Out of almost 2,500 athletes, Ottawa competitors were front-and-centre at the 2012 Ontario Summer Games, earning a ton of medals across the board in 28 sports from Aug. 16-19 in Toronto.
Leading the parade to the podium was GO Kingfish swimmer Montana Champagne, who captured eight medals in total – one gold, one silver and six bronze – in the University of Toronto pool.
Swimmers Josée Barrette (3 gold, 1 silver), Trae Parsons (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze), Ryan Telford (2 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze), Sam McLean (2 silver, 2 bronze) and Scott Quirie (2 silver, 3 bronze) all collected four or more medals as well.
Victor Turcanu from the Ottawa River Canoe Club also managed to snag four medals in canoe-kayak sprint – gold in the men’s K-2 1,000 metres, gold in the men’s K-1 1,000 m, bronze in the men’s K-1 3,000 m and bronze in the men’s K-4 1,000 m alongside David Burbidge, Chris Tabri and Jared Schmidt – who were fresh off a silver medal victory at the Canadian championships in the midget age group.
The Ontario Summer Games take place one year before the Canada Games – both events that offer developing youth athletes an opportunity to test themselves in a multi-sport environment to prepare themselves for bigger stages such as the Olympics.
2012 medalists from the nation’s capital included:
Men’s Basketball
BRONZE – Frederick Njikam, Fraser Curry, Eric Saumure, Brent Ashfield, Jonathan Asedri, Souber Aden Akli, Steve Nkusi, Adam Constanzo, Ali-Hanad Yusuf, Emile Antoun, Eric Ilunga, Corey Johnson
Canoe-Kayak Sprint
Jacqueline Houston, Victor Turcanu, Katie Acelvari, Allison Keller, August Sibthorpe, Lochlin Farquharson, Scott Braddon, Alec Bradford, David Burbidge, Chris Tabri, Jared Schmidt, Tom Huff, Zach Porter
Fencing
SILVER – Arthur Sharf (Men’s Cadet Sabre), GOLD – Alastair Keyes (Men’s Cadet Foil), BRONZE – Jenny Zhao (Women’s Cadet Foil), GOLD – Alastair Keyes, Aiden Heffernan (Team Fencing), BRONZE – Geoffrey Devaney, Patrick Fournier, Phillip Williams (Team Fencing)
Men’s Field Hockey
BRONZE – Connor Baird, Marek Chopra, Rohan Chopra, Adam Graham, Curtis James, Liam Manning, Chad Mosley, Braedon Muldoon, Vittorio Peloso, Syed Asem Quadiri, Brennan Roach, Joel Ryan, Dylan Singh, Ian Venables, coaches Sandeesh Singh, Sandeep Chopra
Men’s Rugby
SILVER – Mason Dingwall, Myles Anderson, Christian St–Louis, Cameron Thomas, Fraser Hill, Mason Fatoric, John Shaw, Kevin Vuckovic
Skeet Shooting
GOLD – Zach Andruchow (12 Gauge Team)
Swimming
Josée Barrette, Miles Ruttan, Trae Parsons, Ryan Telford, Montana Champagne, Chuchu Yang, Sam McLean, Alyson Lascelles, Scott Quirie, Sarah Asselin, Abigail Gartland, Matthew Hayward, Nic Ferland
Men’s Triathlon
SILVER – Alec Jarvis
Ontario’s East region were silver medal winners in both men’s and women’s ball hockey as well.