Sechelt swimmer Genny Verge has returned from the Canada Games with a full set of medals for her stellar performance in the pool.
The 19-year-old Special Olympic swimmer won bronze in the 50m free swim, silver in the 100m free swim and gold in the 100m backstroke.
“I got the set. It’s pretty crazy to have a set,” Genny said this week. “It’s quite an honour and I’m also really humbled to have won them. I’m still kind of shocked, to be honest.”
She said she didn’t go into the games focusing on winning a medal, she just wanted to do her best. “Winning gold went well above any of my expectations.”
There was some tough competition at the games and Genny’s gold medal swim was just a fraction faster than the silver medal swimmer.
She did the 100m backstroke in 1:40.12 while the second place winner from Ontario finished with 1:40.92.
“The competition was really great,” said Cathy Verge, Genny’s mom and athlete assistant for the Team BC Special Olympic swimmers.
Out of six swimmers on the team, five made it to the podium, some several times.
“We got 12 medals. We got six gold, three silver and three bronze,” Cathy said.
“I’m proud of the whole team. They did wonderful and they really contributed to the standing of B.C. as a whole.”
At the 50th anniversary of the Canada Games held in Winnipeg July 28 to Aug. 13, there were able-bodied, Paralympic and Special Olympic competitors taking part in their events alongside each other.
The Coast had two competitors on Team BC, Genny and 16-year-old mountain biker Lucy Schick, who helped her team win a bronze in the relay race.
All of the athletes’ medals were tallied for the final standings, and in the end Team BC took home second place overall for the province with a total of 146 medals – 55 gold, 49 silver and 42 bronze.
First place went to Team Ontario with 212 medals – 87 gold, 65 silver, 60 bronze.
Quebec took third with 138 medals – 45 gold, 41 silver, 52 bronze.
“Coming in second overall was over and above what we were hoping for,” Cathy said. “It was just wonderful.”
Genny will now take a month off before starting her training for the provincial swimming competition in July of next year in Nova Scotia. After that the next big competition for Genny will be the nations in 2018 and then the worlds in 2019.
“Then I would love to go to the Olympics in 2020 in Beijing,” she said. “I know it’s a big goal but I’m not going to give up on it.”
