Coaldale soccer official excited to step onto Olympic stage

By Lethbridge Herald on July 22, 2024.

Martin Bazyl photo - Coaldale’s Micheal Barwegen will be officiating soccer at the Paris Olympics.

Justin Seward – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – sports@lethbridgeherald.com

Coaldale’s Micheal Barwegen is getting a no bigger opportunity in his soccer officiating career than when he will step on the pitch for the first time at the Summer Olympics in Paris.

“I was pretty excited when I got that information,” said Barwegen.

“I had actually just been out (in) the afternoon hanging out with my family here and I knew there was a possibility of that happening. But when the additional list was released I got a text message from the referee that I’m going with and he said make sure your bags are ready for Paris this summer and I was pretty ecstatic and pretty excited at that moment.”

This will be Barwegen’s first Olympics and third FIFA tournament.

“I think, for me, I just want to enjoy the experience as much as possible and to perform well,” he said.

“Just like the athletes, we are there to do the best of our abilities and obviously we judge the players as the match is going on. But we are of course being judged by all those watching the match, in the match and watching around the world. And so, we just want to get out there, do our job to the best of our ability and hopefully make it to a knock-out round.”

Barwegen was asked about the language barriers.

“I do not speak French so that’s going to be a little bit difficult,” he said.

“The two Canadian officials that I’m in a team of three with, they both do speak French. So I joke that I’m being sent over there with my own two personal translators. So it’s nice of them to plan ahead accordingly that way.”

Barwegen thinks with some other language basics that points can get across when necessary.

Referees arrived  ahead of the start of the Summer Games  to have practice time in order to evaluate decision making.

“We will be doing all we can to be mentally and physically ready at that point,” said Barwegen.

“On a more personal level, I will probably be doing all that  I can to focus the days leading up to those matches on my skills and abilities in terms of what is required of me,  and making sure that I am ready to step up and make the decisions that are required when they come up.”

He hopes to have some downtime to take in some of the other events.

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