March 20, 2019 (Oslo, Norway) – I was recently in Oslo for the Holmenkollen Ski Festival, which featured several events, including a 50-kilometre cross-country race on Saturday, March 9. This race was the reason I’d chosen to visit Oslo. Back in December, I emailed Alex Harvey’s agent to find out what his season schedule looked like…Holmenkollen was on the shortlist, so I put it in my calendar. After Harvey officially announced that he will be retiring from professional skiing at the end of this season, I knew that this was a must-see event.

People who pay attention to the Canadian cross-country skiing scene will certainly know of Harvey. He is, after all, the greatest male skier the country has ever produced, winning multiple World Championship crowns, stepping on the podium at many World Cup events and representing Canada at three Olympics, most recently last year in Pyeongchang. His success on the world stage has made him well-known outside of Canada, too, with many international skiing fans marvelling at his prowess as a skier despite having been born outside of Scandinavia or somewhere else in Europe, which is an uncommon sight in professional skiing.

Last year I heard someone explain how anomalous Harvey is in Canadian terms: They said that his success is as shocking to Europeans as it would be for Canadians if a Japanese hockey player showed up to North America and became a top player in the NHL. Something like that has never happened, and – until Harvey came along – no North American man had made such an impact in the world of cross-country skiing.

Now, I have to be honest here – I’m pretty new to the skiing scene. I’ve skied for a long time, but for years I would only go out if my mom dragged me with her. Even then she would have to entice me with hot chocolate or maybe lunch at the chalet to get me to agree.

In recent years, however, I have grown to love and appreciate the sport, and after I got into it, it didn’t take long for me to find out about Harvey. After learning about him, I looked for as many articles and videos on him as I could find – anything to learn more about his career and path to the professional racing scene. By the time the Olympics started last winter, I was well-versed in the history of Alex Harvey, and I couldn’t wait to watch him race.

I watched each of his races in Pyeongchang, as I’m sure many skiing fans did. He came so close to medaling in several of these races, grabbing four top-10 performances, including an agonizingly-close race in the 50k ski marathon, the final race of his Olympic career, in which he earned a fourth- place finish, just six seconds off of the podium.

I, of course, always root for whichever Canadians are competing at the Olympics, but that 50k race and the other before it in which Harvey competed were the events that I wanted a Canadian medal the most. This was not because I enjoy seeing Team Canada rise in the medal rankings (which I do like to see) or because I like seeing our Russian or American rivals place behind a Canadian athlete (but that is, of course, always a nice feeling). Instead, I wanted it because I knew how much it meant to Harvey and to Canadian skiing. No male cross-country skier has ever won a medal for Canada, but Alex Harvey – the guy who makes Norwegians and Swedes scratch their heads and wonder how a Canadian can be so quick – was our best shot.

There was, of course, no fairy tale ending to Harvey’s Olympic career, and fourth was the closest he got to the podium. He had a similar result in Oslo this weekend. After a hard-fought battle for 50 kilometres, he was edged out in the final few hundred metres, missing out on the podium by only a couple of seconds and two positions, crossing the line in fifth place.

After the race, I waited around as the stands cleared, hoping to catch Harvey on his way out of the venue. I didn’t think it was likely I’d see him, but I got lucky and eventually saw him walking in my direction. I stopped him and asked for a quick photo, and although he seemed exhausted (and rightfully so, the guy had just travelled 50 kilometres by ski), he politely obliged. I told him it was a great race, took the picture and he continued on his way.

Although Harvey never achieved his ultimate goal of standing on an Olympic podium, what he has accomplished and done for Canadian skiing over the past decade is bigger than any medal. Canada is not like the skiing powerhouses in Norway, Sweden or Russia. When I got off of the plane in Oslo, the first advertisement I saw featured Martin Johnsrud Sundby, a five-time Olympic medallist. Over the weekend I saw countless other ads showcasing Norwegian skiers. The train to the race on Saturday was packed as tight as the Toronto subway after a Leafs or Raptors game, with what seemed like all of Oslo getting ready for the biggest party of the year. Norwegian tabloid magazines even focus on members from their ski team – no covers with Tom Cruise or Jennifer Aniston, but rather of Johannes Klaebo or Therese Johaug. Norway lives and breathes cross-country skiing.

In Canada, skiing might get major media attention once every four years, but even then it isn’t guaranteed. If Alex Harvey had been born in Norway, he would be a rockstar – his face would be everywhere, on buses and newspapers and TV. But the thing is, Norway doesn’t need an Alex Harvey.

They’ve got enough skiing superstars – they’ll be fine. Canada, though, we needed him. He may never be on the cover of Canadian magazines or get mobbed by fans whenever he goes out in public, but for the faction of Canadians who do love skiing, Harvey has done so much.

He has shown the world that, when Canadians line up at the start of a race, they shouldn’t be overlooked. He has inspired today’s generation of skiers, and he has proven that they can make it on the world stage and fight for World Cup and Olympic medals. He’s gotten people like me, who hardly knew a thing about the sport, to care about skiing.

After I had my short moment with Harvey, I thought of all the things I should have said to him. So many things came to mind after the fact, but in the moment, I was starstruck and at a loss for words.

The main thing I keep thinking back to that I should have said was a simple thank you. I should have thanked him for all that he has done for Canadian skiing and Canadian skiers. Thanked him for making me care about this wonderful sport.

I think that we all owe him our thanks, really, because although we probably won’t ever treat our skiers like rockstars in Canada the way they do in Norway, for those of us who were paying attention to what he was doing, Alex Harvey gave us a lot to care about.