‘It felt very sudden for me’: B.C. Olympian recalls experiencing homelessness as a child

Hammer throw gold medalist and world champion Camryn Rogers is speaking out for the organization that gave her the comfort of home.

Before Camryn Rogers threw hammers on the Olympic stage, she struggled growing up in B.C.’s Lower Mainland.

She recalled her life being thrown into turmoil at age 13 when her family became homeless shortly before she started high school.

“It felt very sudden for me,” Camryn said. “But that whole year, we were either sleeping in a car (or) staying at friends’ places.”

Her mother, Shari Rogers, was raising her alone — and while she had owned a condo in Surrey, she couldn’t keep up with special assessments and other costs. There was eventually a court-ordered sale.

“All of a sudden you’re in this situation where we kind of had nowhere to go,” Shari said.

“We had some friends that were traveling, so we did some house sitting for a little while. In the meantime, I was trying to apply to housing and co-ops and things, but I was on a limited income as well, and I wasn’t getting any support from the ex.”

After a year, they were able to get housing with More Than a Roof Foundation. They moved into Dockside Village in Richmond, and it felt like a new start.

“I remember when we came to look at it and said it was amazing,” recalled Shari. “We had this really cute two-bedroom townhouse. It was game-changing at the time.”

Camryn remembers falling in love with the home — and the renewed sense of security it brought them.

“For the first time in a year, we had a new place that we could call home,” she said. “This was the place that we could start building our life back up.”

Thanks to the foundation and their new community, Camryn started to try track and field. Their improved circumstances gave her the freedom to focus on her sport.

“If it wasn’t for Dockside, if it wasn’t for (More Than a Roof) … I don’t think I would be where I am,” Camryn said with tears in her eyes.

“We had stability. We had compassion from people,” added Shari.

“There was never any judgment. Like, there’s a lot of different people struggling. There’s different people navigating different situations, but it didn’t really matter. Everybody here accepted you.”

More Than a Roof continues to support the community in B.C.

“We’re so proud to be a part of Camryn’s story. She and her mom are truly exceptional,” said Scott Campbell, executive director for More Than a Roof Foundation.

“Unfortunately, the challenges that they faced are not uncommon in our province. There are thousands of families and young people facing similar challenges. And at More Than a Roof Foundation, what we’re doing is we’re working to break those cycles of poverty and homelessness by providing real, practical, long-term solutions. Solutions like food programing, education, mental and physical health support.”

And Camryn had a message for those who may be experiencing those issues now:

“It is not you. It is an unfortunate circumstance, but one that is also changeable, one that you can grow from, one that you can learn from,” she said. “This is not permanent. This is short-term. And moving past this, it’ll teach you a lot of life lessons, will teach you your resiliency, will teach you your determination.”

Bringing her medals to show kids in her hometown — and around the world — is part of her giving back.

“I think being able to then bring this (gold medal) and say, ‘This is what all of that was for, this is what it earned, this is the everything that all of that support led to,’” Camryn said.

As for Shari, she knew her daughter always had Olympic heights in her.

“She is extremely hardworking, extremely resilient,” she smiled.

“Nothing stands in her way. And I think part of that probably came from our experience — you know, you hear about people that do sort of great things, and a lot of times they come from bad situations.”

Camryn won gold for hammer throw at the Paris Olympics in 2024 and also claimed the gold medal at the World Championship in Tokyo this year.