Elementary school students got an Olympic-sized learning opportunity this past week.

Canadian Olympians Ryan Cochrane, Iain Brambell and Travis Cross and Paralympian Stephanie Dixon stopped by North Oyster Elementary School Monday and Hammond Bay Elementary School Thursday to talk to intermediate students.

If the children learned a lot from the experience, it’s because they asked the right kind of questions.

“Kids ask the best questions ever,” said Dixon, a swimmer who medalled at both the Athens and Beijing Games. “They’re not guarded at all on the things that they’ll ask.”

Brambell, a rower who won a bronze in lightweight men’s fours in Beijing, said one of the children asked the athletes whether anyone ever doubted them.

“People might not think you’d be very comfortable answering, but it’s a wonderful opportunity to say yes, there are people out there that didn’t think that we would succeed…” Brambell said.

“[We’re] able to say, in front of an audience of really receptive, great students, that if you’re dreaming of something, go out and try to accomplish it.”

Cochrane, who captured bronze in the 1,500-metre freestyle swim in Beijing, said he remembers being in elementary school and receiving a visit from Olympic triathlete Simon Whitfield.

“I wasn’t very good at anything – and I amounted to being able to go to the Olympics,” Cochrane said. “So stuff like this really helps [children] reach those goals.”

This past week at the local elementary schools, the athletes led interactive stations, each centred around a different Olympic value – excellence, personal growth, fair play and respect.

Cochrane’s theme was excellence, and he guided pupils through a workshop that helped them identify their talents and individuality.

“It’s easy for me to relate it to sports, but excellence can be in any part of your life,” he said. “It can be in sport or it can be in school or it can be in any extracurricular activities.”

Dixon discussed fair play, using blindfolds as an instructional tool.

“The thing I mainly focused on was equal opportunity for everybody,” she said. “Being a Paralympian, it’s something that we advocate for all of the time.”

Dixon said her busy schedule since returning from China has forced her to turn down a few speaking engagements, but talking to kids is a priority.

Olympic athletes, she said, are often viewed as being up on a pedestal. So their message is in danger of getting lost, unless they can become “real people” who kids can connect with.

“I hope that they can come away from this thinking that they can set high goals and achieve them,” Dixon said.

sports@nanaimobulletin.com