Olympian Waneek Horn-Miller reminds us why representation matters

Waneek Horn-Miller still remembers the first time she thought about being an Olympic athlete. 

“I remember watching a fellow Mohawk Olympian Alwyn Morris win [kayak] gold in 1984. I was a kid back then and my mom made me sit down and watch that. It was a pivotal moment because I had never seen anybody like me that was the best in the world, or even best outside the community. He really blew that glass ceiling off my world and it was the first time I said I want to go to the Olympics, this is what I want to do.” 

And so she did.

Horn-Miller competed at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in the sport of water polo, for which she was the team co-captain. She is from the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory where she lived with her parents and three sisters. After her retirement from competition in 2008, Horn-Miller has gone on to excel in other careers within sports. She has coached the women’s water polo team in Ottawa, worked in broadcasting, been a motivational speaker, served as an activist, and this summer she was a CBC host for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Although Morris’ performance was the first time Horn-Miller saw a fellow Indigenous person win gold on TV, her mother raised her and her three sisters to always strive for excellence in whatever they chose to do: “I am lucky because my mother is an Indigenous rights activist, she was all about showing me aspects of being Native that the world was not showing me. She started to fill my world up with stories about Alywn Morris and Billy Mills, Sharon and Shirley Firth, Angela Chalmers. All these people who were Olympians and had excelled. That experience really made me believe that it was possible. ”

We can learn from Horn-Miller the importance of innovation and using our own strengths and power to keep improving and living a life of excellence. Horn-Miller’s advice to others is to remember that excellence and achieving your goals doesn’t happen overnight. 

“Real things like dreams and goals, they take years and you may work your whole life getting there, and you may not get it. You may be considered a failure because you missed the Olympics by half a second, but are you a failure? What did you learn along the way? Who did you become? And that’s living a life of excellence. ” 

Horn-Miller is a powerful representative of Indigenous people within the sports world and she understands how important it is for everyone to be able to watch the Olympics and see themselves represented.

“We need to start seeing sport as a nation building tool. We need sport now more than ever. I am really looking forward to the day when I look at the Olympic team and see it really represent the people I see walking down the streets.”

Some people have more responsibility than others to ensure a fair and diverse world. Horn-Miller explains: “If you use your privilege to help other people and give voices that aren’t there at the table, get there, then you’re using it as a superpower. Because in the end, diversity and embracing diversity is what will make this country stronger.”

Horn-Miller reflected back on what the most meaningful moment was for her in her athletic career. “It was the opening ceremonies of the Pan Am Games in Winnipeg in 1999 and we were marching into the stadium and we were being escorted by fancy dancers and jingle dress dancers.” Then she looked up into the stands and saw all the regional chiefs from Manitoba sitting there. “It was like coming home. To be there, to be able to make them proud, then we went on and won gold.” 

Horn-Miller wants to keep sharing her message of strength and inspire others to keep making the world a better place. She has important advice for those who want to improve and make a positive change: “Think of it this way, what type of ancestor do you want to be? When your descendants look back in their lineage looking for someone that can inspire them, be that person. Be that person and make your story that is told to this descendant full of acts of courage, full of acts of love, fun of acts of selflessness and humanity. Be that great ancestor.”

Horn-Miller has gone from being an athlete competing in the Olympics to many other careers within the sports world. She says, “You can be immersed in the sporting world and be very well known and never really have played a sport. Just being one of those people that’s passionate about it.” 

Even if you don’t enjoy playing sports, the sports world has a spot for everyone. Keep chasing your dreams because the world needs people like you in it! 

“Canada has the potential to be a first of its kind (it isn’t yet) where no matter what religion, race, identity, geographic location, or economic level, you can achieve your greatest potential, but it will take all of us to make that happen.”  

Waneek Horn-Miller’s story was originally featured as part of the Canadian Olympic School Program’s Indigenous Legacies Through Sport Series. The resources at the link above are available at different reading levels and are accompanied by discussion questions and learning activities.