CSIO Unveils Wall of Honour to Commemorate Olympic and Paralympic Success

Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) is proud to unveil it’s new Wall of Honour commemorating the accomplishments of CSIO affiliated Olympic and Paralympic medallists. The Wall of Honour was unveiled Wednesday at a celebration of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games at CSIO’s world-class sport institute facility, located at Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.

The Wall of Honour was unveiled featuring plaques for each of CSIO’s affiliated Rio Olympic and Paralympic medal winning athletes including Gold Medallists Penny Oleksiak (Swimming – Women’s 100m Freestyle), Derek Drouin (Athletics – Men’s High Jump) and Rosie MacLennan (Gymnastics – Women’s Trampoline). CSIO will be retroactively adding plaques recognizing affiliated athletes dating back to the organization’s inception, beginning with the 2000 Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Also new to CSIO was the addition of banners in the Strength and Conditioning Centre which feature the CSIO affiliated medallists from Rio. Banners of winter sport Olympic and Paralympic medallists will be added after the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. While the Wall of Honour will be a permanent fixture at CSIO, the banners will be replaced every quadrennial with the most recent Summer and Winter Olympic and Paralympic medallists shining from the rafters.

Each medal winning athlete received a wooden keepsake box engraved with their name and accomplishments from the Rio 2016 Games, as well as miniature replica banners of those now hanging at CSIO. The boxes were made of pine, the provincial tree of Ontario.

CSIO was honoured to have Scott Russell, CBC Olympic Broadcaster and a true champion of telling the athletes’ stories was on hand to emcee the Rio Celebration.

Speakers at the event included Nikkita Holder, Rio 2016 Olympian, Athletics – Women’s 100m Hurdles; Ben Titley, Rio 2016 Head Coach, Swimming; Steve Harlow, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport; Debbie Low, CEO, Canadian Sport Institute Ontario; and Chris Rudge, Chair, Canadian Sport Institute Ontario.

Acclaimed Canadian artist Charles Pachter was also in attendance for recognition of his artistic contributions to CSIO. His work including iconic images of the Canadian Flag, a moose on a diving board and maple leaf artwork can be seen throughout CSIO, making the daily training environment a true home of the Canadian athlete. Charles presented each of the medallists with an autographed flag postcard.

QUOTES:

"CSIO is excited to unveil our Wall of Honour, recognizing the outstanding Olympic and Paralympic accomplishments of athletes we have supported throughout their athletic journeys. We are so proud of what they have achieved and what we, as a world-class sport institute, are able to do to support athletes in optimizing their training and success in competition. The Wall of Honour is the located in our main performance hallway, visible to all visitors, to not only celebrate past successes, but to provide inspiration to the next generation of Olympians and Paralympians."

Debbie Low

CEO, Canadian Sport Institute Ontario

"Canadian Sport Institute Ontario provided my coach and I with a state-of-the-art facility to train in and develop the best plan to help me reach my goals of representing Canada at the Rio Games. Without the support of the provincial and federal governments and their funding for high performance sport and the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario; my fellow athletes and I would not have access to the sport science and sport medicine services needed for success. This facility and the work of the CSIO staff allows athletes to train hard and be successful in representing Canada on the international stage."

Nikkita Holder, Rio 2016 Olympian

Women’s 100m Hurdles, Athletics

For more information, please contact:

Laura Albright, Senior Communications Coordinator

Canadian Sport Institute Ontario

Tel: 416.596.1240 Ext. 238

Email: lalbright@csiontario.ca | www.csiontario.ca

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