SHERBROOKE, QC – With only one day of competition left at the 2013 Canada Summer Games, BC athletes stepped up their game and delivered outstanding performances across all competing disciplines.
The rowing team kicked things off with a bang, winning a total of six medals – five gold and one bronze. The day’s races saw a number of finals, seeing Team BC climb to the top of the podium.
In the women’s quadruple sculls, sisters Ellen and Kate Gleadow (Vancouver), along with Emily Lerhe (Victoria) and Deborahl Snell (Brentwood Bay) won gold, edging out Team Alberta with a time of 6:40.06.
The men’s lightweight four event saw Cameron Howie (Richmond), brothers Aaron and Maxwell Lattimer, (Delta) and Angus Todd (Vancouver) beat out Ontario with a time of 6:18.12, also earning gold.
The golden streak continued with both the men and women’s pair events, as well as the women’s eight with coxswain. The men’s quadruple sculls were also successful, earning silver in their event.
The final day of athletics competition saw Team BC earn a total of five silver medals and one bronze. Emma Kimoto (Richmond) started off the day with women's high jump. The 22-year old claimed silver after jumping 1.80m.
In the men’s long jump Rob Gallaugher (Cloverdale) claimed bronze while Ahmad Nizamani came in 7th overall. In women’s javelin, Tiffany Matteazzi scored a silver medal with a 47.50-metre throw.
Fresh off yesterday’s gold medal win in the men’s 1500m, Thomas Riva (Qualicum Beach) earned his second medal in these Games, winning silver in the men’s 800m event. In a surge of power, the 21-year old runner was able to maintain focus and cross the finish line just behind Ontario’s Brandon McBride.
In the 4x400m relay events, both men and women's teams posted the fastest qualifying times in preliminaries, putting BC in a good spot to earn some hardware leading into today's final.
On the women’s side, Casey Atkin (Sidney), Meghan Palesch (Surrey), Sarah Ann Sawatzky (Chilliwack) and Raquel Tjernagel (New Westminster) did not disappoint, establishing themselves in the top two early on, resulting in them finishing with silver.
The men’s team, Ben Ayesu-Attah (Coquitlam), Hodson Harding (Maple Ridge), Adam Paul-Morris (Surrey), and Brendon Restall (Victoria) followed the women's performance and separated themselves into the top 3 from the start. In the end, both teams finished with silver.
"It was great having the boys come second as well, said anchor Casey Atkins. “We came here looking to get on the podium and we did exactly that."
It was also a successful day at the pool with young Courtney Hattie (Victoria) winning gold in women’s springboard 3m event. After the preliminary round earlier today, Hattie dove her way to a score of 258.00, putting her in 7th place going into the final. Going up against some stiff competition from Quebec’s Éloïse Bélanger, Hattie was focused on her performance going into her dive. In the end, she scored 315.15, while Quebec’s Bélanger dove a 311.50, earning Hattie gold.
In advance of tomorrow’s final assaults, BC fencers also found success. The morning brought similar starts with our men's epee team of Qifan (William) Wang (Surrey) & Isaac Velestuk (Tsawwassen) as well as our women's foil team of Sofya Romashina (Richmond) & Woojoo Kwon (Surrey) taking their Manitoba rivals out at the quarter finals. In the quarterfinals, both teams were defeated by Quebec's teams, leaving BC to battle for bronze. Neither team could find their pace again in their bronze medal matches with men's epee being eliminated by Alberta and women's foil falling to Ontario, ending up in fourth place.
The afternoon picked up as Shant Basmadjian (West Vancouver) and Shaul Gordon (Richmond) took to the piste wearing Team BC "Spirit Arms" as socks in combat. The two were unstoppable and ended the day with a decisive ticket to the final event tomorrow against Quebec.
"The key to our victory today was keeping up with the other fencer by telling myself to go up there and remember that I am representing BC but also not to buckle under the pressure and to enjoy myself at the same time,” said Basmadjian. “The spirit arms were Shaul's idea when we were getting ourselves mentally ready for the matches. We were in the dressing room and he just looked at me and said 'Hey, let's do something with these!' and we decided to surprise everyone by wearing them down until the match was about to begin and then we rolled them up and showed out Team BC spirit. Tomorrow we're up against Quebec and we already beat them the other day in individual competition. We know how they battle and we know how to counter it."
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About Team BC
Every four years the Province of British Columbia assembles a team of athletes, coaches, managers and mission staff to represent the province at Canada's premiere multi-sport events - the Canada Winter Games, the Canada Summer Games and the Western Canada Summer Games. Representing the best in BC, they are known as Team BC. The Team BC program is more than British Columbia's best; it is also about building excellence. For some athletes, the Canada Games are a goal along the way to what they hope will be success in sport at major multi-sport Games including Olympic and Paralympic Games.
About the Canada Games
The Canada Games are a national multi-sport competition with participation from every province and territory in Canada. The Games are held every two years, alternating between winter and summer. The 2013 Canada Summer Games will be held August 2 – 17, 2013 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, bringing together approximately 4,500 athletes who will be competing in 20 disciplines, along with coaches, managers and officials from coast to coast.
For more information on Team BC, including latest results, athlete profiles and calendar of upcoming events, visit www.teambc.org. High resolution images are available for download through flickr.com or directly on Team BC’s website.
Team BC Media Contact in Sherbrooke:
Tina Sarazin
Media Manager, Team BC
Mobile: 778-989-8462
tinasarazin@gmail.com