Bowler Darian Tielemans has returned from the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary with two gold medals.
Tielemans won both the individual 5-pin bowling event and the team event with the Cowichan Valley Strikers at the Games, held Feb. 27 to March 2.
“It was amazing,” said Strikers coach Irene Lintner. “The idea of just even the athletes getting to the national level is such an accomplishment in itself and then to walk away with the gold, it was just the icing on the cake.”
The Cowichan Valley Strikers included Tielemans, Nanaimo’s Bill Polz, Kelowna’s Allen Hahner, and Maurice Bernier of Port Alberni. Lintner and Jean Scholefield coached the team.
Polz also won gold in his division, while Hahner took silver behind Tielemans, and Bernier earned bronze in his division.
“I am just so proud of the Cowichan Valley Strikers,” Lintner said. “They had a lot of fun. We all had a great time and I look forward to hopefully attending another.”
Larger than the B.C. version and occurring every two years, the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary played host to 1,250 athletes, coaches, managers and mission staff this year. Team BC was comprised of 142 athletes, 50 coaches, and 14 mission staff from 31 communities.
“Calgary hosted an amazing Games,” Lintner said, noting that aside from the competition, the opening and closing ceremonies were sights to behold.
“The city itself embraced the whole event,” she said. “I think there were just over 1,200 athletes but there were 1,500 volunteers.”
