BC Athletes in Tokoyo for the Olympics
The summer Olympics are upon us and with the opening ceremonies coming this Friday, July 23rd, we at Rebound would like to take a moment to show our support for local and BC athletes competing. Canada is sending 371 athletes to these Olympic games and BC is well represented with 94 athletes. Check out the list at the bottom of the article to see all 94 of the athletes including their sport and their BC hometown. We will take a second to shine the spotlight on our local athletes from Langley and then move on to highlight previous medallists, top contenders, and other notable athletes in the field from BC. We know all of these athletes will represent Canada and BC well and we wish them the best of luck!
Langley Athletes
Georgia Ellenwood
Sport: Athletics – Heptathlon
Age: 25
Prior & Current School/Club Affiliations: Langley Secondary School, Langley Mustangs, University of Wisconsin, Under Armour
Georgia won the NCAA heptathlon in 2018 at the University of Wisconsin and went on to be an 8-time NCAA All-American (6 First Team, 2 Second Team) during her stay in Wisconsin. In addition to her 2018 NCAA win, Georgia also took home gold in the heptathlon at the 2018 Canadian Track and Field Championships. Other notable finishes include bronze medals in the heptathlon at the 2013 Pan Am Junior Championships, in the high jump at the 2016 NACAC U23 Championships, and the pentathlon at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
Check out Georgia’s full profile at: https://olympic.ca/team-canada/georgia-ellenwood/
Danielle Lawrie
Sport: Softball
Age: 34
Prior & Current School/Club Affiliations: Brookswood Secondary, White Rock Renegades, University of Washington, USSSA Pride, Canada Wild
Danielle is a pitcher with a professional win-loss record of 25-11 and an ERA of 2.53 in the National Pro Fastpitch league. While at the University of Washington, she broke numerous school and conference records, is the career strikeout leader for the Huskies, and won USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2009 and 2010. She was an NPF All-Star in 2011, is a 2 time winner of the Honda Sports Award for softball, and was a Cowles Cup champion in 2013 and 2014. Representing Canada, she has helped her teams earn silver in the Pan Am games in 2007 and 2019 and bronze in the World Championships in 2010 and 2018.
Check out Danielle’s full profile at: https://olympic.ca/team-canada/danielle-lawrie/
Drew Mechielsen
Sport: Cycling – BMX
Age: 23
Prior & Current School/Club Affiliations: Langley BMX
Drew’s first big year came in 2018 where she finished the BMX season ranked 17th in the world. In 2019, she won the Canadian BMX title and finished 7th at the Pan Am Games. She enters the Olympics posting 2 top-20 results this year.
Check out Drew’s full profile at: https://olympic.ca/team-canada/drew-mechielsen/
Andrea Proske
Sport: Rowing
Age: 35
Prior & Current School/Club Affiliations: False Creek Rowing Club
Andrea represented Canada on the senior international circuit in the double skulls event where, along with her partner, she placed 6th in the 2018 World Rowing Championships and 4th in the 2019 World Rowing Championships. In addition to competing in double sculls in Tokyo, she was named a member of the women’s eights boat.
Check out Andrea’s full profile at: https://olympic.ca/team-canada/andrea-proske/
Lisa Roman
Sport: Rowing
Age: 31
Prior & Current School/Club Affiliations: University of the Fraser Valley, London Rowing Club
Lisa began rowing internationally with the women’s eights boat in 2013 and has medalled 5 times in World Cup events since then. She has won silver in the 2017 and 2018 World Championships with the boat and finished 5th with the boat in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Check out Lisa’s full profile at: https://olympic.ca/team-canada/lisa-roman/
Previous Olympic Medallists
All of these athletes (and their teams where applicable) have been identified as contenders for medals during these Olympic games.
Jasmin Duehring
Jasmin won the bronze medal in the women’s team pursuit track cycling event at the London 2012 Olympics and repeated the bronze medal performance in Rio 2016 in the same event. She was the only member of the 2012 team to repeat in 2016. Her 2016 team set a national record in the event. She looks to add another medal in the event for the 3rd straight Olympics.
