Andre De Grasse Knows What Winter Olympics Sport He'd Like to Try
Track and field is undoubtedly Andre De Grasse's main sport. The 31-year-old sprinter has seven Olympic medals, tying him for the most by a Canadian athlete.
However, De Grasse's first love was basketball. He played until his final year of high school, competing against future NBA No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins.
"I was a point guard and kind of had my game growing up similar to Allen Iverson with the crossover, mid-range jump shot kind of thing," De Grasse told Men's Journal this week. "Just get the ball to the rim. I haven't played ball in a while. Sometimes I'll get together with my friends and play over the holidays or in the offseason for me. You know, we'll go shoot around at the gym or play a little 3-on-3 halfcourt style."
This Friday, De Grasse will return to play in the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. He last appeared in the game in 2018, and said Friday will be the "most up-and-down running I've done on the court in a while."
"I should be in still good shape. I'm still running," De Grasse said. "There should be no problems there. I'm just going to have some fun. I don't know where the game is going to take me. I mean, of course, I always like to get my teammates involved early, you know, try to throw some dimes. And then as the game warms up, maybe I'll take a couple shots, you know, and see where the game is at. It all depends on how serious people are taking the game. I don't want to go too hard."
De Grasse gearing up for another trip to LA in 2028
A USC alum, De Grasse said he's looking forward to being back in Los Angeles and seeing familiar faces this weekend. The two-time Olympic gold medalist also has his eyes set on the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA, his final competition on the world's biggest stage.
"I'm grateful. I'm definitely grateful for all that I've accomplished throughout my career to be able to get to three Olympic Games. Not everyone gets a chance to be able to do that," De Grasse explained. "So I'm definitely soaking in all the memories, but still at the same time focused and determined to try to get to my last and final games in L.A. I think it's a full circle moment for me because I went to school at USC, where it's taking place at the Coliseum. I used to go watch a lot of football games when I was at school there. So it'd be pretty cool to compete inside of there."
A spectator this time around
With the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina ongoing, De Grasse is in the atypical role of observer and fan of his fellow countrymen and women.
It's a change of pace he can appreciate though.
"I saw Mark McMorris last year, the snowboarder. Just getting a chance to pick his brain and talk to him, I was like, 'You ready?'" De Grasse said. " We all have the same type of competitive spirit. We're all ready. We're all ready to go represent. We all have the jitters and we all have the nerve, but we know what it takes to get here. We know how how determined and how focused we need to be to be able to accomplish those goals.
"I'm just rooting for everybody. I was fortunate enough to be able to be the narrator for the big ad campaign we had, the bravery campaign. I was able to just do that and get a chance to feel the love and feel the need to cheer them on to go out there and try to win more medals or just represent their country to the best of their ability."
As for what sport he would love to try his hand at in the Winter Olympics, De Grasse's answer might not be what you'd expect.
"Maybe bobsled. I always thought that's pretty cool," he explained. "It's kind of like a race and trying to go the fastest you can inside of that tube. That's probably got to be the one that I think i would enjoy doing the most. I haven't speed skated skated in a while. I do like watching speed skating but I don't think I can see myself doing that. And of course, snowboarding and skiing, that's pretty intense, pretty nerve-wracking. So I would have to say bobsled is number one."