From Cirque du Soleil to the commentary booth, BMXer Jeff Whaley rode a winding path to Paris

Jeff Whaley was "devastated" to learn he qualified for the Olympics.

The L'Assomption, Que., BMX rider received the news just five weeks ago — while his shoulder was still in a sling, recovering from a torn labrum.

"I thought I was not gonna be able to be here in Paris. Obviously coming back from my surgery, I knew that I was supposed to remove my sling just a couple days ago," Whaley said. "So I was super devastated. Obviously that was one of my goals and I did it and I was not gonna be able to live it. And it was super hard for me to accept."

Whaley, 28, will become the first Canadian to ever compete in BMX freestyle when he hits the park at La Concorde on Tuesday.

It's a dream that was sparked in the commentary booth.

The Canadian was on the call for Radio-Canada when BMX freestyle made its Olympic debut three years ago in Tokyo. 

At the time, Whaley was long retired from the sport. He'd even spent the previous four-and-a-half years performing on Cirque Du Soleil's Volta show. But he got back on his bike and back into competition as soon as he could after Tokyo.

"It just kind of became a bit of a mission for me to not only qualify, obviously, but to be the first one, to be the first Canadian and hopefully set the path for future riders that now can see that this is possible. They can ride BMX freestyle and make it all the way to the Olympics," he said.

Whaley returned in time to place 50th at the world championships in Dubai in 2022. A year later, in Glasgow, he improved to 12th — setting the stage to reach the 12-man Olympics.

First, though, he needed to sweat out the Olympic Qualifier Series — a two-event contest that also included breaking, skateboarding and sport climbing — from afar.

But his 12th-place finish at