Remarkably, the Tri-Cities was represented by no fewer than six athletes at the recent 2012 London Olympics. More incredibly, three of those went on to win medals.
Krista Guloien of Port Moody captured silver in women's eight rowing, while the Coquitlam pair of women's team pursuit cyclist Jasmin Glaesser and women's soccer player Brittany Timko each earned bronze.
The three were among the only 18 medals - one gold, five silver and 12 bronze - won by Canada.
A bonus was the fact Coquitlam's Brittany Rogers became the first Canadian women's artistic gymnast to make apparatus finals at both the World Championships (2009) and the Olympics, where she placed seventh in the vault. Also, Rogers was part of the Canadian women's gymnastics team that finished a best-ever fifth overall.
While winning a medal is every Olympian's goal and dream, simply qualifying for the Games takes incredible determination, hard work and skill. Others to have done so included BMX cyclist Tory Nyhaug and wrestler Haislan Garcia, both of Coquitlam.
Nyhaug was another athlete with a remarkable subplot story line. The 20-year-old ruptured his spleen during a competition last May for the second time in less than two years and needed to have the non-vital organ removed. He recovered just in time to qualify for Canadian men's BMX squad at the Games and was a mere fraction away from making the event's final.
Like all that isn't enough, the Tri-Cities boasts two others - Coquitlam blind sprinter Dustin Walsh and partially paralyzed 10 m air rifle shooter Doug Blessin of Port Coquitlam - who will toil in the 2012 London Parlympics, which begin next Wednesday.
Medals aside, these athletes are testimony to just how strong our community is in athletics and are wonderful role models for showing such diligence and prowess to qualify among the best in the world in their respective sports.
Considering the Tri-Cities owns a population of just over 200,000, it was indeed quite an achievement.
Remarkable, in fact.
