Sprinter Sam Effah trains as his coach Brenda Van Tighem looks on at Glenmore Athletic Park, Calgary.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Humble, kind and gentle aren't qualities generally associated with the world's fastest 100-metre sprinters.
But that's how Sam Effah's coach Brenda Van Tighem and Canadian track team head coach Alex Gardiner describe their 21-year-old rising star.
The Calgarian ran a 100-metre race in Florida earlier this month in 10.06 seconds, which is Canada's fourth-fastest time ever.
Effah is Canada's No. 1 at that distance heading into the national track and field championships starting Wednesday in Toronto.
The fastest men in the world tend to have large egos to match. Cockiness and swagger go with the territory.
"I've never been like that," Effah said at a recent training session in Calgary. "I've always been a quiet person.
"I've seen how other high-profile sprinters around me, when I was starting to train, treat other athletes and I've never stood for that. I know it sounds cheesy, but I want to show people it's possible to be a normal person, excel and not have some type of attitude."
Donovan Bailey, Bruny Surin and Nick Macrozonaris are the only other Canadians to run a faster 100 than Effah.
The University of Calgary Dino posted a winning time of 10.06 at the NACAC under-23 championships July 9 in Miramar, Fla. His competitors were from North and Central America and the Caribbean.
That time was a drastic drop from his previous best of 10.22 set just last month in Edmonton.
"The significance is substantial because he all of a sudden moved from 50th in the world to the top 12 or 16 and that's where the big boys run," Gardiner says.
"Ten twenty-two to 10.06 is a major breakthrough. It takes him to a different stratosphere."
Effah's parents Francis and Hanna are immigrants from Ghana. They met in Canada. Effah, the fourth of five children, was born in 1988.
Hanna is a nurse and Francis a retired mechanic. The sprinter cites mom and dad as the biggest influence on his decision to sprint.
"Seeing them work really hard made me think 'if I'm going to do something, I'd better do it right,"' Effah explained. "When I started doing track I thought 'if they're going to work hard, I'd better work hard too' because they're the ones who are working for me to go home and have food on the table."
Two year ago, Effah (pronounced EH-fah) didn't have enough money to travel to international meets. A fundraiser organized by neighbours Kenneth and Susan Coombes produced over $5,000, which allowed Effah to compete at the same NACAC under-23 event that year.
"I was struggling in terms of getting to competitions," Effah recalled. "I wasn't funded or carded at the time.
"Without that money, I wouldn't have been able to go to that meet where I placed fourth in the 100. Two years later I was able to come back and win it. I definitely thank those people for all coming together."
Effah finished fourth in the 200 metres at the 2008 Olympic trials and missed making Canada's team for Beijing.
While the ultimate dream of any young sprinter is to race against world record-holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica, Effah did that in the 200 of last year's world championships in Berlin.
Bolt won the heat 20.70, but Effah was third in 20.80 and made it as far as the quarter-finals.
"It's a head game and he dealt with it very well," said Van Tighem, who has coached Effah since he graduated from Sir Winston Churchill.
"Sam is very patient and he has an inner drive. He's a student-athlete, which isn't easy. He's balancing a few things with the training, which has to be five to six times a week, plus all the recovery work and school. An athlete has to want it and be motivated to do it and I think he's definitely there."
Effah is a marketing student at the University of Calgary's business school and captain of the Dinos track team. He also volunteers doing promotional work on campus for the Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre.
The CIS record-holder in the 60 metres has one year of eligibility remaining.
Effah will race the 200 and 100 metres in Toronto. He plans to compete at a Diamond League meet in Zurich in August. He could get a rematch with Bolt there. Then there's the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, in October.
"It's one thing to run 10.06 once, but a couple of times, then I know I really belong," Effah said.
Gardiner cautions there are no overnight sensations in track and field and it could be months before Effah breaks the 10-second barrier. But he believes Effah has the temperament to succeed in this high-pressure sport.
"He's kind, gentle and thankful. He's humble," Gardiner said. "For a sprinter, you think it has to be the other."
"This is what's going to stand him in good stead. He's seen the world differently. He hasn't had a privileged life."
Effah is thrilled Calgary will host the Canadian track and field championships in 2011 and 2012. The former determines the Canadian team for the 2011 world championships and the latter is the Olympic trials for London 2012.
"Hopefully I get that hometown crowd, hometown advantage," Effah said.