Canada's top Pan Am Games athletes shift focus to making impact at Paris Olympics

The athletes who have their literal golden ticket to next summer's Olympic Games in Paris from the Pan Am Games plan to make the most of it.

Vancouver breaker Philip Kim, also known as B-Boy Phil Wizard, surfer Sanoa Dempfle-Olin of Tofino, B.C., and boxers Tammara Thibeault of Shawinigan, Que., and Wyatt Sanford of Kennetcook, N.S., left Chile with coveted souvenir gold tickets to Paris.

The four Canadians met Olympic qualification thresholds in their respective sports in Santiago.

Not chasing an Olympic berth over the next nine months frees them up to put energy into other elements of their Paris prep.

"It frees me up, in breaking, to create more," Kim said. "I've been competing heavily this past year and when you're in competition mode, it takes up all your time and doesn't allow you to kind of develop new movements.

"That's going to be my focus from now until Paris, just to create some new moves."

Sanford intends to use his extra time studying opponents already qualified  "so we're going to be able to have better strategy," he said.

"We don't have to do the other two qualifications, so we have more time at the gym to nitpick on those minor things to make sure that we have a major impact."

WATCH | Full replay of 2023 Pan Am Games closing ceremony: 

The Pan American Games fell in South American summer at the end of October and November. That's off-season for many Canadian summer-sport athletes who have already spent months travelling to compete.

"Right now, the priority is rest and recovery," Thibeault said. "Then there are some things I definitely want to fix in terms of performance."

Dempfle-Olin's Olympic qualification is provisional upon her participation in February's World Surf Games in Puerto Rico.

But unlike