Portions of this story were originally published as part of our Paris 2024 coach highlight
When he was young, Greg Arkhurst once told his white mother he liked her being close to him so he would feel more accepted by people.
“She cried and laughed at the same time,” the head coach of Montreal’s CAMO club said prior to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“She told me people are going to accept you because you have a good education, they are going to accept you because you cooperate. They’re going to accept you because you’re a hard worker.”
Arkhurst has travelled a path from swimming in a lagoon in his native Ivory Coast to competing at two Olympics, emigrating to Canada and being appointed head coach of one of the country’s top swim clubs.
In 2024, he was the first Black coach named to Swimming Canada’s Olympic team staff. He then became the first Black coach to receive Swimming Canada’s coach of the year for the Olympic program.
Last summer, Arkhurst coached Mary-Sophie Harvey to a bronze medal in the 200-metre individual medley at the 2025 World Aquatics Championship in Singapore.
To recognize coaching Harvey to her first individual medal at the World Aquatics Championships, Swimming Canada named Arkhurst its Coach of the Year – Olympic Program for the second straight year.
“I don’t see white people around me, I see human beings,” Arkhurst said in an interview for Swimming Canada. “I see all the coaches doing the same job.
“For me, as a Black man, what I’m really proud about, I’ve been inspired by a lot of people of my colour to achieve what I’m achieving today. If I can inspire a lot of coaches who are immigrants or Black, I’d be more than happy.”
The barriers and discrimination he’s faced have molded Arkhurst into the person he is today.
“For me it’s a fuel,” he said prior to Paris. “There are people who don’t like Black people or immigrant people. I don’t care honesty. It shapes you. I’m proud of where I’m from. I’m proud of my history.
“Having the opportunity to go through so many different experiences in life helped me be the man I am and connect with the athletes (to tell them) to be resilient. It shaped me because I never had anything easy.”
Being named to Swimming Canda’s Olympic coaching staff for Paris was both an honor and an acknowledgement of what he’s accomplished.
“Climbing the ladder like I did in my career . . . I’m extremely proud,” he said. “I know just a few coaches who were able to get there. It’s an honor for me.”
Harvey, who trains at CAMO, credits Arkhurst with rejuvenating her career. She finished fourth in the 200-m freestyle at the Paris Olympics, where she also swam on three relay teams that finished fourth.
“When I started with Greg I was a little bit lost on what I could still achieve in swimming,” Harvey said prior to Paris. “I thought my good years were behind me. He made me believe I was not done and I could still accomplish stuff I can be proud of.
“It was good I trusted him in that. We have a really good relationship. I have full trust in him and he trusts me. That’s why it’s so great right now. I’m glad I kept swimming because I think the good years are ahead of me.”
Growing up in Ivory Coast, a family friend who used to swim with Arkhurst in a lagoon, convinced him he could be a racer.
He joined a local club and took a bus twice a week to practice. He trained in a 25-m pool and sometimes hotel pools.
His parents divorced when he was 13 and Arkhurst moved to Paris where he continued swimming.
Arkhurst received his coaching degree in France then emigrated to Montreal where he met Claude St-Jean, the former CAMO head coach in 2001. He swam for Ivory Coast at the 2004 Olympics then retired after the 2005 FINA World Championships in Montreal.
He joined a small club call the Blue Machine in St-Lambert, Que., and moved back to CAMO in 2009.
Arkhurst doesn’t feel any pressure to be a role model for other minority coaches.
“Not at all,” he said. “If I can inspire people, I’m happy.”
Arkhurst also keeps his role as a swim coach in perspective.
“It’s just swimming we are doing,” he laughed. “We’re not saving lives. I’m not a fireman or anything. I’m just a guy who loves what I do and tries to help swimmers get better and learn with them at the same time.
“I think it works two directions. Having that humility is really important.”