Bronze medalists Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic and Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette were named the joint recipients of the Vancouver 2010 Terry Fox Award, VANOC announced on Saturday.
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Rochette, Slovenia's Majdic win Terry Fox Award
- February 27, 2010 4:56 PM |
- By Erin Valois
Story provided by
By Karen Hawthorne, National Post
Bronze medalists Slovenian cross-country skier Petra Majdic and Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette were named the joint recipients of the Vancouver 2010 Terry Fox Award, VANOC announced on Saturday. The award is named after the legendary Canadian who lost a leg to cancer and ran cross-country to raise funds for cancer research. This year marks the 30th anniversary of my Fox's Marathon of Hope.
The award, created in late 2009 by the Fox family and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), is in honour of athlete(s) who embodies the same determination that Fox did, and inspired the world both on and off the field at the Olympic Winter Games.
"Petra showed true grit when she picked herself up and stayed on to compete at Whistler Olympic Park in the women's sprint classic after sustaining an injury while warming up on the course," VANOC CEO John Furlong said. "She performed in pain knowing her country and family were counting on her to win Slovenia's first medal at the Games -- and she did with a bronze medal finish.
"Joannie also touched all of us this week with her determination to push on and compete here at Canada's Games even as she struggled with the painful sudden loss of her mother, Thérèse. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when she took to the ice on Tuesday after her mother's death. We all held our breath and willed her on as she gave a remarkable, dignified performance -- one that helped her earn bronze."
Majdic, 30, is the first Slovenian cross-country skier to win a medal at an Olympic Games. Rochette, 24-year-old from Ile Dupas, Que., is the first Canadian female figure skater to win an Olympic medal since Elizabeth Manley in 1988 in Calgary.
The recipients were selected by a panel comprised of a member of the Fox family, Terry's brother Darrell, as well as CTV sportscaster Brian Williams, Olympic silver medallist in athletics and VANOC board member Charmaine Crooks, and Tricia Smith, Olympic silver medallist in rowing, vice president of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and an honorary Olympic mayor of the athletes' village in Vancouver.
"Watching Petra and Joannie and their determination to carry on and triumph is something Canadians and the world will not forget," said Terry's mother, Betty Fox. "They represent the best of us and what we can accomplish -- just like Terry."
About the Author
- Bruce Arthur Bruce Arthur is the National Post's national sports columnist. A Vancouver native, he has been with the Post since 2001, and a columnist since 2005. He is covering his second Olympics, after the 2008 Games in Beijing. He expects these Games to be slightly less propagandistic, and for China to win slightly fewer medals.
- Joe O'Connor Joe O'Connor is a roving sports feature writer with an open-ended beat. He joined the National Post in 2002, and has spent the past seven years bouncing from sport to sport, offering fresh perspectives and delivering unique stories wherever he goes. Whether it has been getting Don Cherry to open up about his love life; George Chuvalo to talk about heartbreaking loss; or racing down the side of a mountain with former Crazy Canuck, Dave Irwin, the veteran Postie chases a story wherever it leads. Before joining the newspaper he was a two-time silver medalist at the National Magazine Awards. Vancouver will be his first Olympics.
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