McGill Desautels alumni are sharing their Olympic experience with athletes at 2024 Paris Games

Canadian athletes have performed exceptionally at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. McGill alumni have shared their wisdom about performing under the bright lights of the global spotlight. Jennifer Heil (BCom’13), 2006 Olympic moguls skiing champion, and Joseph Polossifakis (BCom’14), 2016 Olympic sabre fencer, are both in Paris as mentors. “Leading in to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, I was one of the athletes with the most pressure, so I have a reservoir of perspective, techniques and tools to share,” Heil told Prof. Karl Moore for his CEO Series podcast. For Polossifakis, lessons in perseverance were key to unlocking the Olympic experience. Growing up, he struggled in team sports, but found a home in fencing. “I said to myself that I'm never quitting until the other 19 people quit before me,” he explains. “Every time there were obstacles, as I got older, I was like, I can't quit no matter what.”