It has been an exciting 24 hours for Team BC at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
Surrey’s Shallon Olsen took the Canada Winter Games silver medal in the female gymnastics all around event on Tuesday night in Prince George.
The 14-year-old fed off the energy and support of the standing room only crowd at the venue at UNBC. “There was so much support at the event and all the seats were filled up,” she said. “It reminded me of competing at an international event – it was so exciting.”
On Wednesday the medals poured in from Team BC.
Team BC’s long track speed skaters got off to an impressive start in Fort St. John earning gold in the men’s and women’s 500m events and a silver in the women’s team pursuit.
Jacob Graham of Dawson Creek and Sara Spence of Kamloops took top spot on the podium in the 500m. Spence was also part of the team that won silver in the pursuit event with Carolina Hiller (Prince George), Abigail McCluskey (Penticton) and Emilie Medland-Marchen (Kelowna).
Graham won the 500m by one-and-a-half seconds, which is a considerable amount of time in the highly competitive event. The 18-year-old woke up feeling in less than top shape with a sore throat and fatigue.
“I woke up feeling pretty sick and run down and I was worried I might not be able to skate to my best ability today but felt good after the first race and I knew there was more I could do,” he said.
Emily Dickson earned her third medal of the 2015 Canada Winter Games on Wednesday in the biathlon 10km pursuit, adding a gold to her silver and bronze finishes from earlier this week.
Silver medals were earned by Mel Pemble (Victoria) in the para alpine slalom and Leia Hoot (Kamloops) in the target shooting air rifle event.
Hoot relied on a steady hand to finish second in the female air rifle event. The 17-year-old has only been competing in target shooting events for two years; today’s event marked her best finish at a national competition. “In the preliminary qualifier I didn’t shoot a personal best, but it was pretty close,” she said. “I’ve been fairly consistent through the week and it paid off today.”
Hoot went into the finals in second place and admitted that her nerves started to get to her. “At first it was really hard to keep calm,” she said. “I was nervous and could feel my heart starting to beat faster. When that happens you can feel it on the rifle and even see it through the sights. I just slowed down and tried to breathe.”
The team of Tony Procter (Prince George) and Emerie Watson (Quesnel) earned a bronze in the compound archery event.
Over the course of just one day of competition, Team BC won three gold, three silver and one bronze medal. B.C. is currently in fourth place in the Canada Winter Games with a combined 24 medals (eight gold, nine silver, seven bronze). Quebec is leading the medal standings, followed by Ontario and then Alberta.
B.C.’s ringette team lost to Manitoba by a score of 7-4. The female hockey team lost its quarterfinal game to Saskatchewan in a sudden death shootout 4-3. The wheelchair basketball team lost to Ontario 62-24.
Spirit Mob Challenge #CGSpiritMob
Nothing beats the energy that emerges from showing a little extra pride for your team. Modeled after the #flashmob phenomenon, Team BC encourages your team to show your team spirit for the Canada Winter Games in Prince George.
Only 4 steps:
-
TAKE A VIDEO / PICTURES showing your team
spirit in a unique way
- POST IT to social media - Twitter, Instagram, Vine
- HASHTAGE IT #CGspiritmob #CGTVtoday #2015CanGames
- CHALLENGE 3 TEAMS to do the same (other sports,
other provinces, in Prince George, or at home) to show
their Canada Games spirit within the next 48 hours
Canada Games TV: Today will be following along and looking to pull some of the best postings to feature in one of their episodes #CGTVtoday
Our goal is to help create a social showcase of Provincial team spirit here at the Canada Winter Games (#2015CanGames) – Prince George has welcomed us all here with great local spirit every day and we know its within all of us to give some back!
Follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Vine @goteambc #CGspiritmob
It's all in your head
It's been said that luck is where preparation and opportunity meet. Mental Performance is a key component of any high performance sport. There is nothing that can describe the pressure felt by athletes during a high stakes competition like Canada Winter Games. Team BC is fortunate to have a stellar mental performance coaching team in Dave Freeze and Carl Neinhuis – two respected experts in this field.
Straight from the source - Dave and Carl have provided us with some tips for athletes:
5 MENTAL PERFORMANCE TIPS
- If you are feeling the pressure and nervousness
of a big game, ask for help.
- Stick to your routines and diet.
- Don’t try to cram for last minute success!
- Look after yourself.
- Keep yourself organized and ready for the final
training and competitive opportunities.
Dave and Carl are with us for the entire Games, so please reach out to your Mission Staff to coordinate booking time with either of them. For a description of each tip, read the full article here.
Happy Birthday!
Celebrating birthdays at the Games
February 18: Carl Nienhuis - Mission Staff and Rob Boyd - Hockey
February 19: Dominique DiRocco - Hockey Apprentice Coach
Tomorrow's Schedule
09:00 Target Shooting Air Pistol - Female Qualification
09:30 Speed Skating Long Track - 1000 m Female
10:35 Speed Skating ST -1000 m Female & Male Lower Heats
10:50 Target Shooting Air Pistol - Individual Male Qualification
11:25 Speed Skating ST - 1000 m Female & Male Lower Finals
11:30 Ringette Female BC vs Sask
13:00 Alpine Skiing Ski Cross Male and Female Qualification
13:00 Speed Skating Long Track - Mass Start Female
13:00 Wheelchair Basketball BC vs NS
13:05 Target Shooting Air Pistol - Female
13:15 Speed Skating ST -1000 m Female and Male Upper Heats
14:00 Gymnastics Artistic Female Individual Finals
14:00 Gymnastics Artistic Male Individual Finals
14:00 Speed Skating Long Track - Mass Start Male
14:35 Target Shooting Air Pistol - Male Finals
14:40 Speed Skating ST - 1000 m Female Quarter Final
14:40 Speed Skating ST - 1000 m Female Semi-finals
14:40 Speed Skating ST - 1000 m Male Quarter Finals
14:40 Speed Skating ST - 1000 m Male Semi-finals
15:50 Speed Skating ST - 1000 m Female Upper Finals
16:00 Hockey Female BC vs NB
19:05 Curling Male Semi-finals - BC vs TBD
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Unofficial results. Click here for official medal standings
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Canada Games TV: TODAY
EPISODE 3 is now live with stories from Team BC curlng, ringette, wheelchair basketball, speed skating and alpine skiing.
Don’t forget to watch it live in Games Plaza Mondays-Fridays at 5pm PST.
Watch the shows here.
TSN Coverage
As the official broadcaster TSN is providing live coverage and behind the scenes stories from the Games. See the schedule and video clips here.
Official 2015 Games Blog
Check out the Official 2015 Games Blog for more stories what’s going on during the Games in Prince George.
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