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Province’s Athletes net huge gains for the Canadian Winter Olympic Team

Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport Michael Chan News Release ***** Ontario is celebrating its athletes who competed and excelled at the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport Michael Chan
News Release

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Ontario is celebrating its athletes who competed and excelled at the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

This year, 63 Ontario athletes were a part of the largest Canadian team ever to be sent to a Winter Olympics - competing in 93 of 98 events. Thirty-four Ontario athletes reached the highest level of their sport by securing a spot on the Olympic podium for Team Canada. Some of the Ontario athletes who won the top honours for Team Canada include:

  • Dara Howell from Huntsville won the gold medal in the ski slopestyle event.
  • One of the five women on the gold medal winning curling team is Ontario athlete Kirsten Wall.
  • Brad Jacobs, Ryan Fry, E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden from Sault Ste. Marie and Caleb Flaxey from Caledon won the gold medal in men's curling.
  • Ontario athlete Heather Moyse is one of the two members of the gold medal winning bobsleigh team.
  • Ten of the 21 athletes on the gold medal winning women's hockey team including Meghan Agosta-Marciano, Rebecca Johnston, Laura Fortino, Jennifer Wakefield, Gillian Apps, Jayna Hefford, Brianne Jenner, Haley Irwin, Natalie Spooner and Tara Watchorn.
  • Nine out of 25 athletes in the gold winning men's ice hockey team are from Ontario including Mike Smith, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo, P.K. Subban, Matt Duchene, John Tavares, Corey Perry, Rick Nash and Jeff Carter.
  • Patrick Chan from Ottawa won the silver medal in men's figure skating.
  • Tessa Virtue from London and Scott Moir from Ilderton won the silver medal for ice dance.
  • Seven of the nine athletes on the silver medal winning figure skating team are from Ontario including Patrick Chan, Scott Moir, Tessa Virtue, Meagan Duhamel, Eric Radford, Dylan Moscovitch and Kirsten Moore-Towers.

Ontario supports its athletes year round with direct financial assistance through programs like Quest for Gold, and celebrates athletic achievement through recognition programs like the Ontario Sport Awards.

Ontario also assists provincial and local sport organizations to ensure that high performance athletes have the tools they need to succeed at the highest levels of competition, including the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games. 

Helping athletes compete and win is part of the government's plan to work together as One Ontario, to build a successful, vital province where everyone has the opportunity to connect, contribute and achieve their goals.

QUICK FACTS

  • Team Canada won 10 Gold, 10 silver and 5 bronze medals at XXII Olympic Winter Games.
  • Top Paralympic athletes from Ontario will represent Canada at the Winter Paralympic Games from March 7 to March 17, 2014.
  • Since 2006, Quest for Gold has provided Ontario athletes and coaches approximately $80 million in support.
  • The province has nearly tripled support for amateur sport from $8.78 million in 2003 to more than $23 million in 2013-14.
  • Ontario will host the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games which will be an opportunity to showcase the province to an international audience of 250,000 visitors and 10,000 athletes and officials.

QUOTES

"Congratulations to all of the athletes and coaches who proudly represented Canada and our province in Sochi. Regardless of their standing or rank, they each inspired us and showed the world the remarkable Canadian spirit. Our government is pleased to continue to support our athletes as they strive to achieve excellence in sport at all levels of play."
  — Michael Chan, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport and Minister Responsible for the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games

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