The Skinny on World Champion Brian Price

Brian Price
©

He hardly ever exercises, well, maybe the odd run. He’s barely a hair over 5’4. He weighs 123 lb, soaking wet. He’s only rowed a handful of times. He’s a World Champion – twice. But it took tragedy for Canadian men’s eight coxswain, Brian Price, to get to this point.

The Canadian men’s eight had not seen the medal podium for quite some time. In fact at the Sydney Olympics they were out after the repêchage. So in 2002 when post-Olympic team rebuilding saw their efforts come to the fore in the form of a World Champion gold medal, the voice of Brian Price took on new meaning.

Price has told the story before. But it is not the story of the rise to glory of those eight rowers, rather it is the story that shaped his destiny at the age of seven. “I was diagnosed with leukaemia ALL (cancer of the blood),” says Price. This turned out to be the beginning of five long years of chemotherapy treatment that finally put the disease into remission. But, as a side effect of the treatment, Price’s thyroid gland ceased to work correctly. Price stopped growing.

“It (leukaemia) totally changed my direction in life, ” says Price. “I would never have become a cox if I had grown to the height of my brother. I would never have become a World Champion.” Price admits, as a child he wanted to be 6’4, “now I yell at guys that are 6’4.”

Price discovered rowing in high school when a friend introduced him to coxing. “She thought I was the perfect size,” says Price. “I liked being on the water and getting the immediate feedback from coxing. I liked the physical aspect of the sport, event though I didn’t have to be physical myself.”

Price first tried out for the national team in 1998 but knew he had to upgrade his skills. Leading up to the 2000 Olympics Price moved to number two cox position and on retirement of Chris Taylor, the men’s eight coxswain, Price took over the top spot.

Price’s crew struck gold for the second time at the World Championships in 2003, elevating them to the position of favourite for the Athens Olympics. This is a dream come true for Price who has always loved to watch the Olympics. “I never thought that I’d have the chance to be part of the Olympics, but through rowing I could relate when I saw it on TV as I was doing the same sport.”

Currently rowing engulfs Price’s life. Training is three times a day and the team is currently escaping the cold of their Victoria BC training base for a warm weather rowing camp in California.

As Price moves closer to being part of the Olympic Games he quietly holds in his mind the reason why he is still here. “I do tend to downplay it (leukaemia) then I think about the people who didn’t survive and it’s a reality check.” Price remembers going to summer camp for kids with cancer and returning one year to find out that his friend would not be back. This happened twice. They were 9 years old.

“I always had the mentality that this (leukaemia) would not beat me,” says Price. “That was not an option.” The mentality continues into his coxing as Price steers the Canadian men’s eight towards Athens 2004.