the Olympic gold medalist watches the Redblacks play.
“Hopefully, one day, we will also have professional women’s football on that field,” she said. “All those girls would not only have to see us every four years, they could see us every week, playing here.”
Twitter.com/Citizenkwarren
Reference-ottawasun.com