Tre Houston remains haunted by his stumble at last summer’s Commonwealth Games when he lost his footing coming out of starting blocks in the 100-metre heats.

The 25-year-old still regularly watches the “video nasty” of his heartbreaking slip at Hampden Park in Glasgow, which ruined his chances of reaching the semi-finals.

For some athletes, revisiting that misfortune would be a form of masochism; a daily reminder of a blunder committed in front of a packed stadium on one of the biggest sporting stages.

Houston, however, is not so much interested in the fall itself.

It is the manner in which he was able to recover from the costly error and still finish fourth in 10.72sec in a display of courage that he wears as a badge of honour.

“Every day I look at that film,” said Houston, who competes in his 200 heat today at the CIBC Pan Am Athletic Stadium at York University.

“It actually gives me motivation because most people would have given up.

“A lot of people respect me for the way I recovered from that slip. I had to show a lot of resilience to bounce back from that and that’s something I’m proud of.”

Houston is making a habit of bouncing back from setbacks.

He missed the entire indoor season because of an Achilles tendon injury, but recovered sufficiently to complete a “hat-trick” of qualifying for the Olympics, World Championships and Pan Am Games.

That was at last month’s Texas State University Friday Night All-Comers meet, where he posted a personal best of 20.42.

Houston, who is based in his namesake city in the United States, hopes to set another personal best in Toronto and at least reach the 200 semi-finals.

“I feel like a lot of pressure is off my shoulders after qualifying for the Olympics and Worlds,” Houston said.

“I’m certainly not too relaxed. It’s all about constantly improving and maintaining my standards.

“I’ve put in so much hard work over the past six years and I just want to make sure I produce when it comes to the actual competition.”

In the absence of long jumper Tyrone Smith at the Games’ opening ceremony, held at the Rogers Centre, Houston took on the mantle of Team Bermuda’s “dancing man”.

Houston’s impromptu jig was never likely to light up Twitter in quite the same manner as Smith’s slick moves at the 2012 London Games, although it did earn plenty of traction on social media.

For the fun-loving Houston, it was simply his way of enjoying the moment.

“Some of my friends dared me to do it and you’ve got to have a bit of fun while you’re here,” said Houston, who will run the 200 at next month’s World Championships in Beijing.

“But I’ve had my fun and right now all it’s about taking care of business.”

Houston competes in the 200 heats at 12.30pm, Bermuda time.