Team Tomorrow states its case in 2023 B.C. Winter Games
The event features 895 aspiring athletes supported by more than 300 coaches and 140 officials
Rhythmic gymnastics competitors at the 2023 BC Winter Games, taking place in Vernon, don’t need to look far for inspiration.
The head judge is Lori Fung, the British from Colombia and first-ever Olympic gold medalist when the sport was introduced at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Fung will be judging the Games’ youngest athletes, including six performers from the West Coast Rhythmic Gymnastics Club of Victoria. Vanessa Seelinger, Molly MacIver, Khloe Sneek, Daelyn Bunyan, Maya Costa and Chelsea Ward are aged between nine and twelve and play in a sport where the athlete development process starts early.
Fung’s golden hour nearly four decades ago was the catalyst for the sport’s growth in Canada and the West Coast club celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. West Coast Club Coach Rachel Fetherstonhaugh is the head coach and Julianna Loukko is assistant coach of the Iceland team in Vernon.
Rhythmic gymnasts from the Victoria Club have won a medal at the two recent BC Winter Games, with four bronze medals in 2018 and one silver medal in 2016 (Complete Sports Agenda).
The rhythmic gymnasts are among 895 aspiring athletes who gathered in Vernon from Thursday to today. They were supported by more than 300 coaches and 140 officials. BC Games is the first step in the multisport games continuum. For most, this is as good as it gets.
But for the best athletes, it’s the introductory Multisport Games experience that leads to the Canada Games and for the top few internationally to the Commonwealth and Pan Am Games and the Olympics.
According to organizers, more than 350,000 participants and volunteers have attended the BC Winter and Summer Games since its inception in 1978.
The Games began with a participatory and recreational model in its early years but has evolved to a high-performance model since 1987 under the successive leadership of CEOs Roger Skillings, Kelly Mann and now Alison Noble. Known as Zone 6, the island is one of eight regions represented at the Games.
Island Olympians who competed at the BC Winter and Summer Games include ice hockey gold medalists Micah Zandee-Hart and Jamie Benn, swimming medalists Hilary Caldwell and Richard Weinberger, cycling medalists Gillian Carleton the mountain biker Geoff Kabush, runner Cam Levins, cyclist Ryder Hesjedal, diver Riley McCormick, triathlete Kristen Sweetland, high jumper Mike Mason and volleyball players Fred Winters, Jamie Broder and Martin Reader, among many others.
A total of 120 BC Games graduates represented Canada at the last three Summer Olympics and Paralympics in London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
There have been 61 BC Games alumni at the last three Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Sochi 2014, Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022.