Photo: Johany Jutras
Sam Giguère is an unique CFL player because he’s also a Canadian Olympic athlete at the same time.
There have been former Olympians who wanted to play in the CFL like track star Akeem Hayes, a 2016 Olympic Games 4×100 relay bronze medallist who played high school football in Calgary and worked out with the Stampeders last fall and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats prior to this year’s training camp.
There have been former CFL players who became Olympians, like running back Jesse Lumsden, who turned to bobsleigh after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in his first game with the Eskimos in 2009. After competing in both the two-man and four-man bobsled events at the 2010 Olympics, Lumsden returned to the CFL to play three games late in the 2010 season with the Stampeders before tearing an anterior cruciate knee ligament and retiring for good. He then competed in two-man and four-man bobsled again at the 2014 Olympic Games.
“I’ve been fortunate,” said Giguère, who has played 10 games as a receiver and special teams player since joining the Eskimos on June 26. “Bobsleigh Canada has been very understanding of my football career and very accepting of it.
“I still played football every year and football has always been my priority because that’s what pays the bills,” he continued. “I was just very fortunate that Bobsleigh Canada let me play football every year and then once the football season ended, they’d let me join their national team and compete with their national team as opposed to people who leave home and give up everything for a whole cycle, sometimes two, just to train solely for the Games for four years and sometimes eight.”
Giguère, 33, is a seven-year CFL veteran who has been with the Canadian bobsleigh team off and on since 2012. He went to the 2018 Olympics at PyeongChang, South Korea, as an alternate brakeman in four-man bobsled, but didn’t get to participate in any races.
He came out of the Olympics with a suitcase full of Team Canada gear and clothing, but pointed out that “the experience is really a lot more (important).”
“During the World Cup season that preceded the Games, I got injured just a month or so before the Games so I wasn’t in tip-top shape to compete,” he said. “It would have been nice to compete had I been healthy … but it was still a good experience.”
Giguère was used to competing against different nations every week on the World Cup bobsleigh circuit, but the Olympics were a different animal.
“It’s really a celebration of sports, right,” he said. “You kind of get caught up in that feeling and it’s a great experience.
“The village experience is great. It’s every winter sport so there’s a ton of athletes and there’s a ton of nations, too, so that’s fun. You go somewhere where all the infrastructures are brand new and where the infrastructures are all next to one another.”
The Games’ opening and closing ceremonies were special, too.
“It’s awesome to be a part of that,” he said. “To wear the Canadian flag on your winter jacket is something great, too, and something I take pride in.
“The ceremonies are big spectacles, big shows. I’ve been in a Super Bowl (with the Indianapolis Colts in February 2010); I’ve been in two Grey Cups (with the Tiger-Cats in 2013 and ‘14). The pre-game show is a bit like that, but then you play the game right after that so you can’t really take it in. You’ve got to be focussed.
“At the Games, the ceremonies are one thing and the competitions are another thing. You can really let the moment sink in. That was neat.”
Giguère’s favourite Olympic memory was seeing teammates Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz win a gold medal in two-man bobsled. The Canadians were momentarily confused after their final run because they couldn’t figure out why the Germans were also celebrating until it was finally revealed that both teams had finished in a rare deadlock.
“We talked about guys sacrificing a lot for a number of years,” Giguère said. “I witnessed firsthand the challenges that they’ve been through and the grind year-in and year-old. For them to finally get a gold medal, I was very happy for them.”
Giguère was never one of those youngsters who dreamed about playing a particular sport or being in the Olympics.
“When you see teachers ask the kids what they want to be when they grow up, I don’t think I had a clear picture in my mind,” he said. “I don’t think I had something that I really wanted to do. I just navigated through a bunch of stuff and, yeah, I stuck with sports because that was what I enjoyed the most.”
So being an Olympian was just “a fun experience” for Giguère.
“Sliding (bobsleigh) is something I enjoy doing,” he said. “To be able to go to the biggest show in amateur sports and see what that was about was a great experience. It was fun.”
He feels the same way about football.
“I enjoyed playing football when I was a kid and I still enjoy it now,” he said. “I guess that’s why I kept playing and keep playing today. But, again, I can’t say that was a dream of mine growing up. I only started thinking about playing pro football when I was in college. It’s something I have fun doing.”
After being a first-round CFL draft pick of the Tiger-Cats in 2008, Giguère signed with Indianapolis and spent three years and four training camps in the NFL with the Colts and New York Giants, spending most of his time on the practice roster and playing only one regular-season game (five kickoff returns for 122 yards) in January 2010.
He went to Hamilton in 2012 and joined the Montreal Alouettes as a free agent in 2015. Released by the Als in January, Giguère was added to the Eskimos’ roster in the third week of the regular season.
A receiver and kickoff returner who has played 105 CFL games, Giguère became a regular participant on three of Edmonton’s special teams this year – kickoff, kickoff return and blocking on punt returns – with the exception of one week where the Esks had to take him off the roster to accommodate other transactions.
“I’ve been a starter my whole career in the CFL, so my involvement on special teams was not as much as it is here,” said Giguère, who had three special teams tackles and a defensive tackle during his first 10 games with the Eskimos. “So that’s been something new for me, a new role. But it’s a role I embrace and it’s been fun.
“I’m playing a bit on offence now, playing on special teams, so yeah, I’ve been doing whatever I can to help the team be successful.”
Giguère also has three catches for 44 yards and two kickoff returns for 36 yards this season.
“Even though I’m no longer in a starting role, I still enjoy coming out to work every day, to practice every day,” he said. “I enjoy playing football and that’s why I’m still here. I want that feeling on game day, that excitement I still get and that’s why I still want to play.
“If I can play next year, then that’s what I’ll do.”
The highlight of Giguère’s football career has been being able “to play for good people, for good clubs, to have great teammates. I’ve forged friendships on every team I’ve been on. Yeah, it’s more about the people you meet and the challenges that you go through during the season with those teammates and coaches.
“Juggling two sports is tough for me, sometimes, but it’s also tough for my family (wife Rose and daughters Lily Rose and Marine),” he said. “They’ve been very understanding and accepting and supporting of that journey. I’ve been very fortunate to have the support and help from my family.”
Giguère met his wife during alpine ski races in Quebec when they were growing up. While their home is about an hour north of Montreal, his family is with him in Edmonton for the season.
“My oldest is in school here,” he said. “My family has gone everywhere I’ve been. I wouldn’t do it any other way.”