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Just call him Mr. On-the-Go. Canadian sprint icon Bruny Surin raced to fame and Olympic gold in the 1990s. Now he has reinvented himself as an entrepreneur.

Today, Montreal-based Mr. Surin runs the sports-marketing firm Top Elite Management, which represents Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, the only medalist for Canada at the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.

In addition, the Bruny Surin Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the lives of children, both physically and mentally. Every year it awards a bursary to a student athlete. Mr. Surin also speaks at schools and corporate training events. In September he launched a women's sports clothing line to accompany a men's line begun earlier in the year. He also markets Xistence, a natural supplements line.

Mr. Surin was born in Au-Cap-Haitien, Haiti, in 1967. He moved to Canada at age seven with his family.

He started out as a long jumper, and competed in the 1988 Olympics. But an ankle injury in 1989 made him turn his attention to running. From 1988 to 1989, he dropped his time for the 100 metres to 10.14 seconds from 10.71.

Mr. Surin went on, with Glenroy Gilbert and Donovan Bailey, to help rebuild the sport in Canada. The effort culminated in 1996 with a pair of gold medals on the Olympic track at Atlanta. Among Mr. Surin's career highlights: He was a world silver medalist in the 100 metres in 1995 and 1999; world gold medalist with the Canadian relay team in 1995 and 1997; and Olympic gold medalist with the Canadian relay team in 1996.

His best time in the 100 metres was 9.84 seconds at the 1999 world championships in Seville, Spain, where he tied for the fourth-fastest time in history.

Earlier, Mr. Surin took your questions, talking about his career and what he is working on today.

Dave Michaels, globeandmail.com: Hi Bruny, and thanks for taking time to chat with us today. Let's get right to the questions.

As you made the transition from athlete to entrepreneur, what has motivated you? What gets you up in the morning, and keeps you going through the day?

Bruny Surin: When I started track and field I had a model – the Chagnon family in the cable business, Donald Trump in real estate, Pierre Karl Peladeau in printing. I was fascinated to see these people start from scratch and make multimillion dollar businesses. So I read their stories, and two years before I retired for good I put my plans into motion.

What gets me up in the morning is that I know for a fact if I don’t get the work done, nobody will do it for me. It is exactly like in athletics – you don’t become an Olympic champion by staying in bed. There is a lot of work to do.

From Christine Mushka, globeandmail.com: Drug scandals have apparently harmed attendance at track-and-field meets. Crowds still turn out for the Olympics, but attendance has been down for other meets. What do you think track has to do to bring back the crowds of spectators?

Bruny Surin: I don't want to contradict you, but I believe it's the economic crisis that makes the attendance lower. It is very hard for the sponsors to keep putting millions in sponsorships into track events, etc. It's sad to say, but any drug issues didn't make people go see fewer track meets, from what I saw.

From Chris McPherson: Bruny, I believe that you single-handedly saved Canadian track and field in the dark and gloomy years post-Seoul, and I want to thank you for doing so. You were an inspiration to me throughout my own high school and university track career.

I have two questions. First, what do you think needs to be done to get today’s kids, who seem glued to their Xboxes and Facebook, off the couch and onto the track? Second, what should Athletics Canada be doing to advocate for the resources needed to have a truly world-class track and field program? Right now, it seems that our best athletes succeed in spite of Athletics Canada, rather than because of.

I look forward to your answers and again, thank you for everything you have done for Canada.

Bruny Surin: Thank you, Michael. Actually it’s been years that I personally asked the government to put programs in schools to stimulate students to do more sports activities. That is why I founded my Fondation Bruny Surin to promote sports in schools, and every year we give grants to the best student athletes.

Concerning Athletics Canada, I feel you on this, and you are absolutely right. Recently I was angry because nothing has been done for ages, but I sat down with them and there are plans on the table, but now the question is will they do it, and fast?

As for myself, I will start to do sprint races in schools in January 2010 and at the same time recruiting, so stay tuned.

Dave Michaels, globeandmail.com: Do you still have ties to Canada’s Olympic program? Are you involved in any other kinds of sports activities besides those tied to your business?

