King Olympian one of many to help with new bursary

April 22, 2021 · 0 Comments

By Robert Belardi

The Canadian Olympic Foundation (COF) formally announced the Olympians Supporting Olympians Bursary last week.

With less than 100 days to go until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics commences, notable alumni such as King City’s Rosie MacLennan, Charmaine Cooks and COF member of the Board of Directors Mark Tewksbury inspired the movement according to the release.

“A group of Team Canada alumni (Including Rosie MacLennan) reached out to us at the Canadian Olympic Foundation looking to help. Through a broader outreach to our Olympian alumni, we have proudly launched a brand-new bursary,” said Philantropic Strategist and Communications lead at the Canadian Olympic Foundation, Emmalee Nother.

“Fully funded by donations made by alumni, this bursary not only provides financial support to our athletes but is a vote of confidence from individuals who have come before them.”

Nother said the bursary was born from the resilience and perseverance from Team Canada during these trying times.

As stated in the release, more than 80 athletes were nominated to receive the bursary and the final 30 winter and summer athletes were chosen last week to receive it. The COF said names will be kept confidential during this time.

Athletes were chosen based on their financial needs and how substantial the impact of the postponement of the 2020 Olympics was to their lives.

37 athletes have been nominated as of Monday, April 19 on Team Canada’s website to head to Tokyo this summer.

Josh Su, Specialist, Public Relations for Team Canada, said there will be more announcements in the coming months.

Here are those who are on the list so far.

Athletics

Dayna Pidhoresky, Evan Dunfee and Trevor Hofbaeur.

Sailing

Alexndra (Ali) Ten Hove, Evan DePaul, Jacob Saunders, Mariah Millen, Nikola Girke, Sarah Douglas, Oliver Bone, Tom Ramshaw and William Jones.

Cycling – Track

Allison Beveridge, Annie Foreman-Mackey, Ariane Bonhomme, Derek Gee, Georgia Simmerling, Hugo Barnette, Jasmin (Glaesser) Duehring, Jay Lamoureux, Kelsey Mitchell, Lauriane Genest, Michael Foley, Nick Wammes and Vincent De Haitre.

Cycling – Road

Hugo Houle, Karol-Ann Canuel, Leah Kirchmann and Mike Woods.

Swimming

Kylie Masse, Margaret MacNeil, Markus Thormeyer, Penny Oleksiak, Sydney Pickrem and Taylor Ruck.

Sport Climbing

Alannah Yip and Sean McColl.