The opening day of gymnastics competition began today, August 9, with men’s team competition and the venue at MacDonald Island Park had the stands lined with supporters.
“I love being a part of a team,” says Alia Wilson about competing with Team BC. “Having my mom here means so much because she is always so supportive – cheering me on!”
Alia Wilson (13) from Prince George is attending her first major games and her Mother (Wendy) was in the stands cheering loud and proud for the Team BC men.
The Kiers family calls Abbotsford home and Cohen, who just turned 16, trains out of Twisters Gymnastics Club under quality guidance.
Mission resident an Former Olympian Richard Ikeda coaches at both the Twisters Gym and also for Team BC at games, so he’s a busy coach.
Both Brothers Richard and Ken Ikeda train Cohen a two-time Olympian and told the media attending when asked about the culture in the crowd “Gymnastics is kind of different in that way and there is huge support for everyone. You will hear all the other teams cheering on each other and everyone’s family is supportive of all the athletes.”
The water was golden again on Sunday for canoe/ kayak athletes paddling in a total of 17 medals, including 7 Gold, 7 Silver and 1 Bronze.
Team BC served up three wins and three losses to Team Alberta forcing a tie-breaker mixed doubles match grabbing a Gold medal in Team Tennis at the Timberlea Community Park.
Team BC tumbled their way to gold in Men’s Team Gymnastics with Cohen Kiers also winning gold in the Men’s All-Around and Dawson Friesen bringing home silver.
The top eight competitors on each apparatus today, qualify for event finals August 11th at Macdonald Island.
The Team BC men were hot on the track, taking gold in Men’s Decathlon, Men’s 110m Hurdles and Men’s 400m; silver in Men’s 200m Wheelchair and bronze in Men’s 400m.
Team BC Special Olympics athletes won Silver and Bronze in Women’s 100m and Gold and Silver in the Men’s 100m.
Team BC Judoka competed in the Dojo and dominated all opponents nailing 4 Gold, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze also at Macdonald Island.
Dunn-Birker competed in the Women’s Beach Volleyball and defeated team Saskatchewan advancing to the semi-final competition at Snye Park.
The Men’s team won the matches against NWT and Manitoba and this see’s round robin play wrapping up for the men against Team Alberta.
Team BC pinned NWT in their first duel with a perfect score of 55-0 at Shell Place Sunday. The Wrestling team went on to beat both Nunuvut and Manitoba.
Team BC ladies cyclists claimed the podium for the second consecutive day, with Victoria’s Erin Attwell and West Van’s Emily Handford crossing the finish line together, pulling in Gold and Silver respectively.
Pitt Meadows Kelsey Macdonald grabbed Bronze in her performance, while Monday see’s the cyclists shift gears and move on to mountain biking.
At the Syncrude Centre, Team BC took on Saskatchewan with the ladies beating Saskatchewan 59-57 at the buzzer with a late shot from Ashlyn Day (Kelowna).
The men played Sunday night also defeating team Saskatchewan 69 -59.
Team BC has 427 Athletes, Coaches, Managers, and Mission staff representing BC at the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games being held in Wood Buffalo, Alberta.
