Carey Nelson
Athletics - Runner (2002)

Carey Nelson has reached international heights in track and field, representing Canada twice at the Olympic Games, twice at the British Commonwealth Games and  once at the Pan-American Games.

Carey was born in Saskatoon in June, 1963, and grew up in the Bedford Road Collegiate area. He was a strong runner with Bedford, winning the senior 1,500 metres and senior 3,000 metres in each of his last two high school years. In 1981, he became the first Saskatchewan athlete to lower the 1,500 metre record below four minutes, winning in three minutes, 58.4 seconds, and he chopped 15 seconds off the 3,000 metre record at eight minutes, 24.4 seconds.

A victory in a half-marathon at Weyburn was another stepping stone to a remarkable 1982 season, where he won gold in the 5,000 metres at the Canadian juniors and won bronze and got a fourth place finish at the Pan-American Juniors.

At the 1986 World University Games at Kobe, Japan, Carey, ran a solid 5,000 metre race, always up with the leaders, and won a silver medal for Canada.  Another shining moment in 1986 was running the 2,000 metres at an invitation meet in Birmingham, England, where his competitors included John Walker and Tim Hutchins.

 Carey also represented Canada in 1987 at the world indoor championships, the world championships where he was 15th in the 5,000 metres and at the Pan-American Games where he was fourth.

Carey made his first Olympic appearance in 1988, where he ran 12th in a heat in the 5,000 metres, and then he shifted to the longer distance of 10,000 metres at the 1990 British Commonwealth Games where he was ninth.

Carey shifted into marathon racing and hit the wire in two hours, 15 minutes and 27 seconds to win the Toronto Marathon in September, 1990, and it would be a race that would direct his future on the international scene.

Among his  international flings was in Peoria, Illinois, in 1991 where he finished second over a four-mile distance. A major victory in 1991 came at the Houston Tenneco Marathon, which he won with a time of two hours, 12 minutes and 38 seconds.

He ran for Canada at the 1994 British Commonwealth Games in Victoria. Carey shared in the joy of the closing ceremonies at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta,  where he finished 35th in the marathon. It was, in essence, the last major competitive race for Carey, who has lived in Vancouver since the early 1980s.