Published on : Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Ontario is celebrating the amazing achievements of its para-athletes who helped Canada earn a new national medal record at the 2018 Winter Paralympics Games, with Ontario para-athletes winning 6 medals in team and single events out of 28 medals for Team Canada.
This year, 21 Ontario athletes were part of the largest Canadian team ever to be sent to a Winter Paralympics — competing in all five sports in PyeongChang, South Korea. In total, 16 Ontario para-athletes reached the highest level of their sport by securing a spot on the Paralympic podium for Team Canada. Local favourites who represented Canada on the world stage and won top honours include:
Mac Marcoux from Sault Ste. Marie won gold for men’s downhill and a bronze in alpine skiing, men’s giant slalom.
Mark Ideson from London, Ontario, skip for Team Canada, took home bronze for wheelchair curling.
Collin Cameron from Sudbury, Ontario became the first Canada para Nordic sit skier ever to medal with bronze in 7.5 km biathlon, 15 km race and 4×2.5 km open relay in cross-country.
Thirteen out of 17 athletes on the silver-winning para ice hockey team are from Ontario including Corbin Watson, Rob Armstrong, Brad Bowden, Adam Dixon, Tyrone Henry, Billy Bridges, Dominic Cozzolino, Ben Delaney, James Dunn, Tyler McGregor, Bryan Sholomicki, Corbyn Smith and Greg Westlake.
The province’s Quest for Gold program supports over 1,300 athletes from over 50 sports, while also supporting programs that enhance coaching and training to help athletes reach their full potential. All sixteen athletes who won medals at the 2018 Paralympic Games are Quest for Gold recipients.
Supporting amateur para-athletes is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.
QUICK FACTS
Team Canada won 8 gold, 4 silver and 16 bronze medals at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympic Games.
There were 21 athletes from Ontario who represented Team Canada at the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games, including 20 Quest for Gold recipients.
Since 2006, Quest for Gold has provided over $120 million in funding to support athletes, coaches and high performance programming.
Durham Region will host the 2019 Parasport Games which welcomes Ontario’s best para-athletes to compete at the provincial level, and promotes awareness of parasport opportunities for all.
Ontario is supporting the development of parasport in the province with the Ontario – Parasport Strong fund that encourages long-term athlete development and enhances training for coaches.
Supporting high performance athletes to pursue excellence is a key priority of Game ON – The Ontario Government’s Sport Plan which is building a world-class amateur sport system from playground to podium.
Tags: Ontario Athletes, Travel Destination News