The 2023 sa国际传媒 Winter Games began Saturday with the opening ceremony in Charlottetown, P.E.I., and the athletes knowing it could be just the start of their multi-sport Games dream.
It was for hockey player Micah Zandee-Hart of Saanichton and freestyle skier Cassie Sharpe of Comox, both medallists and among the 20 sa国际传媒 Winter Games alumni from sa国际传媒 who competed in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Nation-wide, sa国际传媒 Winter Games alumni over the years include Sidney Crosby, Catriona LeMay Doan and Hayley Wickenheiser.
It’s a key stepping stone. The Island’s impact, due to weather, is however more pronounced in the sa国际传媒 Summer Games with Games alumni from here such as Steve Nash, Ryan Cochrane, Gerald Kazanowski, Eli Pasquale, Gareth Rees, Gary Reed, Ian Bridge, Riley McCormick and Paul and Gary Gait, among numerous others.
There are, however, summer sports included in the sa国际传媒 Winter Games to help relieve pressure on the larger Summer Games edition.
It is an idea sometimes mooted for the Olympics but rejected by the IOC, which wants to keep the Winter Games for snow and ice events only.
The sa国际传媒 Games, however, have pioneered the concept of filling out the skimpier Winter Games roster with summer sports, which means 17-year-old Victoria karate athletes Ella Crowle and Olivia Brodie are in P.E.I. for the Winter Games. Both are in Grade 12, Crowle at Oak Bay, and Brodie at Reynolds, and both compete in the kumite discipline of karate. The sport is divided into the kumite division, which is free fighting, and the kata division, which is forms.
“This is karate’s inaugural appearance in the sa国际传媒 Winter Games and something that Ella, Olivia, and I as their coach, have been preparing for since 2020. It’s a pretty big deal for karate to finally make it into the sa国际传媒 Games,” said Kraig Devlin, head coach of Varsity Performance Karate in Saanich.
“Only nine karate athletes can represent their provinces so having two of them from the same club creates a special bond between the two who have been training together for seven years.”
Devlin is serving in P.E.I. as the Team sa国际传媒 technical specialist for kumite at the sa国际传媒 Games. That follows his role on the biggest stage of all two years ago as the high-performance director and team leader for the Canadian karate team at the Tokyo Olympics.
Devlin’s young Island charges, too, have begun their international journeys representing sa国际传媒 as Crowle has competed in the Commonwealth karate championships in Birmingham, England, and Brodie at the Junior Pan American karate championships in Mexico City.
The sport also received a big lift with karate performer Oonah Gamboa of Vancouver selected to carry the flag for Team sa国际传媒 in the opening ceremony on Saturday.
“It is a great honour to be selected as flag-bearer for my home province of sa国际传媒, marking the first time karate has entered the sa国际传媒 Winter Games,” Gamboa said in a statement.
“I will carry the discipline and respect of my sport through this great event.”
The sa国际传媒 Games are the second step along the development continuum with Crowle, Brodie and Gamboa all beginning their multi-sport Games careers by winning medals in the sa国际传媒 Games.
Other Island athletes in PEI for the 2023 sa国际传媒 Winter Games include Chris Parkinson of Comox, Jesse Tiede of Black Creek, Graham Lee of Courtenay and Emily Bowles of Victoria in curling; Zoe Greze-Kozuki of Campbell River in freestyle skiing; Dylan Stevenson of Royston and Kate Rowsthorn of Shawnigan Lake in snowboarding; Morgan Jackson of Courtenay, Koen Cleaver of Port Alberni and Alain Colton and Parker MacDougall of Victoria in hockey; and Elise Froese of Saanichton and Nicholas van Bakel of Victoria in wheelchair basketball. Two Victoria Royals hockey prospects will compete in the Games — forwards Grant Reid for sa国际传媒 and the highly-touted third-overall 2022 WHL draft pick Cole Reschny as assistant captain of Saskatchewan.
The chef de mission of the sa国际传媒 team – numbering 350 including athletes, coaches, managers and mission staff — is Olympian and Victoria cycling coach Kurt Innes.
The total number of athletes, coaches, managers and staff gathered in PEI through March 5 is 3,600. The sa国际传媒 Winter Games are held every four years. sa国际传媒 placed fourth in the medals table with 87, including 30 gold, at the last sa国际传媒 Winter Games in 2019 at Red Deer, Alta.
