Joy Ward-Fera could barely grip her ski poles when she took her first training run down Blackstrap Ski Hill in Saskatoon at the 1971 Canada Winter Games.
Days before she was scheduled to compete for B.C. in the alpine events she was diagnosed with rubella (also known as German measles), which left her with severe pain in her joints, mostly affecting her hands, knees and ankles. But after two nights sequestered in the athletes' medical clinic, the 20-year-old native of Cranbrook decided, against doctor's orders, she would declare herself fit enough to race.
She found a simple solution to the ski pole problem, taping her hands to her poles, and that was Ward-Fera's ticket to gold. She finished sixth in the single slalom event and teamed up with Kathy O'Sullivan and Kathy Young to win the dual slalom team event.
"I knew I had to get myself out of sick bay - I didn't want anybody to take my place and that motivated me to get well fast," said Ward-Fera, who now lives in Tsawwassen. "About 30 years later I met the chief medical officer for the Games at our church and he now lives in White Rock, and when I told him my story he kind of chuckled because athletes now are not allowed to discharge themselves against doctors orders. I'm really glad I had that opportunity."
On Thursday, 44 years after she stood tall on the medal podium in her first Canada Games, Ward-Fera was feted at a Prince George reception. She was inducted into the Canada Games Hall of Honour along with judo athlete Nicolas Gill and builders Abdul Shaikh (badminton) and Sandrine Charron (biathlon).
Built by the Canadian government out of trash that normally would have been destined for a landfill site, Blackstrap Ski Hill was the perfect length for a slalom course and it served Saskatoon well as a recreational ski hill and proving ground for young racers. Blackstrap had snowmaking equipment in place for the Games and that was put to use on a chilly night before Ward-Fera's race. Problem was, someone forgot to turn on the air compressor. Instead of making snow, it sprayed water over the slalom course, turning it into an unforgiving sheet of ice.
"It was more challenging for the three of us from British Columbia, especially against the athletes from Ontario and Quebec, who are much more used to icy conditions, and I just remember it was really exciting to have won the gold medal," said Ward-Fera, 64, whose other prized souvenir of the '71 games was the white Team Saskatchewan parka she traded for her B.C. team jacket.
Ward-Fera switched to rowing soon after the '71 Games and went on to compete for Canada at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, finishing seventh in the coxless fours competition. She was shut out of the 1980 Olympics in Moscow due to Canada's boycott in protest over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. Ward-Fera went on to found the Delta Deas Rowing Club.
Shaikh was a national doubles badminton champion in his native India when he came to Canada in 1968 at age 34. He competed as a Canada Games athlete in 1971, winning gold in the men's doubles event along with Cam Douglas. B.C. dominated the badminton competition that year, winning the men's and women's singles events as well.
"That was my first multi-sport event and it was nice to mingle with all the other athletes from other sports," said Shaikh. "I had just migrated from India so it was good for me to mix with other people and get their ideas."
Soon after that, the tennis pro at the Vancouver Lawn and Tennis Club hired Shaikh to promote badminton and squash. Backed by Badminton B.C. he continues to travel the province offering skills clinics and facilitating coaching clinics. At 81, he still plays the game.
"Badminton is a lifetime sport, you can start at a young age and play for a long time," he said.
Shaikh coached Saskatchewan at the 2003 Games in Bathurst-Campellton, N.B., and was Team B.C.'s coach in 2011 when they won Games silver in Halifax. Shaikh, a two-time world masters champion in doubles with American Jim Poole, will be back in Prince George for the second week of the Games, Feb. 22 to March 1, leading a young B.C. team into competition at the Charles Jago Northern Sport Centre.
Charron has been a fixture on the Quebec biathlon team ever since she competed in the 1991 Canada Winter Games in Charlottetown, P.E.I. She has excelled as a coach since then, leading the Quebec team at the Canada Games in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007, helping Quebec athletes capture at least one medal in each of those Games. Charron, a four-time Biathlon Canada coach of the year, remains active in the selection process for the Quebec biathlon team, organizing training camps and test events. She served as team manager at the 2011 Winter Games in Halifax and was an official in fencing and wrestling at the 2013 Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Que.
From 1989-2004, Gill was dominant on the world stage in judo. Having won gold at the 1987 Canada Winter Games in Cape Breton, N.S., the Montreal native went on to win 10 national championships and was a two-time Olympic medalist, winning silver in 2000 in the 100-kilogram class and bronze at 86kg in 2004. Gill was unable to attend the ceremony Thursday because his wife just gave birth.
Bruce Kamstra of Prince George, the B.C. provincial team coach, accepted the award on Gill's behalf.
