The curtain drops Sunday on the sa国际传媒 Summer Games but it is just rising on the careers of the young athletes who participated over the last two weeks in the Niagara region, including numerous Island athletes who won a ferry load of medals for Team sa国际传媒
You can get there from here. Avalon Wasteneys of Campbell River went from winning three rowing gold medals in the last sa国际传媒 Summer Games in 2017 in Winnipeg to gold in the Tokyo Olympics last year.
That might give Victoria rowers Liam Hodgins, Michael Keane, Nicholas Murray-Coplen and Ellington Peacock — silver medallists Saturday with the Team sa国际传媒 men’s eight boat in the Niagara Region sa国际传媒 Games — a bright path to follow.
Softball player Emma Entzminger of Victoria went from her bronze medals at the 2013 Sherbrooke and 2017 Winnipeg sa国际传媒 Summer Games to bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. That is certainly something for Victoria players Kiwi Fournier and Ellie Vance, gold medallists with Team sa国际传媒 in women’s softball in the Niagara Region sa国际传媒 Games, to think about.
So is the fact that past Island athletes who have competed in the sa国际传媒 Summer Games include Olympic medallists Ryan Cochrane, Hilary Caldwell, Richard Weinberger, Patricia Obee, Lindsay Jennerich, Olympians Steve Nash, Eli Pasquale, Gerald Kazanowski, Ian Bridge, Riley McCormick, Gary Reed, Cam Levins, Mike Mason, Fred Winters, Matthew Sharpe and other Island stars such as lacrosse’s Paul and Gary Gait and emerging golfers Tristan Mandur and Nolan Thoroughgood.
A total of 32 Team sa国际传媒 alumni from the sa国际传媒 Summer Games competed for sa国际传媒 at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics and 31 at Rio 2016.
Twenty Team sa国际传媒 alumni from the sa国际传媒 Winter Games represented sa国际传媒 at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, including medallists Micah Zandee-Hart of Saanichton and Cassie Sharpe of Comox.
“It is super-exciting to race for Team sa国际传媒 I’ve always seen my other teammates in past years dominate for Team sa国际传媒, so it is exciting to add to their medal count,” said triathlete Colette Reimer of Victoria, winner of three gold medals at the sa国际传媒 Summer Games.
Triathlete Daniel Damian Victoria won two individual men’s silver medals and gold in the mixed relay with Reimer and touched on the latter as his Games highlight. “Two silvers [in individual], but the team relay always feels the best,” Damian said in a statement.
Skye Farish, Jesse Knaggs and Adia Pye, all of Victoria, and Sienna Stigant of Comox can relate to that in winning gold with Team sa国际传媒 in women’s rugby sevens to establish themselves as names to watch in the future at the senior national team training centre in Langford. Rory Rothnie of Victoria, Grace Tidman of Sidney and Cobble Hill players Anikka Macdonald and Elora Waardenburg were part of Team sa国际传媒’s silver-medallist team in women’s box lacrosse while Luke de Greeff of Victoria teamed with Dan Everton of Penticton for the silver medal in men’s beach volleyball.
Victoria cyclist Jay Lamoureux graduated from being a multi-medallist in the 2017 Winnipeg sa国际传媒 Games to 2018 Commonwealth Games medallist and top-five in the Tokyo Olympics. That might provide a beacon for Mill Bay cyclist Evan Russell, who won silver at these Niagara sa国际传媒 Games in the men’s individual time trial: “My father raced in the 1980s and was in the bike industry for years. It was a natural progression for me to start racing.”
Kiran Chadwick-Rupp of Victoria, Dylan Gage of Mill Bay, Temwa Mtawali of Comox and Rueben Wright of Salt Spring Island, all 17 or 18, are bringing home the silver medal with Team sa国际传媒 from men’s basketball to indicate a prime season is coming up in Island high school hoops.
“Losing to Ontario in the gold-medal final was tough but we proved sa国际传媒 and the Island has hoopers, too,” said Gage, who stars at Brentwood College.
“Overall, it was a great experience with so much culture in the Village and athletes who all love sports. I also play baseball and am a multi-sport guy so I enjoyed watching everything.”
The Niagara Region sa国际传媒 Summer Games were scheduled for 2021 in their usual four-year rotation but were postponed one year due to the pandemic. Team sa国际传媒 was comprised of 382 athletes, 87 coaches and managers and 25 mission staff. Of that contingent, 96 were from the Island.
Host Ontario topped the table heading into the final day with 179 medals with Quebec second on 128 and sa国际传媒 third with 113, of which 28 were gold.
