'A historic moment': 2 Thunder Bay athletes headed for Special Olympics World Winter Games
CBC
Two athletes in Thunder Bay, Ont., will be making history in just over a year.
In January 2023, Amy Cizmar and Tyler Rissanen will be heading to Russia to compete in the Special Olympics Winter Games, the first two athletes from Thunder Bay to compete at an international Special Olympics event.
Rissanen, a snowshoer, said he was "shocked" when he found out he'd be goling to Russia.
"I think it's going to be fun and exciting," Rissanen told CBC News. "I'm super excited for the winter to be here and get back on snowshoes."
Cizmar, an alpine skier, said she's "very happy" to get the chance to compete in Russia.
"That was my dream since I ... first joined Special Olympics downhill skiing," she said. "I've been doing a lot of training, still, on skis, even though I couldn't get on the mountain."
Both Cizmar and Rissanen earned their spots on the Canadian team at the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games, which were held in Thunder Bay in February 2020.
Rob Neff, community co-ordinator for Special Olympics Thunder Bay, said the success of Cizmar and Rissanen is inspiring.
"There's a real sense of family within the Special Olympics, so the success of one is the success of everybody," he said. "So all of the athletes, all the coaches, all the volunteers, they all have a sense of shared pride and what Amy and Tyler have accomplished."
Neff said the Special Olympics skiing and snowshoeing programs will be up and running soon, giving both Cizmar and Rissanen more opportunities to train. Both athletes, however, have already been taking part in exercise programs to help them get ready for Russia.
Special Olympics programs will be resuming via a phased-in approach, Neff said, after shutting down due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"We have to have all of our sports individually approved for a restart by Special Olympics Ontario, and that involves following their restart plan," he said. "And we're just now in the first stages of opening.
"Our bowling actually began about a week ago, but we've also now got approval for basketball, floor hockey and curling to begin as well," Neff said. "Over the next few weeks, we will be getting those going, and our winter programs will be happening once the snow starts as well.
"It'll be a bit of a different landscape because normally, we'd be preparing for competitions out of town, or having competitions here and qualifying for various games, but that won't be happening for the foreseeable future anyway. It'll just be skills training and drills, that sort of thing."
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