Seven of Queens most prominent sports figures were honoured Tuesday.
An Olympic Wall was unveiled at Queens Place to recognize residents who have represented Canada at the highest level of amateur sport.
The seven inaugural inductees included two coaches Betty Ann Daury and Owen Hamlin, and five athletes: Jamie Belong, Jenna Martin, Sarah Mitton, Alexander Shankel, and Ben Theriau.
Jenna Martin, a 400-meter sprinter at the 2012 Olympic games who now lives with her husband and children in Washington state, reflected on coming back to her roots.
“There’s nothing like being from a small town because they love you through thick and thin,” said Martin. “They’re with you, every time they see you it’s a celebration. It brings the community together. So, it’s really, really special and it gave me the opportunity to come home and visit my family.”
Martin says coming from a small community doesn’t have to be barrier to reaching your goals.
Shot putter, Sarah Mitton, who competed in her first Olympics in Tokyo Japan in 2020 agrees with Martin.
She says it’s consistently putting in the hard work that can lift someone from their local field to the world’s biggest stage.
“I actually got to throw at the Brooklyn Park again yesterday. There’s no circle, there’s no toe board, it’s graffiti on the ground. It’s really humbling to come back from all these large meets where everything is set out so perfectly, and to be able to come back to the community that you grew up in and just realize how little it actually takes and we how much more we can build on that,” said Mitton.
Both Olympians were honoured to have their images displayed on the wall where anyone arriving at Queens Place can see.
They hope they can be an example to the next round of athletes and coaches coming up in Queens that you can make your dreams come true.
As several people noted after the ceremony, there’s plenty of space on the walls for more portraits.
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