Twelve years old. That's when everything changed for Camryn Rogers. Not because she discovered some hidden athletic talent—she'd never even stepped foot on a track before.
But because a community showed up for a young girl who needed them most, and in return, she would grow up to make history for an entire nation.
Today, Rogers stands as Canada's first-ever Olympic gold medalist in women's hammer throw and the first Canadian woman to win Olympic gold in any athletics event in 96 years. But her path to the podium? It started in the back seat of a car, couch surfing with her single mother, and learning what resilience really means before she ever learned to throw a hammer.
Before Rogers became a world champion, she was just a kid trying to survive. Her mother, Shari—a hairdresser fighting to keep them afloat—faced down impossible odds. Single parent. Mounting bills. A mortgage that became a millstone. When selling their home didn't bring relief, mother and daughter found themselves without a safety net.
"We spent a year couch surfing with friends, sleeping in our car," Rogers shares, her voice steady with the kind of strength that only comes from lived experience. "We slept at her work a couple of times because she worked with some aestheticians who had those beds [for treatments]."
