Never mind the Paris Olympics.

This week Butler County will host the Can-Am Police-Fire Games, a multisport Olympic-style event that gives competitors from police and fire departments, as well as other first responders in the United States and Canada, a chance to vie in competitions that feature the skills used in their professions.

Casey Hoolahan, who handles public relations for the Butler Tourism & Convention Bureau, said the games opened Monday, July 15, with a dinner with competition planned through Sunday, July 21. The Can-Am Games will run in advance of the July 26 opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics in the French capital.

“There will be 33 different sporting events. There are 16 venues across the county that will be hosting different events,” Hoolahan said.

“The number of participants is still fluctuating,” she added. “But I would say we have 500 participants.” She said the games are open to more than just police and firefighters.

“Any federal, state, county, municipal and military law enforcement officers are eligible,” said Hoolahan as well as emergency medical services personnel, Homeland Security, Border Patrol and corrections officers along with their spouses and children over the age of 18.

“Retired first responders are welcome as well,” she said.

That includes retired Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Syd Gravel, 71, and his wife, Judy, 74, who have come to Butler County to compete in the powerlifting and bench press competitions.

“We’re both competing. We have been powerlifting for 10 years,” Gravel said. “We started when I was 62 and Judy was 65. Actually, it was my wife’s idea.”

The Gravels began working with a personal trainer who had been a provincial champion in powerlifting competitions.

“He taught us both how to do it,” Gravel said.

In the bench press event, competitors attempt to raise a weight with both arms while prone on a bench with their feet on the floor.

In the powerlifting event, competitors attempt a maximum weight on three lifts: bench press, squat and deadlift.

“On each lift, your attempt is heavier until you reach your third lift which should be the heaviest,” Gravel said. He said his personal best is 230 pounds in squat, 180 pounds on the bench press and 330 pounds in the deadlift portion.

Judy Gravel’s personal bests are 135 pounds on the squat, 75 pounds on the bench press and 200 pounds on the deadlift.

To attain these weights, the Gravels train Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at their gym.

For Syd Gravel weightlifting has brought more benefits than a chance at a Can-Am Games medal.

He noted that weightlifting slows the muscle and bone deterioration that affects older adults.

In his case, it helped him bounce back from open-chest heart surgery.

“At 69, I had an upper aortic aneurysm. They replaced the aorta with a carbon fiber artery. Within eight months of that I was back in training,” he said.

This will be the second Can-Am Games that the Gravels have attended. They participated in the 2022 games in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, where they both won gold medals in the 65-70 age group.

They planned to arrive in Butler County on Sunday, July 14. The bench press event is Tuesday and the powerlifting competition is Thursday.

“We’re looking forward to it. At our age, we are not big on the nightlife, but we are looking forward to seeing the sights in the county,” Gravel said. They are only disappointed that they will have to travel back to Ottawa before the opening of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ training camp in Latrobe on July 26.

“We’re both Steelers fans, but we’re not going to see them,” he said.

Another retired police officer traveling to Butler County will be Josh Martini of Maryland who will be competing in the skeet, trap and sporting clays shooting competitions. Scoring is done by totaling who has the most hits of 600 targets. This will be his third or fourth Can-Am Games.

The skeet competition is Saturday, July 20, and the sporting clay event is Sunday, July 21.

Martini said skeet shooting involves using a 12-gauge shotgun to try to break clay targets which two fixed stations mechanically fire into the air at a variety of angles. Trap shooting differs from skeet shooting because only one machine is used.

“Sporting clays, the target is behind you, over top of you, rolling on the ground. There’s no holds barred,” Martini said. “If skeet and trap is like boxing and wrestling, sporting clays is like the MMA (mixed martial arts).”

“It takes a lot of discipline, hand-eye coordination, timing, persistence and practice,” he said, adding he shots 200 to 400 rounds a week for practice.

“It’s trigonometry, geometry and gauging distance and angles and how to lead the target. And you’re standing in the sun for four to five hours. It’s like an endurance race. You need physical fortitude,” Martini said.

“It’s not like we’re out there shooting clay pigeons with scatter guns and having fun,” he said.

But Martini said it will be fun to catch up with friends from other departments and even other countries.

“I think there is fantastic camaraderie. Competition is just for the bragging rights for the next Can-Am Games. We talk smack a little bit,” he said.