Olympic gold medal sprinter Jerome Blake was a special guest at Kelowna council on Monday (Sept. 23).
sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檇 like to honour our hometown heroes who represented the country on the global stage,sa国际传媒� said Doug Nicholas, sports and events services manager.
Blake is the first of three Kelowna athletes who participated in the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games that will be honoured by the city. Marathon runner Malindi Elmore and wheelchair tennis player Robert Shaw will be recognized at the next two regular council meetings.
A video of the Canadian mensa国际传媒檚 4x100 gold medal win at the Paris Games was shown at Mondaysa国际传媒檚 meeting.
sa国际传媒淢any of us watched that Friday morning race in great anticipation,sa国际传媒� Mayor Tom Dyas said.
Blake, along with teammates Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Andre De Grasse, turned in a time of 37.50 seconds. Wearing his gold medal, Blake talked about his experience in Paris.
sa国际传媒淲e knew what the goal was because we felt we had the team in Tokyosa国际传媒nd we came away with a silver and we still werensa国际传媒檛 very happy. We knew what we needed to do this time around.sa国际传媒�
Blake told council he would like to see a world-class training facility established in Kelowna to encourage young and upcoming athletes.
sa国际传媒淭here is a lot of talent in the Okanagansa国际传媒here are other kids coming up behind me, seeing what Isa国际传媒檝e done and they believe they can do the same thing as well. Having a high-performance facility will keep athletes heresa国际传媒heysa国际传媒檒l work hard and achieve their goals.sa国际传媒�
Referring to his future goals, Blake said the Canadian 100-metre record is on sa国际传媒渂orrowed timesa国际传媒� adding that he is focusing on making the team for next yearsa国际传媒檚 World Championships.
The city presented Blake with an original painting of the Apple Bowl, by local artist Irina Bakumenko, where he used to train when he came to Kelowna from Jamaica in 2013.
