Athletes, coaches, supporters, volunteers, city staff and council members were full of excitement and smiles Monday at the raising of the Special Olympics flag at city hall.
The flag will remain in place until the closing of the Games.
Yu also made a special proclamation recognizing the athletes and their hard work. From now on, the week of July 7 to July 13 will be Special Olympics Week in Prince George.
The Games will bring more than 1,200 athletes with intellectual disabilities, along with volunteer coaches and staff, to Prince George from across BC and the Yukon.
Yu said he was proud to celebrate Prince George as a northern host city.
“This is what we do,” said Yu. “We are always a great host city — for the Special Olympics, Canada Games and all sorts of tournaments for youth and high school. This is the northern capital and this is what we do."
Yu encouraged everyone in Prince George to join in the celebrations.
“We are looking forward to this week and to doing a lot of volunteer work and to looking forward to all the events,” he said. “More importantly, we encourage everybody to get to the Games, to watch the events and to watch the Games themselves. This will give us the real feeling of all the excitement that the 1,200 athletes bring to the city — to watch them shine and to watch them get their medals.”
The city has also been shortlisted to host the 2030 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games, something Yu said may depend on how the city performs this summer.
“This is part of the stepping stone,” said Yu. “The organizers of the 2030 Games will be watching how we do for all these events — and this is where Prince George, please show off what we’ve got."
Peter Goudal, local coach and co-ordinator for Special Olympics BC, also attended the flag-raising ceremony and spoke with media about how excited the local athletes are.
“This is a very memorable moment for us,” said Goudal. “We haven't had the Summer Games here in Prince George before — we’ve had a couple of the winter ones — so everybody’s excited.
“We just went through COVID a few years ago and cancelled our Summer Games. This is the first one in six years and our athletes have been training hard. It's a four-year journey to get here for every athlete in the province and they're looking forward to it.”
Goudal emphasized that many athletes have faced personal hardships over the past few years — and this event highlights just how far they’ve come.
“We've had a couple of athletes whose parents — their biggest supporters — passed away this year,” he said. “They're going to be participating in these Games without their No. 1 supporters, but their family still supports, the Special Olympics community still supports and wraps around.
“We have one athlete who had a heart attack during COVID, he got better and he's going to be participating. My son had an ailment two years ago with his muscles — he couldn't move — and he's gotten better and will be participating in these Games.
“All these challenges they’ve faced, they’ve overcome and gotten stronger. To see them supported by this wonderful community is great.”
Powerlifting athlete Sam Russell, who will compete in his first provincial Games, also attended the ceremony with fellow local athletes.
He spoke to The Citizen about what he's most excited for.
“It's so amazing,” said Russell. “I'm excited to meet people and new faces on the buses back and forth. I am social, so I'm pretty happy.”
Russell can lift close to 300 pounds and is confident heading into the June 10 competition. He said he’s excited to meet other athletes and is honoured to be part of the Games.
The next event in the lead-up to the Games is the RCMP Torch Run, which will kick off the festivities on July 9.
The run will begin at the RCMP detachment at Fifth Avenue and Victoria Street and end at the CN Centre, where the RCMP will host a barbecue for locals and athletes. The route map will be available on the Prince George RCMP website.
“It's just going to be a super fun family event and a way to get to know and interact with the Special Olympics athletes,” said RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jennifer Cooper. “Ask them about their sport — ask them what they're participating in. They love to talk about it, and it's a great way to show our support for the hard work that they've been doing over the years to get ready for these Games.”