Brent Hayden
Brent won the bronze medal in the men’s 100m freestyle swim in his 3rd Olympics at the London 2012 Olympics. Having taken a few years away from the sport and missing Rio 2016 due to problems with back pain, Brent returns to the Olympics at 37 years old and will be the oldest Canadian to ever swim at the Olympics.
Kayla Moleschi
Kayla helped the women’s rugby sevens team win the bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics (the first ever games to include rugby) where she scored 3 tries in the tournament. In that same year, she was named the 2016 Women’s Sevens Player of the Year by Rugby Canada. The team is currently ranked 4th in the world heading in to these Olympic games.
Taylor Ruck
Taylor won bronze medals as part of both the 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relay swim teams at the Rio 2016 Olympics where she competed at the age of 17. With these medals, she and her teammate Penny Oleksiak became the first ever Olympic medallists born in the 2000s. She looks to add more medals in the relay events as well as individual events.
Georgia Simmerling
Georgia won the bronze medal in the women’s team pursuit track cycling event at the Rio 2016 Olympics as part of that team’s record-breaking performance. She has also competed in the Winter Olympics as a skier including the games in 2014 in Sochi and 2010 in Vancouver. She is the first Canadian athlete to compete in a different sport at each of 3 different Olympic games (she competed in alpine skiing one year and freestyle skiing another).
Christine Sinclair
Perhaps the most decorated and recognized Canadian soccer player ever, Christine won led her team to bronze medals at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics. These games will be her 4th Olympic appearance. She was the Olympic leading scorer in 2012 and was named the flag bearer for the closing ceremonies of those games in addition to being awarded the Lou Marsh Award as Canadian Athlete of the Year. Her team is currently ranked 7th in the world heading in to these Olympic games.
Other Top Contenders and Notable BC Athletes
Nathan Hirayama
Nathan is Canada’s all-time leading scorer in rugby sevens and currently sits 3rd all-time in the World Rugby Sevens Series scoring. He was recently named as one of two flag-bearers for Canada at this year’s opening ceremonies.
Sean McColl
Sean is the lone male competing for Canada in the very first Olympics including sport climbing as an event and played an important part in the advocacy for the event’s inclusion in the Olympic games. He has competed in every IFSC World Championships since 2007 and has won the gold medal in the combined event 4 times (2009, 2012, 2014, 2016).
Hillary Janssens & Caileigh Filmer
Hillary and Caileigh are a rowing pair with a number of years of experience together, winning gold at the 2018 World Championships and bronze at the 2019 World Championships.
Kim Gaucher & Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe
Kim and Nayo are members of the women’s basketball team that is currently ranked 5th in the world.
Complete List of BC Athletes Competing at the Tokyo Olympics
| Athlete | Sport | Hometown |
| Alannah Yip | Sport Climbing | North Vancouver |
| Alycia Butterworth | Athletics – Steeplechase | Parksville |
| Amar Dhesi | Wrestling | Surrey |
| Andrea Proske | Rowing | Langley |
| Andy Anderson | Skateboarding | White Rock |
| Antoni Kindler | Field Hockey | Vancouver |
| Avalon Wasteneys | Rowing | Campbell River |
| Brendan Guraliuk | Field Hockey | Tsawwassen |
| Brenden Bissett | Field Hockey | New Westminster |
| Brent Hayden | Swimming | Mission |
| Brian Malfesi | Canoe-Kayak | Maple Ridge |
| Caileigh Filmer | Rowing | Victoria |
| Cameron Levins | Athletics – Distance Running | Black Creek |
