Nils Oliveto

Nils Oliveto grew up in Greenfield Park, Quebec (now part of Longueuil). He was actively involved in theatre and improvisation, but his passion was into sports, where he played volleyball and soccer at Royal George High School in Greenfield Park. At 16, he began training seriously as a track and field athlete, and started getting national attention in both the discus and the hammer throw. After graduating from Royal George as the co-president of the Student Council and winning the Athlete of the Year award, he attended Champlain College Saint-Lambert under the tutor of former Czechoslovakian weight-lifting Olympic coach Dr. Emil Muller. In 1993, he earned a spot on the Canadian Jr. National Track and Field Team as a hammer thrower. After completing a degree in Pure and Applied Science in 1995 from Champlain College, Oliveto was offered a track scholarship at the University of Oklahoma. From 1995 to 2000, Oliveto traveled all over North-America, Europe, and Africa, competing in major championships like the Canada Games, the Jeux de la Francophonie, and the Olympic Trials.

He graduated with both a Bachelor of Science degree (Health and Sports Science, 1998) and a Master of Science degree (Exercise Physiology and Human Performance, 2000) with a thesis research in performance periodization from OU. He was the University of Oklahoma record holder in the hammer throw, and is still the current all-time powerlifting record holder at Champlain College.