When he first heard the news, the information came as a shock to 17-year-old Dylan French.
The Richmond teenager and fencer had just been asked to lead his fellow Team Canada athletes as the flag bearer at the 2014 Youth Summer Olympic Games in Nanjing, China next month.
French, who is a world cadet fencing bronze medalist, was informed about his selection last week.
"I didn't think they would pick me," French said, who lives in the family home on Jack Bell Drive in east Cambie.
"I didn't really thinking about it. I knew I was nominated, but I forgot about the whole thing and then when I was called, I thought 'whoa, that's pretty cool.'" As flag bearer, French will represent Canada and its team of almost 90 youths competing at the games. He admitted to being nervous and feeling honoured about being in the spotlight as the face for team Canada.
Canada's chef de mission for the 2014 games, Sandra Levy, said French was chosen because he's a rising star in fencing and exemplifies the Olympic values and ideals.
"We look at a number of things, such as his record in the sport and we look at the overall person," said Levy, a two-time field hockey Olympian. "He stood out, he's a very stellar young athlete."
French has been fencing since he was eight, becoming interested in the sport after watching a demonstration at school when he was six.
He said he's most attracted to the mental aspect of the sport, often described as a physical chess match. "You're always thinking," French said. "It's not just physical."
Right now, French is busy training, five to six hours each day, and he will continue that regimen with the games just three weeks away.
He fences at Dynamo Fencing Club in east Richmond and, with almost a decade of fencing behind him and more than a dozen medals - including a gold in February at the Junior Pan Am Championship and a bronze at the Cadet World Championships in April - he has his sights set on competing at the actual Olympics.
"I'm hoping to make the 2020 Olympics, maybe 2016, but that may be pushing it," French said. "Fencers peak in their late 20s; so I've got some time."
This is the second Youth Summer Olympic Games, which is held every four years.
