Pembroke's Madeleine Kelly to race alongside local idol in Tokyo

PEMBROKE, ONT. -

The Ottawa Valley is set to have two athletes compete in the same event this summer at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Pembroke’s Madeleine Kelly is heading to the games for the first time and is set to compete in the 800 metre race.

"I wouldn’t say until about two years ago did I start to think that I could be this calibre of a runner," says the 25-year-old Olympian.

Kelly says she found out she made the team via Twitter while she was making breakfast one morning.

"More than anything the overwhelming feeling was relief. The qualifying period had been over for about five days so there was nothing I could do anymore."

Kelly says that lag time between qualifying, making the team, and then travelling to Japan means the realization of that Olympic dream still hasn’t hit her yet.

"It’s a bit of a newer dream for me," says the Pembroke native. "Just because my progression was a little bit longer and slower than other people."

"Oh it feels like a watershed moment and it just continues to reverberate that way for us," says Kelly’s father Chris. He and his wife Caroline had planned to travel with their daughter to Tokyo to watch her compete, but with no fans allowed at the games, the family plans to gather together to watch Kelly race.

Racing alongside Kelly will be fellow valley Olympian, and Eganville native Melissa Bishop-Nriagu, who is no stranger to the world stage. Since her teenage years, Bishop-Nriagu has been an idol and inspiration to Kelly in her pursuit of athletic excellence, and now the pair are set to be teammates and also competitors in the 800 metres.

"Her influence is certainly strong in the valley, but also nationally," says Kelly, who posted a picture of the two runners on Instagram recently. The photo shows a 16-year-old Kelly enrolled at Fellowes High School, meeting Bishop-Nriagu, who had just returned from the London 2012 Games.

Madeleine Kelly (right) of Pembroke met Melissa Bishop-Nriagu (left) of Eganville at Fellowes High School following the 2012 Summer Games. (Photo courtesy: Instagram/ madeleinekels)

"I’m 16 in that photo, and you just have no clue," says Kelly remembering the encounter. "I was nervous to tell her that I even ran on that day. I don’t have any real memory of deciding (the 800 metres) would be my event, and I’m certain that subconsciously part of it was because that’s what she ran."

"Melissa has been encouraging to Madeleine all the way through her journey," Caroline Kelly tells CTV News. Kelly’s father Chris says there is only two degrees of separation in Renfrew County, so when Bishop-Nriagu succeeded in the past, it was viewed as the county’s success, "and it feels the same way for Madeleine now."

Kelly says if it were not for the pandemic, her outlook on travelling to Tokyo would be different, having always wanted to visit the country as a tourist. Now with no distractions, the first-time Olympian says she is dialled in on the race and looking forward to it.

"I go in ranked 41st out of 48 women, and I think I can come out better than that for sure."