Four years wiser, Melissa Bishop has high hopes for Rio

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It has been four years since Melissa Bishop came home from London, pleased to participate in the Olympics but crestfallen with the result.

So much has happened since she finished fifth in a preliminary heat in the 800 metres, drawing her first Summer Games to an abrupt halt. She has run the third-fastest time in the world this year, ranks as the greatest woman in Canadian history at her sport and is one of Canada's legitimate contenders to win a medal in Rio de Janeiro.

"In 2012, I was so new to everything," Bishop said last month after running a career-best time of 1 minute 57.43 seconds during an international track meet in Edmonton. "Racing in the Olympics was intimidating. I was surrounded by so many big names. It just felt cool to be there.

"Now, I am a more confident, experienced and better-prepared runner. This time, it is going to be different."

Four years ago, when she qualified for her first Olympics, Bishop didn't know until her boyfriend told her. Last month in Edmonton, she raised her hands joyfully as she won the Olympic trials. Five days later at another meet, she shaved .09 of a second from the Canadian record she set last summer in Beijing at the International Association of Athletics Federations world championship.

"As I have gotten older, I realize these opportunities are not going to come along very often," Bishop, 27, said breezily, minutes after shattering her record. "I really want to get in the final in Rio. Then I think anything could happen."

A good runner when she arrived at the University of Windsor nearly a decade ago, she has become great under the supervision of Dennis Fairall. She won multiple Canadian interscholastic championships under his tutelage, and continues to work with him even as he battles a rare and incurable brain disorder called progressive supranuclear palsy.

"With help from Dennis, I have reached an elite level of track and field," said Bishop, who is from Eganville, a community about a 90-minute drive northwest of Ottawa. "It takes a special bond between a coach and an athlete to get to this point.

"Dennis has been here for my entire journey, and I wouldn't be here without him. I think every coach I have ever had has helped me, but Dennis and I happened to connect at a point in my career when I was ready to get going. We have found what works for us."

Part mentor and occasional tormentor, Fairall pushes Bishop beyond her limits. In practice, he has persuaded her to run harder and faster than she ever thought possible.

"Dennis told me that you have to be fearless to succeed, and that isn't the way I am at all," she said. "He forced me to go outside my comfort zone, and there is a certain confidence that comes with doing that.

At times, Bishop said, she and her long-time coach clash over training and race tactics. They negotiate a resolution, but more often than not she ends up deferring to his wishes.

"He is a mastermind," she said. "I didn't listen to him one time last year, and a race rolled out exactly the way he told me it was going to. I have listened to him ever since."

After arriving at Windsor in 1985, Fairall led university teams to 25 Canadian championships and 46 Ontario championships in track and field and cross-country. He was named coach of the year 65 times nationally and provincially before he took a medical leave last fall.

Four years ago, Fairall said, he noticed his handwriting was deteriorating, and then he began to struggle going down the stairs. He continued to coach for nearly two years as his condition grew more severe, and now serves as Bishop's coach as a very diligent volunteer.

"When she complains that I am working her too hard, I sort of shut that out," Fairall said.

"I know what she needs, and that is the endurance to build her confidence."

In the past year, Bishop has raised her performance to new heights. She ran 1:59.62 while winning gold last summer at the Pan American Games, 1:57.52 as runner-up at the world championships and 1:57.43 last month at a TrackTown Canada meet in Edmonton. That leaves her only slightly off the pace of Caster Semenya of South Africa and Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, the favourites to win in Rio.

Rail thin, Bishop flies down the track, legs churning and abdominal muscles rippling. Her body looks as if it has never been introduced to Buffalo wings.

"When the track season comes, I am very disciplined," she said. "Once it is over, it is a free-for-all. I love baking cinnamon buns. I have to give most of them away, though, otherwise I would eat them all."

She was mobbed by fans at the Olympic trials, and patiently posed for pictures and signed shoes, race bibs, shirts and scraps of paper after each time that she raced.

There is likely more of that to come.

"I think London was a bit early for her, but she is ready for Rio," Fairall said. "I think she would be a shoe-in for a bronze medal. There are other people out there, but she is going to be tough to beat."