Olympic scouts hunt for athletic talent in Montreal

Canada's next gold medalist may have been discovered in Montreal on Saturday.

Olympic scouts were in town hosting open tryouts through the RBC Training Ground program.

The event was held at a UQAM gymnasium. Four tests were set up to test an athlete's power, strength, speed and endurance.

The sport you play doesn't matter -- recruiters from different sports federations like squash, flag football, bobsledding and rugby look purely for athletic ability.

"You could be a soccer player and then the wrestling federation notices you and then wants you to become a wrestler, it really does not matter," explained canoeist and RCB Olympian Florence Maheau.

That's what happened to 17-year-old Louis Groleau. The former gymnast was recruited for freestyle skiing through the program two years ago.

"I was really open about it, open to try it out," she said.

As many as 20 RBC Training Ground graduates could be headed for the coming Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The top 100 athletes from across Canada will be invited to a final qualification round. The best 30 from there will then be matched with a federation.

In the meantime, for anyone with dreams of standing on top of the podium, there are still two more local qualification events: one in Sherbrooke on March 24 and one in Quebec City on April 14.