Tony Sharpe

Canadian sprinter Tony Sharpe first gained prominence on the international stage when, as a student at Clemson University in South Carolina and a member of the Canadian national team, he won a bronze medal in the 4x100 metres relay (alongside Ben Johnson and the non-Olympians Chris Brandy and Michael Dwyer) at the 1980 Pan American Junior Championships. By the end of 1982 he had transferred to York University in Toronto, set a Canadian record in the 200 metres, been named Canadian University Athlete of the Year, and won a silver medal in the 4x100 m relay at the Commonwealth Games (with Johnson, Mark McKoy, and Desai Williams). His next stop was the 1983 World Championships, where he was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100 metres and disqualified in the heats of the 4x100 m relay. He also finished sixth in the 200 m at that year’s Pan American Games. He then made Canada’s delegation to the 1984 Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in the 4x100 m relay alongside Johnson, Williams, and Sterling Hinds. He was also eighth in the 100 m and eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 200 m.

After the Games, Sharpe’s athletic career continued, albeit with less success, until he was forced into retirement by injuries in 1987. Two years later, during the enquiries surrounding Johnson’s doping scandal, he testified that he had been using steroids since he was a student at Clemson, and subsequently received a lifetime ban from all Canadian federal sports funding. He then worked in sales as an account manager, first for Xerox (1992-1998) and then Bell Canada (1999-2009), but also took up coaching. He helped found The Speed Academy Athletics Club in Pickering, Ontario, and is, as of 2013, the head sprints coach at the city’s Need 4 Speed Performance Training center. In 2012 his lifetime ban from federal funding was lifted, opening up the possibility that he could coach at the national (or international) level.

Personal Bests: 100 – 10.19 (1982); 200 – 20.22 (1982).