Bruny Surin (born July 12, 1967) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

former

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, who was the winner of a gold medal in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. In 2008 he was inducted into

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

as part of the 1996 Summer Olympics 4 × 100 relay team. In the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

, he has broken the 10-second barrier multiple times and holds a personal record of 9.84 seconds.

Career

Surin was born in

Cap-Haïtien Cap-Haïtien (; ; "Haitian Cape") is a List of communes of Haiti, commune of about 400,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Departments of Haiti, department of Nord (Haitian department), Nord. Previously named ''Cap‑Fran� ...

, Haïti, and moved to Québec City with his family in 1975. He made his debut for Canada at the 1987 Pan-American Games, placing fifteenth in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, a result he repeated at the 1988 Olympics. After the Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988, manager Enrico Dionisi brought Surin to

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

and he was trained by the Italian coach Franco Barucci. Barucci persuaded Surin away from his favoured long jump event, in favour of the

100 m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

. Barucci predicted he could run 10.10 seconds for the event. Surin won the following Canadian championships in 10.14 seconds. At the 1990 Commonwealth Games, Surin won a bronze medal in 100 m and was seventh in the long jump. At the 1991 World Championships, Surin was eighth in the 100 m, and at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

he was 4th in the 100 m and reached the semifinals as a member of Canadian 4 × 100 m relay team. At the 1993 World Championships, Surin was fifth in 100 m and won a bronze medal as a member of Canadian 4 × 100 m relay team. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games, Surin won the gold medal in 4 × 100 m relay and was eliminated in the semifinal of 100 m. Competing for the province of Quebec, Surin edged out Donovan Bailey to win gold in the 100 m at the 1994 Francophone Games in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

with a games record time of 10.08 seconds. At the 1995 World Championships, Surin won a silver medal in 100 m, behind compatriot Bailey, and a gold medal as a member of Canadian 4 × 100 m relay team. At the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, the Canadian relay team were not favoured, although they had won almost all of the titles available during the previous two years, but they had done it in absence of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

team. However, in the 4 × 100 m relay final, the Canadian team beat United States by almost half a second, establishing itself the best relay team in the world. Surin also reached the semifinal of 100 m in the same competition. Surin and the Canadian team won a gold medal again at the 1997 World Championships and a silver medal at the

1998 Goodwill Games The 1998 Goodwill Games was the fourth edition of the international sports competition the Goodwill Games, which were created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. The competition was held ...

. He was also seventh in 100 m at the 1997 World Championships and won a silver medal in 100 m at the 1999 World Championships. His time matched Donovan Bailey's Canadian record of 9.84. At the time, this was the fastest losing time in a 100 m race. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, Surin, one of the gold medal favorites, had not fully recovered from a leg injury sustained at the Canadian championships earlier that summer, and was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100 m after slowing down visibly in pain and walking the rest of the way through the finish line. His last major championship race was in the semifinals of the 100 m at the 2001 World Championships, where he injured himself again and was pushed off the track in a wheelchair. In 2009, Surin became the new Canadian 50 metres record holder (40-45 age group) with a time of 6.15s at the McGill Open. In May 2022, Surin was named Team Canada's chef de mission for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Track records

As of 9 September 2024, Surin holds the following track records for

Honours

In 2016, he was made a Knight of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

Book: ''Bruny Surin, le lion tranquille''

In 2009, a biography cowritten by Bruny Surin and Saïd Khalil entitled ''Bruny Surin, le lion tranquille'' was published by ''Éditions Libre Expression'' in Montreal. The book covers Bruny Surin recounting 17 years of his sports career. In the book, Surin criticizes doping, describing it as a gangrene that ails athletics and all other sports. Surin emigrated to Canada with his family in 1975. His father lost his family in the

2010 Haiti earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...

. He has two daughters. Surin ran for a seat on Laval City Council in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

on November 24, 2019, but lost by 82 votes.

References