Olympic gold medal sprinter Jerome Blake was a special guest at Kelowna council on Monday (Sept. 23).
含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檇 like to honour our hometown heroes who represented the country on the global stage,含羞草研究社� said Doug Nicholas, sports and events services manager.
Blake is the first of three Kelowna athletes who participated in the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games that will be honoured by the city. Marathon runner Malindi Elmore and wheelchair tennis player Robert Shaw will be recognized at the next two regular council meetings.
A video of the Canadian men含羞草研究社檚 4x100 gold medal win at the Paris Games was shown at Monday含羞草研究社檚 meeting.
含羞草研究社淢any of us watched that Friday morning race in great anticipation,含羞草研究社� Mayor Tom Dyas said.
Blake, along with teammates Aaron Brown, Brendon Rodney, and Andre De Grasse, turned in a time of 37.50 seconds. Wearing his gold medal, Blake talked about his experience in Paris.
含羞草研究社淲e knew what the goal was because we felt we had the team in Tokyo含羞草研究社nd we came away with a silver and we still weren含羞草研究社檛 very happy. We knew what we needed to do this time around.含羞草研究社�
Blake told council he would like to see a world-class training facility established in Kelowna to encourage young and upcoming athletes.
含羞草研究社淭here is a lot of talent in the Okanagan含羞草研究社here are other kids coming up behind me, seeing what I含羞草研究社檝e done and they believe they can do the same thing as well. Having a high-performance facility will keep athletes here含羞草研究社hey含羞草研究社檒l work hard and achieve their goals.含羞草研究社�
Referring to his future goals, Blake said the Canadian 100-metre record is on 含羞草研究社渂orrowed time含羞草研究社� adding that he is focusing on making the team for next year含羞草研究社檚 World Championships.
The city presented Blake with an original painting of the Apple Bowl, by local artist Irina Bakumenko, where he used to train when he came to Kelowna from Jamaica in 2013.
