Canada Games a launching pad to Olympic greatness at Tokyo 2020  – Team Canada

Stephen Hosier/COC

August 4, 2022

After a one-year postponement, the Canada Summer Games will soon be underway in the Niagara region of Ontario.

Niagara 2022 will feature 20 sports and bring together more than 5000 athletes, coaches, and support staff to represent Canada’s 10 provinces and three territories.

A major goal of the Canada Games is to spark greatness and inspire the next generation of Canadian sports stars. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that Team Canada at Tokyo 2020 included many alumni of the Canada Games who were key contributors to the country’s historic medal haul.

Did You Know?
More than 30 per cent of Team Canada’s athletes and coaches
at Tokyo 2020 were Canada Games alumni

Team Canada at Tokyo 2020 included 154 athletes and coaches who were Canada Games alumni. Within that were 119 athletes with Canada Games experience. They contributed to 15 of Team Canada’s 24 medals in Tokyo – the country’s second-best total ever at an Olympic Summer Games.

That group includes seven members of the gold medal-winning women’s soccer team: Allysha Chapman (2005), Vanessa Gilles (2013), Julia Grosso (2017), Adriana Leon (2009), Erin McLeod (2001), Desiree Scott (2005) and Shelina Zadorsky (2009). Twelve years before their Olympic triumph, Leon and Zadorsky were teammates at the Canada Games in Prince Edward Island where they helped Team Ontario win a bronze medal.

The softball team that won bronze in their sport’s long-awaited return to the Olympic Games boasted five Canada Games alumni: Emma Entzminger (2017), Danielle Lawrie (2005), Janet Leung (2013), Jenn Salling (2005), and Natalie Wideman (2009).

“Canada Games was the first steppingstone to what my future became in the sport of softball,” Salling said of the event that “meant the world” to her and helped her feel for the first time what it was like to represent something bigger than herself.

“It was my first ever multi-sport event. It was where I earned my first ever gold medal. It was where I began to feel very empowered to continue to develop and grow within the game of softball for years to come. I believe Canada Games was a place where I really started to dig into my passion for competing in softball at a very high level.”