| Camryn Rogers | Athletics – Hammer Throw | Richmond |
| Christabel Nettey | Athletics – Long Jump | Surrey |
| Christine Roper | Rowing | Victoria |
| Christine Sinclair | Soccer | Burnaby |
| Connor Braid | Rugby | Victoria |
| Conor Trainor | Rugby | Vancouver |
| Danielle Lawrie | Softball | Langley |
| Django Lovett | Athletics – High Jump | Surrey |
| Drew Mechielsen | Cycling – BMX | Langley |
| Emma Entzminger | Softball | Victoria |
| Evan Dunfee | Athletics – Race Walk | Richmond |
| Floris van Son | Field Hockey | Vancouver |
| Gabriel Ho-Garcia | Field Hockey | Burnaby |
| Georgia Ellenwood | Athletics – Heptathlon | Langley |
| Georgia Simmerling | Cycling – Track | West Vancouver |
| Gord Perrin | Volleyball | Creston |
| Gordon Johnston | Field Hockey | Vancouver |
| Gurpreet Sohi | Water Polo | Delta |
| Harry Jones | Rugby | West Vancouver |
| Hau-Li Fan | Swimming | Burnaby |
| Hayley McKelvey | Water Polo | North Delta |
| Hillary Janssens | Rowing | Cloverdale |
| Jake Thiel | Rugby | Victoria |
| James Kirkpatrick | Field Hockey | Victoria |
| James Palmer | Cycling – BMX | North Vancouver |
| Jamie Wallace | Field Hockey | Vancouver |
| Jasmin Duehring | Cycling – Track | Coquitlam |
| Jay Lamoureux | Cycling – Track | Victoria |
| Jenn Salling | Softball | Port Coquitlam |
| Jerome Blake | Athletics – Sprint | Burnaby |
| John Boothroyd | Field Hockey | West Vancouver |
| John Gay | Athletics – Steeplechase | Kelowna |
| John Smythe | Field Hockey | Vancouver |
| Julia Grosso | Soccer | Vancouver |
| Justin Douglas | Rugby | Abbotsford |
| Kai Langerfeld | Rowing | North Vancouver |
| Kayla Moleshi | Rugby | Williams Lake |
| Kelsey Harshman | Softball | Delta |
| Kierra Smith | Swimming | Kelowna |
| Kim Gaucher | Basketball | Mission |
| Kristen Tsai | Badminton | Burnaby |
| Larissa Franklin | Softball | Maple Ridge |
| Lauren Regula | Softball | Trail |
| Lindsey Butterworth | Athletics – Middle Distance Running | North Vancouver |
| Lisa Roman | Rowing | Langley |
| Liz Gleadle | Athletics – Javelin | Vancouver |
| Luc Bruchet | Athletics – Distance Running | White Rock |
| Madison Mailey | Rowing | Lions Bay |
| Malindi Elmore | Athletics – Middle Distance Running | Kelowna |
| Mark Pearson | Field Hockey | Tsawwassen |
| Markus Thormeyer | Swimming | Delta |
| Matt Berger | Skateboarding | Kamloops |
| Matthew Sarmento | Field Hockey | Vancouver |
| Matthew Sharpe | Triathlon | Campbell River |
| Maxwell Lattimer | Rowing | Ladner |
| Michael Mason | Athletics – High Jump | Nanoose Bay |
| Micky Papa | Skateboarding | Burnaby |
| Mike Fuailefau | Rugby | Victoria |
| Mo Zhang | Table Tennis | Richmond |
| Monika Eggens | Water Polo | Pitt Meadows |
| Natasha Wodak | Athletics – Distance Running | Surrey |
| Nathan Hirayama | Rugby | Richmond |
| Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe | Basketball | Penticton |
| Nikola Girke | Sailing | West Vancouver |
| Patrick Kay | Rugby | Duncan |
| Patrick Keane | Rowing | Victoria |
| Phil Berna | Rugby | Vancouver |
| Regan Yee | Athletics – Steeplechase | Vancouver |
| Ryan Sclater | Volleyball | Port Coquitlam |
| Sara Groenewegen | Softball | Surrey |
| Scott Tupper | Field Hockey | Vancouver |
| Sean McColl | Sport Climbing | North Vancouver |
| Shallon Olsen | Gymnastics – Artistic | Surrey |
| Shaul Gordon | Fencing | Richmond |
| Stephanie Grauer | Rowing | Vancouver |
| Steven Marshall | Volleyball | Abbotsford |
| Sukhi Panesar | Field Hockey | Surrey |
| Taylor Ruck | Swimming | Kelowna |
| Theo Sauder | Rugby | Vancouver |
| Trevor Hofbauer | Athletics – Distance Running | Burnaby |
| Yvette Yong | Taekwondo | Vancouver |
**Information on athletes collected from Olypmics Canada website and/or Wikipedia**