Prince George is incredibly blessed when it comes to athletic talent.
For a city of this size to send athletes to represent Canada at both the most recent Summer Olympics (Alyx Treasure) and the current Winter Olympics (Megan Tandy, Sarah Beaudry, Meryeta O'Dine) speaks to Prince George's dedication to sport and to developing world-class talent.
As Virginia O'Dine, Meryeta's mom, pointed out in her first column for The Citizen this week chronicling her Olympic experience, every student who attended the Northern Sport School at UNBC's Northern Sport Centre for a year or more medalled at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
Every single one.
In other words, a local program devoted to helping area teenaged athletes further develop their skills for national and international competition while still completing their high school education has paid huge dividends already and will continue to do so.
Yet we shouldn't be too quick to measure success solely by medal count.
As numerous academic studies and countless anecdotal stories show, excellent athletes often produce excellent citizens. A devotion to success in the field of play spills over into a devotion to success in all parts of life, from school and work to personal relationships and volunteering. Furthermore, these athletes inspire others around them to aspire for more and when these athletes retire from active competition, they coach and mentor a new generation of young people.
This process happens regardless of whether they reach the podium at the Canada Winter Games or the Olympic Games.
Beaudry, the fifth member of the Canadian women's biathlon team, was only scheduled to race in the relays next week in Pyeongchang. She was called up to replace her ill teammate and fellow Prince George native Megan Tandy in the women's 15-kilometre race this week. Beaudry finished 29th in her Olympic debut, an outstanding result.
Meryeta O'Dine fell and was injured during a training run in the women's snowboard cross and was unable to compete in Thursday's finals.
That's disappointing for both Tandy and O'Dine but we shouldn't be sad for either of these OIympians.
Coping with disappointment and recovering from injury is not only part of the elite athlete experience, it's part of life experience.
What happened this week to both of these local women will benefit them as athletes and as individuals as much as if they had won Olympic gold. Whether they will be back to the Winter Olympics in four years competing for Canada or not, no one can take away the incredible accomplishment of being an Olympian. Furthermore, their disappointment this week will pay off for the rest of their lives by making them better leaders, better employees, better coaches, better mothers (if they so choose) and better partners.
Illness and injury are also relative. On the male side of O'Dine's sport, Markus Schairer of Austria broke his neck at the Winter Olympics this week. Amazingly, he got up and finished his run down the mountain. While he has full mobility, the fracture of his fifth vertebra is still serious and it's uncertain what the career implications are for the 30-year-old competitor.
He, too, will have valuable knowledge and insight to share with everyone he meets about perseverance and dedication.
One can't help but be relieved that O'Dine suffered only a minor concussion and abrasions on her face after seeing Schairer's frightening injury.
It's also a reminder that the medals are meaningless next to the health and safety of the individual Canadians competing. They are all brave heroes, regardless of whether they return home with medals or not.
As Virginia O'Dine eloquently explained to Citizen readers this week, she's far more proud of the woman her daughter has become than she is of the athlete.
Those are Prince George's and Canada's daughters and sons serving as our athletic ambassadors on the world stage. They were already winners even before they got on a plane to South Korea and they should be welcomed home with the same love and pride.
