Friday, July 27, 2012

118 Ontario Athletes Compete at 2012 Olympics

In Play Magazine

Ontario is proud to support the province’s high performance athletes on Team Canada as they begin to compete at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.


This year, 118 Ontario athletes — and 29 Ontario coaches — will represent Canada and inspire the nation and our province as they compete for a spot on the podium. Of 118 athletes, 90 have benefitted from Ontario’s Quest for Gold program that helps athletes reach the highest level of international competition by providing access to high-performance training and competitive opportunities.

Quest for Gold recipients will be competing in more than 50 events at the upcoming London Olympics including:

• Boxer Mary Spencer will be vying for gold in the first Olympic women’s boxing event.

• Jessica Zelinka will enter her second Olympics and compete in two events — the gruelling heptathlon and women’s 100-metre hurdles.

• Adam Van Koeverden will be looking to add to his three Olympic medals in sprint kayak.

• Ian Millar will make his tenth Olympic appearance and seek to bring home another medal in show jumping with his horse Star Power.

• Karen Cockburn will look to extend her winning streak on the trampoline by earning a medal for the fourth consecutive time at the Olympic Games.

Ontarians will also have the opportunity to cheer on some of our honoured athletes when the Greater Golden Horseshoe plays host to the highly anticipated 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games.


QUICK FACTS


 Top Paralympic athletes from Ontario will represent Canada proudly at the 2012 London Summer Paralympic Games from August 29-September 9.

 At the 2011 Pan/Parapan American Games in Gudalajara, 29 Ontario athletes on Team Canada helped to bring home 28 event medals — 21 of those athletes were Quest for Gold recipients.

 Approximately 85 per cent of eligible Ontario athletes who competed in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and 88 per cent of eligible Ontario athletes who competed in the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics were Quest for Gold recipients.

 The City of Brampton will welcome approximately 1,300 of Ontario’s top athletes over 55 to the Ontario 55+ Summer Games from August 14-16.

 Toronto will host the Ontario Summer Games for the first time, welcoming nearly 2,500 of Ontario’s up and coming young athletes from August 16-19.

 Ontario will host the 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games which will create more than 15,000 jobs, attract hundreds of thousands of tourists and draw more than 10,000 athletes and officials from 41 countries.