By Brendan McConnell
Ottawa came up big at Aug. 2-17’s 2013 Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Que., with nearly three-quarters of the 40 local Team Ontario athletes bringing home medals from the national multi-sport event that serves as a launching pad towards the Olympics.
Rideau Canoe Club paddlers Megan Sibthorpe, Maddie Schmidt, Drew Hodges, Brendan Fowler and Alexandra Joy accounted for 17 of Ottawa’s 54 total medals won for Team Ontario, which includes 16 gold.
“We at Rideau are very happy,” says executive director Hector Carranco. “Our athletes performed extremely well. There are many younger kids looking at these athletes and what they are able to achieve. The medals give value to the amount of work done; they give the other kids’ work a concrete objective.”
Bolstered by a world junior bronze medal performance the previous week on Welland, Ont., 18-year-old Schmidt was the most decorated local Canada Games athlete with five medals – gold in the K-1 (kayak single) 500 metres, silver in the K-2 200 m and K-4 200 m (both in the same boat as Natalie Davison of Carleton Place Canoe Club) and K-2 5,000 m, and bronze in the K-4 500 m (alongside Joy).
Sibthorpe, 17, was the most golden Ottawa athlete, winning the C-4 500 m, C-4 200 m and C-2 500 m events, plus a silver in C-2 5,000 m.
The young CANI Athletics club also put in a strong performance in Sherbrooke, as its three track-and-field competitors earned seven medals.
Amelia Brohman, who followed up her appearance at the Games with a trip to the Pan American junior championships in Colombia, snagged gold in the 200 m dash and followed it up with a pair of bronze medals in the 100 m and 4×400 m relay.
“I was really happy with my performance,” recounts Brohman, who also came home with a silver medal from the 4×100 m relay in Colombia. “My goal was to just run hard, give it everything I’ve got and try to get on the podium.”
A major highlight of the meet for Brohman was seeing her two other CANI teammates – 400 m hurdlers and Team Ontario 4×400 relay members Saj Alhaddad and Chanel Marion – win medals as well.
“They succeeded and did what they had to do in their individual event and then came back and medaled in their relays as well,” Brohman highlights. “It was amazing seeing my teammates succeed like that after such a long and hard season.”
2 individuals double-medal
Cyclist Matteo Dal-Cin, 21, was a double-medalist, placing first in the individual time trial and taking silver in the road race, finishing with an identical time as the winner.
“When I found out I was leading the time trial from my Dad after I finished my ride, I was beyond excited,” recounts the Stevens Racing P/B The Cyclery team member. “And it was all that much more special to be able to share it with my father and sister who were at the event watching.”
Dal-Cin narrowly missed out on a second gold in the road race after he and a rider from Team Quebec broke away from the pack for the final stages of the race.
“In the end the race was settled in a sprint which he won, and because it was a sprint the timing was close enough that we were shown as crossing together,” notes Dal-Cin, who is currently over in Europe for the final stages of his competitive season, which includes a trip to the Francophone Games Sept. 6-15 in Nice.
Eli Wall of the Greater Ottawa Kingfish – the lone local swimmer at the Canada Games – was also a double-medalist in individual competitions, winning silver in the 100 m and bronze in the 50 m breaststroke.
“I was pretty pleased,” says the 18-year-old Colonel By Secondary School graduate and future University of Toronto student. “It was a long summer. Usually I don’t go that late into August, so I was happy I was able to keep focused.”
Andre Pelletier of the Ottawa Rowing Club was another top performer, capturing double-gold in quadruple and double sculls event.
With a gold in men’s foil and a bronze in the team event, Alastair Keyes led the five-member Ottawa Fencing contingent in their parade to podium as his club earned six medals in total.
Corey Johnson and Glenn Thelemaque were part of a dominant Team Ontario basketball performance. Johnson hit four three-pointers in the first quarter as Ontario built a 29-10 lead en route to a 93-49 gold medal game victory over Manitoba.
OTTAWA’S 2013 CANADA GAMES MEDALISTS
Corey Johnson & Glenn Thelemaque gold basketball
Megan Sibthorpe gold canoe-kayak C-4 500, gold C-4 200, gold C-2 500, silver C-2 5,000
Maddie Schmidt gold canoe-kayak K-1 500, silver K-2 200, silver K-2 5,000, silver K-4 200, bronze K-4 500
Drew Hodges gold canoe-kayak C-1 5,000, silver C-1 1,000, silver C-4 1,000, bronze C-4 200
André Pelletier gold rowing double sculls, gold quadruple sculls
Matteo Dal-Cin gold road cycling individual time trial, silver road race
Amelia Brohman gold track 200, bronze 100, bronze 4×400 relay
Samantha Klus gold triathlon mixed relay, bronze women’s relay
Devin Biocchi gold track 4×400 relay, bronze 400
Saj Alhaddad gold track 4×400 relay, silver 400 hurdles
Theresa El-Lati gold wrestling team, bronze 65 kg
Alastair Keyes gold fencing foil, bronze team foil
Eli Wall silver swimming 100 breaststroke, bronze 50 breaststroke
Matthew Christie silver rowing single sculls
Evan McNeely silver mountain bike men’s relay
Natalie Davison silver canoe-kayak K-2 200, silver K-4 200
Matthew Ianni silver baseball
Brendan Fowler silver C-4 1,000, bronze C-2 200
Alexandra Joy silver canoe-kayak K-1 5,000, bronze K-4 500
Joseph Wright silver fencing team epee
Elizabeth Turner silver rowing 8
Zacharie Cameron (Quebec) silver canoe-kayak K-2 1,000, bronze K-2 5,000
Jenny Zhao bronze fencing foil, bronze team foil
Aaron Wong-Sing bronze sailing 2.4 para mix
Jordan Lundin, Vanessa Gilles & Miranda Smith bronze soccer
Chanel Marion bronze track 400 m hurdles, bronze 4×400 m relay
François Provencher bronze fencing team foil
Tom Sherwin (Manitoba) bronze canoe-kayak C-1 500, bronze C-1 1,000, bronze C-1 5,000
Sara Robichaud (Quebec) bronze beach volleyball
Malick Turenne (Quebec) bronze basketball
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