Sprint ace back in blocks

It would have been so easy for Philomena Mensah to let her dream die.

With one tear of her hamstring, the 2000 Summer Olympics were ripped away.

It was the event she had built her life around since defecting from Ghana after the 1994 Commonwealth Games and becoming a Canadian citizen in 1999.

Her ultimate goal was to put on the Canadian uniform and represent her new country on the world's biggest stage. In a fraction of a second, all that was taken from her. It was as big a disappointment as she had ever felt.

The next Olympics were four years away, a lifetime in the high-stakes world of sprinting.

Mensah could have packed away the cleats, folded up her gear and moved on.

She didn't. She couldn't.

"It's my dream to be one of the best at the Olympics," said the 28-year-old Surrey, B.C., resident, her native accent still distinct.

"I try to encourage myself. I know what I need to accomplish. I haven't finished it yet."

That's part of the reason she's in Saskatoon for this weekend's Knights of Columbus Saskatchewan Indoor Games, competing in the women's 50- and 60-metre invitational events. It's the first meet in what she hopes will be the biggest year of her life.

The Olympics are mere months away. Mensah has some lost time to make up for, and she thinks Athens, Greece -- host of this summer's Games -- is the perfect place to do it.

"I want to do what I can to please my nation and myself," she said. "Oh man. The Olympics would be a dream come true."

It's taken her years to not only get healthy again, but also find the form she was displaying in the time leading up to the 2000 Sydney Games. In 1999, she was part of a Canadian relay team that placed sixth in the 4x100 relay at worlds. After qualifying for the 2000 Olympics, she was confident she could compete with the best. Then her wheel gave out.

She never got down on herself. Mensah refused to think anything but positive thoughts.

"If I think negative, there's no way I can hold on," she said.

"I always keep my fingers crossed that one of these days I have a smile on my face."

Mensah is back and feeling fit. She feels the K of C Games are the starting point.

"I come to win," she said.

"I don't come to joke. This is my career."