Latest news with #SpecialOlympicsManitoba
Winnipeg Free Press
20-06-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Special Olympics finds new pool for swim competitions
Athletes with Special Olympics Manitoba are back in the swim for their annual summer games this weekend after the University of Manitoba closed its pool in April. Originally scheduled for the Joyce Fromson Pool at the university, the 57 athletes, starting at age 15, were forced to look for a different aquatic facility when a leak forced the closure of the pool. The university later decided to replace it. Now the athletes, whose Special Olympics oath is 'Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt,' are diving into the Selkirk Community Pool at the Lord Selkirk Regional Comprehensive Secondary School this weekend. The first competitions began Friday. Michelle Stamm, manager of the Selkirk pool, and herself a Special Olympics swim coach, said when she got the call from the organization, she immediately agreed to let the athletes go there. Then her own facility was forced to close last month after developing leaks in two pumps. Stamm said the school's maintenance department was able to fix the pumps earlier in the week just in time for the competition. 'This is a very special event,' she said. 'We can't hurt them. They train all year for this.' It will be a short opening for the pool, though. Another pump has started to leak, so as soon as the competition ends, the pool will close again. Special O's sport director, Colleen Lowdon-Bula, said the only unfortunate part of the pool switch is it means many of the athletes, whose competitions are still at the university, won't be able to cheer on the swimmers and vice versa. 'Things like this happen, you deal with it as it comes,' Lowdon-Bula said. 'It pays to know people. I have known Michelle for a long time and I asked her for help and Michelle said 'absolutely.' The difference for the athletes is instead of sending the buses to the University of Manitoba, we are sending them to Selkirk instead. 'It is really amazing.' Meanwhile, the university has said the replacement for its 60-year-old pool is scheduled to open this spring. Kevin RollasonReporter Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press's city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin. Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
'Skill and the talent': Manitobans enjoy medal haul at Special Olympics World Winter Games in Italy
With 11 medals and counting, Manitoban athletes are taking over Italy's Piedmont Region with the largest delegation from the province so far at the Special Olympics World Winter Games. More than 1,500 athletes with cognitive delays, intellectual and developemental disabilities,e from 100 delegations have been competing in eight sports at the Games, running from March 8 until Saturday in Turin, Italy. Nine Manitobans are among this year's Team Canada delegation, including Brita Hall, from Winnipeg. "I'm so excited that I can I'm out here and ski, that I can do what I can do … and getting medals," Hall told CBC News Friday. Hall added two silver medals to Team Canada's count after finishing second in the 5K and 7.5K free technique competitions in her division. Shawn Jesse, an assistant coach at the Special Olympics, has been training with Hall at the Games, picking up on the work from her Winnipeg coach. Brita Hall has won two silver medals competing in a cross country skiing event at the Special Olympics World Winter Games. (Submitted by Special Olympics Manitoba/Damiano Benedetto) "She was able to bring her best to these Games," Jesse said. "She works really hard … not only on skis." During off-season, Hall picked up track running to stay in shape before the ski season, when she joined two training camps and participated in other competitions leading up to the Special Olympics. "It's been very busy," Jesse said. "It's been a long two weeks, athletes competed hard." Hall is one of nine Manitobans on Team Canada, the largest delegation the province has ever sent to the Winter Games — a "huge achievement" for Special Olympics Manitoba. WATCH | Nine Manitobans among 90 Canadian athletes competing at Special Olympics Winter Games: "Manitobans have such a strength to them … athletes are determined and hard-working, and they really are top competitors across the world," Melissa Suggitt, the communications manager for Special Olympics Manitoba. Another of Team Canada's standouts is Dylan Collins, an alpine skier from Selkirk, Man., who won gold in the intermediate giant slalom competition in his division and snatched a silver medal in the intermediate super-G event. Collins trains at the Springhill Winter Park, Suggitt said, proving Manitoba athletes can compete at the highest level against others who train in the mountains. Winnipeg's Jennifer Noonan won a pair of bronze medals in snowshoeing at the Special Olympics World Winter Games. (Submitted by Special Olympics Manitoba/Damiano Benedetto) "It just showcases the skill and the talent, the strength and resilience of our athletes to be competing at such a high level," Suggitt said. Athletes were selected based on their performance at the Special Olympics Canada National Winter Games, held in Calgary last year. Since they were drawn from the pool of contenders, Suggitt said athletes have been training a minimum of three to four days a week, even through the summer. With snow in short supply at the end of fall, Suggitt said it was challenging for athletes to begin their winter training for the Games. But "they came upon those obstacles … and still are performing at an elite level across the world in Italy," she said. "They are determined, resilient … their strength is unreal." A testament to those values, Suggitt said, is Rachel Nickel, who won two bronze medals on snowshoeing — one of them while being sick, an increased challenge as an immunocompromised person. "That just showcases the spirit of our athletes and the spirit of the Games," she said. "Our athletes can prove that regardless of ability, they are just as capable." Other Manitoba athletes adding to the medal tally are snowshoers Alec Baldwin with a gold and a silver, Harry Burns with a gold and Jenny Noonan with two bronze medals.
