Sarah Nurse has won two Olympic medals for hockey, but she isn't 'one of the real athletes'
Sarah Nurse isn't "one of the real athletes."
It's less than 15 minutes into my interview when Nurse, a two-time Olympian (she helped Team Canada nab a silver medal in women's ice hockey in 2018 and broke two Olympic records at the 2022 games), said this. If that's the case, we have different definitions of athletes, I retorted.
Nurse, who recently signed with PWHL (Professional Women's Hockey League) Vancouver following two seasons with the Toronto Sceptres, was comparing herself to her fellow Team Canada athletes from the 2022 Olympics. The speed skating team, she offered, qualified as real athletes.
"We left the Olympics, watching how the other athletes train, how they conduct themselves, and we're like, 'Are we really athletes?' Like, these guys are putting in a lot of work.
"It's not that we aren't," Nurse joked, "but it looks very, very different."
People assume my training schedule must be "crazy" and think that I spend six hours a day in the gym, she said. "And I'm like, no, I'm definitely not one of the real athletes."
While Nurse may not define herself as a "real athlete," her resume suggests otherwise. The six-time World Championship medalist started skating at age three and playing hockey at age five.
"Athletics is woven into the fabric of [my] family," she told Yahoo Canada.
Her relatives include WNBA all-star Kia Nurse, NHL player Darnell Nurse, and former NFL player Donovan McNabb.
"So there's something in the Nurse water," I joked.
"My grandfather was always so blunt and frank, and he would say, 'When there's any type of opportunity, decision, anything where you're deciding something, you have three options: You do it, you die, or you run away.' And that was it."
It was "harsh" advice, she said, but a good reminder that there are always several ways to approach a situation.
The first being, "realistically, this situation is not going to kill me," she said. The second: "I can back out through fear." Or, "I can figure out a way to do it.
"There are so many ways to figure out different paths you can take, and that always resonated with me."
Have you ever wondered what the world's most interesting, successful and talented people are adding to their shopping carts? Yahoo Canada's new series, Add to Cart, is exploring just that. From the supplement regimen of professional athletes to supermodel-approved skincare, this is what celebrities actually spend their money on.
With her relocation to Vancouver on the horizon, Nurse said she's approaching the cross-country move with "eyes wide open."
"Growing up, people would always ask me, 'Where would I live if I didn't live in Toronto?' And for some reason, I always said Vancouver," the Hamilton, Ont.-born hockey player said. "It's an opportunity to really step outside of my comfort zone."
From her "we-ride-at-dawn" mascara to the computer game she's "obsessed with," here are five things Sarah Nurse is Adding to Cart.
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