First Nations athletes rewarded for hard work

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Beginning and ending with a lot of fireworks, the 2002 Canadian Special Olympic Summer Games saw many athletes achieve both personal and team goals.

The games were held in Prince Albert, Sask. from July 8 to 14 with athletes from all across Canada competing in the spirit of friendship and good sportsmanship.

Among the nearly 1,000 competitors at the national competition were a number of First Nations athletes from many different communities across Canada.

Among those First Nations athletes was Prince Albert's own Rose Brass.

Brass, 16, was chosen to light the Special Olympics flame at the opening ceremonies. During the week, she all but guaranteed herself a spot on Team Canada's roster for the 2002 World Special Olympics in Ireland, as she won four gold medals in the 50-metre butterfly, 100-metre backstroke, 100-metre freestyle, and 200-metre freestyle swimming events.

Another First Nation athlete, from the Yukon, was 21-year-old Willy Everett.

Everett, also a swimmer, has been competing in Special Olympics for more than three years.

"Willy is great to coach," said coach, Scott Boone. " He tries his best; he gives it all that he can. He's got a great attitude when it comes to competition, lots of sportsmanship."

Boone has coached Everett through four competitive meets. The road of competition has had a lot of great memories for the Yukon swim team and, according to Boone, the best memory from the past two years was "the first time Willy won a medal with me as a coach at the B.C. Provincials last year in Prince George.

"There's so many memories in competition, but with this one in particular, I don't really think he knew he won the medal at first. We told him, and then there was excitement. For me, personally, it was a year of hard work, and that was the payoff. For me, personally, it was very, very emotional."

The scorching heat during the competition was something that affected the athletes. At times the temperature with the humidity reached 40 degrees Celsius.

The final race for Ontario's Nicole Ferguson, 28, came on the morning of July 13, which saw her win the gold medal in the 400-metre dash with a time of 76.59 seconds. She had a healthy 9.38-second lead over the next competitor.

Ferguson also competed in the 100-, 200-, and 800-metre dashes, and earned another gold medal in the 800.

A 15-year veteran in Special Olympics, Ferguson says that being seen as a role model makes her feel great and the best thing about the week's activities was "I like to make new friends."

Another member from Team Ontario, with 27 years worth of experience under his belt, was 51-year-old Lester Desmoulin.

"I run a lot, and I've been taking a lot of training for this," said Desmoulin."I've been traveling all the time, and it never stops. I never give up, and my girlfriend doesn't want me to give it up."

Desmoulin also takes part in Special Olympics bowling, but in these games he only competed in track and field.

The week's activities ended with a dance for the athletes, which, like the opening ceremonies, included a fireworks display. Country artist Lisa Brokop entertained the athletes for a while before a DJ took over.

Although some sports fans may claim the dance is irrelevant, for a vast majority of the athletes, the dance was what they considered to be one of-if not the most-important event of the week. It gave them the chance to bid farewell to new friends before heading back to their homes.