He missed out on an Olympic medal by the length of a fingernail, a child's fingernail, one lousy little centimetre. For much of that night, Dylan Armstrong fretted and wondered - what if he had only done things differently, maybe pushed a little harder, trained a little longer.
Early the next morning, he was awakened by his coach: "What's with this sleeping? It's time to train."
And just like that, Armstrong's Olympic agonizing was put to bed. In fact, what could have been the most crushing moment in his athletic career has been reframed for inspiration.
At last year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, he won a gold medal, Canada's first in the shot put in 28 years. This season, he won six meets in a row and defeated the likes of Poland's Tomasz Majewski, American Christian Cantwell and Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus, the three men on the Olympic podium in Beijing. The aptly named Armstrong has five of the 10 best throws this season, including the longest, a 21.72-metre effort he recorded at an invitational meet in San Diego.
For all of that, Armstrong is ranked No. 1 in the world and is a medal contender for both the 2011 IAAF world championships in August and next summer's Olympics in London. No Canadian has ever won a shot put medal at the worlds or the Olympics, but the 30-year-old Kamloops native, who looks as if he could heave a fire hydrant a city block, is stalking history in a most significant way.
"I've got to be honest, I'm right on track," Armstrong said Friday, the day before the men's final at the Canadian track and field championships. "I knew I had those big throws in me this year and I'm definitely not done."
Rethinking what happened at the Olympics was pivotal for Armstrong. His coach, Anatoly Bondarchuk, the noted tactician who won an Olympic hammer throw medal in 1972 for the Soviet Union, refused to let any negative emotions take root. He got Armstrong up and working the next day and helped him realize he had actually accomplished a great deal against a strong field.
"I had peaked at the right time. I threw over 21 metres for the first time. I got the Canadian record. You take that close experience. You take all that in hand," Armstrong said.
As for that early morning workout?
"That's my coach in a nutshell. He's driven. He knows what it takes. You can rest when you're done."
Armstrong may have filled out physically at 6 foot 4 and 310 pounds, but he is not done tweaking the way he trains and the way he makes his throws. His consistency this season has come from attending training camps in Arizona and California, working there with Bondarchuk and adjusting the little things that add up to that extra centimetre, like starting lower at the back of the throwing circle or improving his overall body rhythm.
It's all part of Armstrong's daily six-hour workouts, planned around a competition schedule that's as formidable and ambitious as the man himself.
"For me, [winning an Olympic medal]is a personal goal. I've been working a long time at it. It's a journey I want to come through. It's time now."
The Canadian championships, and winning a sixth national title, are not a priority for Armstrong. He is here at Foothills Athletic Park to lend his profile and see where he stands on the preparation scale. Everything he's doing is geared toward the 2012 Olympics and sleeping easily when his event is over. Heading in, he knows what can be expected.
"It's about a combination of things, the right mental preparation, being on top of your game. I want to know I've done everything I can," he explained. "I'm pushing the limits. I'm going hard twice a day."
A big guy throwing a heavy metal ball. He'll rest when he's done beating the world.