Since joining CBC Sports in 2017, Devin Heroux has given Canadians a front-row seat to his coverage of four Olympics and Paralympics, along with other memorable events. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)

CBC Sports' Devin Heroux to receive medal for 'top-quality, enthusiastic and empathetic sports coverage'

Heroux, who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at USask in 2009, is grateful that diversity and inclusion in sports journalism is being recognized

By CBC Sports

Athletes and coaches must be viewed as humans first who are doing extraordinary athletic things.

This is the belief of CBC Sports senior reporter Devin Heroux (BA’09) when speaking with them at an Olympics, Paralympics or elsewhere, and when sharing his thoughts on social media.

“I’ll never know what it’s like to swim as fast as Summer McIntosh or sprint as quickly as Andre De Grasse, but I do know what it means to win, and I do know loss. And they do as well,” Heroux said this week, after recently returning from Paris after covering his fourth consecutive Olympics and Paralympics.

“When we realize and appreciate the humanity that lives within athletes, I think we can speak differently to them and ask more thoughtful questions. In turn, we get more beautiful, vulnerable, revealing moments that allow the audience to appreciate them in a very human way.”

Heroux and 58 others will be presented with King Charles III Coronation Medals on Friday at the Citadelle of Québec for making a significant contribution to Canada, a province, territory, region or community or who have achieved abroad that brings honour to the country.

Read the full CBC story online.