Still waiting for medal glory

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While the 2006 North American Indigenous Games held in Denver, Colorado are long over, some of the winning athletes are still waiting for their medals.

Some have been patient and understanding about the situation. Others are disappointed with the lack of organization that led to the hardware shortfall.

From July 2 to 9, Aboriginal youth from across Canada and the United States competed in what is dubbed the Aboriginal Olympics. Team Saskatchewan came out on top of the standings with an overall win of 209 medals. It was one of the largest teams participating in the games and received all of their medals, but Chef de Mission Lyle Daniels is unhappy about the fact that the team wasn't officially crowned the champions.

"The sad thing about Denver is they had little capacity to get some of the results completed for when the games were over, so we weren't even crowned the overall champions because the results weren't done until two weeks after the games were over," said Daniels, adding he was a bit confused about the lack of staff operating a games of such a magnitude.

"We just hosted the Canada Games in Regina in 2005 and staff-wise, they had like 60 people and the NAIG had like eight people," said Daniels. "So to have a games that is four times as big as the Canada Games, athlete-wise, to have only eight people to make it happen was upsetting."

Nearly two months after the games, Daniels said he is still looking to be awarded some official recognition at some point and said he would like to see this happen at one of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) chiefs assemblies.

"I would like to see the NAIG president come out and present it to us," said Daniels.

Even though they were one of the smallest teams competing in NAIG, the Northwest Territories athletes pulled out a few wins, but some still walked away empty handed. The bronze and silver badminton winners received their medals, however the juvenile boys and girls soccer team both earned medals but went home with nothing but memories.

"I think it was especially devastating for the boys because it was kind of like really coming from behind and they were like the underdogs," said Susan Heron-Herbet, chef de mission for N.W.T. "They were not expected to win, but they did. They beat Team BC, which was awesome because Team BC was apparently the team to beat. So, I think it would've been awesome for them to get their medals, but I think that the fact they won was pretty amazing for them anyways."

Heron-Herbet said the team went knowing that things weren't as organized as they should've been, "but you just roll with the punches and it'll all work itself out," she added.

"I think that even though we expected a lot of things, this was probably the one thing that we weren't expecting, the lack of medals," said Heron-Herbet. "I think once they knew that they didn't have enough of them, they should've given the medals to the younger kids first. We did suggest it, but it was difficult because it was the day that the medals were given out."

Heron-Herbet said that even though there were cut-off dates for registration, the Colorado Indigenous Games Society were still accepting teams after the fact, so that led to a delay in finalizing everything.

"That's a difficult position to be in," said Heron-Herbet. "Everybody can say that the games could've been a lot better, but I think they were between a rock and a hard place. I know that I would've abandoned it a lot sooner than they did. The staff really busted their butts."

Susan Heron-Herbet was told that the medals would be shipped out on Aug. 15. Windspeaker was unable to confirm whether team N.W.T has yet received their medals, but there was a plan to distribute them once they were in hand.

"We can have a ceremony for the boys soccer team and award them their gold medals," said Heron-Herbet. "We can't really have one for the girls soccer team because they are from four different communities." The juvenilegirls soccer team won silver.

Although there are still 135 Team BC athletes who haven't received their medals, Adam Olsen, the team's communications manager for the games, said the athletes handled the situation extremely well.

"They took it with a grain of salt when they were told that there was a shortage of medals and just kind of rolled with it," said Olsen. "There was no big deal made by any of our athletes."

While attending the games, Olsen was approached by the game commissioner and was informed that there was going to be a shortage, after team BC had already won the first gold medal of the day.

"We were kind of thrown a curve ball and the athletes have been extremely patient; actually far more patient than probably is to be expected," said Olsen.

Team BC is awaiting medals for all six soccer teams, five gold and one silver.

Windspeaker has been unable to reach the NAIG staff or former 2006 NAIG general manager Maurice "Mo" Smith, so our questions about the medal shortfall have been left unanswered. A memo sent out by the Aboriginal Sports & Recreation Association of BC (ASRA) explains that as soon as it was realized that there would be a medal shortfall, additional medals were ordered by NAIG on July 19. It also contained an apology from Smith.

"I personally want to extend to each of you my sincere apologies for the lack of communication regarding delivery of the medals, and lack of medal ceremony presentations during the 2006 North American Indigenous Games in Denver. This is warranted after receiving many calls from parents, coaches and others. . .I know how exasperating this has been for you and I am deeply sorry that it has taken so long to straighten out this problem...I know words of apology will never be enough..."