Caledon resident chosen for second Commonwealth Games as part of Team Canada

By Robert Belardi 

Co-owner of Core Solutions Physiotherapy and Wellness located in both Caledon East and Schomberg, Andrea Prieur is currently in England for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. 

For the second time, Prieur, a Certified Athletic Therapist, was chosen to be a part of the Canadian Health Services Team. 

“The way that it works for the medical side is we're one of the only groups of volunteers within the Team Canada regiment that had to apply through our own associations,” Prieur said. 

“It's sort of like a point system where you get more points for having more experiences in the past, having worked with the amateur athletes and high-performance sport. Anything you have done, all comes into play in your application. Then you're shortlisted. So, amongst myself in athletic therapy, there are a few other athletic therapists, physiotherapists, massage therapists and doctors. It's a small team that gets picked by the Canadian Olympic Committee.”

For the past three Summer Olympics, Prieur has had the pleasure of being a part of the health care team in Team Canada.  

Having been a part of the London Olympics in 2012 and the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 2014, when asked what her reaction was to being selected, Prieur said she was excited to be a part of it once again. 

“I was pretty excited – especially finding out about who the other colleagues who are going. I call them my ‘Games family.' I've done Games with them, I never see them outside of that. To be able to see some of my colleagues and definitely see the athletes that have grown up in just a year from Tokyo (I was in Tokyo with them last year) there is exciting change we get to see in one year of training,” Prieur explained. 

Prieur has been working with the basketball team and the diving team during her time in England. The Commonwealth Games, which is hosting 72 nations, runs until August 8. 

In dealing in both of these sports, Prieur came into this without any experience in diving. She notices a lot of stress injuries from using the same muscles repetitively. It was a bit of a learning curve for her, but one that was not too difficult to get a handle on. 

Team Canada, at press time, is currently in fourth place in the medal count. Australia is currently in the lead, with England and New Zealand behind them. 

Commonwealth Games athletes were responsible for 80 per cent of Canada's medals in the 2020 Olympic Games. There might be more to come.