Aaron Brown, the heart and soul of Canadian sprinting, gets his golden moment

If Andre De Grasse is the face of Canadian sprinting, Aaron Brown is its heart and soul.

The 32-year-old Toronto native has competed for Canada in each of the past four Olympics as well as six separate world championships.

And while he's never claimed an individual medal at either event, Brown is now an Olympic champion, thanks to his lead leg of the men's 4x100-metre relay on Friday at Paris' Stade de France.

"What I want to leave behind is that I'm someone that always did my best. I'm someone that no matter how many times I fell down, I always got back up. I'm someone that tried to inspire the next generation and give them as much advice as I could when I was in the moment and I was kind of in the spotlight," Brown said ahead of these Olympics. 

"I want to be known as someone that gave his all for Canada and really cared about his country and those that supported him."

WATCH | Canada wins 4x100 relay gold:

Across his career, Brown has fully devoted himself to the track and to his teammates. On top of showing up at every opportunity, Brown established himself as a business advocate for his fellow track-and-field athletes, pushing for increased attention and prize money.

"We devalue ourselves too much as athletes in Track & Field. We have to change the game," he once tweeted.

Well, changing the game is a lot easier when you're an Olympic gold medallist — not to mention a silver and bronze medallist as well, from the relays at Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016, respectively. The relay team won the world championships in Eugene, Ore., two years ago, too. And Brown is also, remarkably, a 12-time winner at the Canadian championships across the 100 and 200, where he often topped De Grasse.

Perhaps it's no coincidence, then, that