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University of Manitoba Athletics

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University of Manitoba Bisons

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alex gardiner 2021 headshot

Alex Gardiner

  • Title
    Speed and Power Coach

john.gardiner@umanitoba.ca
 
Alex works with the Bison Track and Field team as well as a speed coach with Bison Football.
 
Gardiner completed his tenure as the Olympic head coach for the Canadian Track & Field team at the 2012 London Summer Olympics where Canada had their best athletics performance since 1992. In addition, the Winnipeg native was the Olympic head coach for the Canadian T&F team at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics and was part of three more Olympics for Canada at the 2008 Beijing Summer Games (Canadian Olympic Committee [COC] – International Competitive Intelligence), 2006 Torino Winter Games (COC – High Performance Sport Science Lead) and 1996 Atlanta Summer Games (CEO Athletics – Program Delivery; where Canada won two gold medals).
 
In addition to his Olympic credentials, Gardiner returns home as he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Manitoba and started his track and field career as Bison track and field head coach from 1984-92. During those Bison years, he guided the acclaimed program to six overall men's CIS national championships (four in T&F: 1988, '89, '90, '92 and two in Cross Country: 1988, '89). Plus, Gardiner coached five Bison athletes that performed in either the Olympics or World Championships and coached four other Bison athletes who competed at either of the Commonwealth Games, Pan Am Games, FISU Games or at the international level.
 
At the Athletics World Championship, he was head coach of Canada T&F team on four separate occasions (2003, '05, '09, '11) plus sprints and relay coach three other times (1991, '93, '01). His resume also includes head coach for Canada T&F team at the World Junior Championships (1988, '90, '10 plus sprints and relay coach in 1986). He has his National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) Level 5 and is at Master Coach level with National Coaching Institute (NCI) in Manitoba and Victoria.