Bruny Surin: No ties at all with the Olympic program. All of my knowledge over my 17 years in track and field, and Athletics Canada doesn’t seem to want to use it, so I will do it via corporate and government help only.

From Sasha Nagy, globeandmail.com: What, for you, was the biggest challenge in making the transition from competing as an athlete to business? And what do you think is the most transferable skill from your athletic days?

Bruny Surin: The biggest transition was that every single day my entourage wasn’t there waiting for me. I wasn’t the centre of the attention (coach, therapist, training partners, etc.). After my career I became a regular guy trying to do businesses. Yes, because of my name I had some advantage, but still it was a big challenge.

The most transferable skills from my running career are the discipline, visualization and hard work, because it is not easy to start a business. There are a lot of challenges, sometimes you make wrong decisions but you still have to keep going.

Dave Michaels, globeandmail.com: Of all your current ventures, which do you enjoy the most?

Bruny Surin: I like all of them, but I have a little bit of preference for my clothing collection.

But my ultimate goal is to make Montreal the city of sprinting. I am frustrated because we don’t do any recruiting in schools. I have made that mandate personal and believe by any means necessary I will make it happen.

Dave Michaels, globeandmail.com: What exactly do you mean by "city of sprinting"? Are you talking about a city-wide training effort? What would need to happen?

Bruny Surin: I want Montreal to be recognized for having the best sprinters. What needs to be done – recruiting, proper coaching. I will help put that in place.

From Jason Robinson (a former long jumper): Hi Bruny. Having competed against you and witnessed your athletic successes, I’m very interested to know what – if anything – you’ve learned from your transition from a 10-second sprinter to a 9.84-second sprinter, and how you’ve applied it to your business ventures. By this I mean you had a really tight sprinting game but then you raised it to another level. How have you raised your business efforts to another level?

Bruny Surin: The big difference when I ran 10 sec to 9.84 was that I am always looking for new techniques, technology, etc., and how I ran 9.84 was just because I changed my biomechanic and I learned from the best and was surrounded by the best coaches and runners.

How am I planning to translate that to business? Exactly the same technique. I have some good businessmen that I can talk to, some are my friends and actually I am planning to lunch with some of the best businessmen in Quebec, to learn from them and to guide me. Indeed I raised the bar tremendously. Sometimes it is scary. Same as in track, before running 9.84, sometimes I was scared, but don’t ever let fear stop you.

From Michael Kennedy: Hello, Mr. Surin. Congratulations on your career move – it is great to see a great Canadian like yourself continue to succeed. My question is, I wonder if you see a correlation between athletes and entrepreneurs. What do you think it is? Is the competition similar in both arenas?

P.S.: One of my greatest memories of Canada in the Olympics was the gold medal relay race in Atlanta 1996.

Bruny Surin: I do a lot of corporate conferences, and I make people realize that there are so many similarities between sports and business. First you need a dream or goal. Then you plan, take action, take risks, sometimes make bad decisions. I am lucky because I experienced high levels of stress in all these areas, so in business I can face those challenges a little bit easier than someone who hasn’t experienced it. And yes, the competition is as aggressive in both – it’s crazy, and you have to be tough.

From Sasha Nagy, globeandmail.com: Track question. When you saw Usain Bolt run over the past two years, did you ever think that a person would run the 100 and 200 metres as fast as he did? What do you think he will do in the future?

Bruny Surin: I predicted Bolt would run 9.6 one day and everybody called me crazy. I am not surprised at all. The first time I saw him was in 2003 at the World Youth Championship In Sherbrooke, and I just knew seeing that skinny guy with no technique – but yet running international-level time – he was special. I believe he will run 9.50 sec over 100 metres and 18.8 sec over 200 metres.

Dave Michaels, globeandmail.com: What's next for you, for the long term? Do you have any other ventures in mind?

Bruny Surin: I want to add kids clothes, running shoes and dress suits to my clothing collection. I would like to have a private VIP gym franchise – actually I started to do the plan.

Dave Michaels, globeandmail.com: We have run out of time. Thanks, Bruny, for taking the time to talk with us today. Do you have any final thoughts?

Bruny Surin: Thank you all for your interesting questions. All the best in the pursuit of achieving your dreams, and don't forget the only person who can stop you from dreaming is you. Love all.