photo: © John E. Marriott
Faster, higher, stronger
The athletic exploits of our wildlife Olympians
As British Columbians prepare to cheer on Team Canada contenders in the coming Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, we’d like to introduce you to a few other local champions. In the wilds of British Columbia, this group of elite athletes trains as rigorously and competes as fiercely as any of our Olympic medallists—motivated by the primal instinct to stay alive. There are foxes that can jump as high as 1932 gold medalist Duncan McNaughton, who grew up in Vancouver; deer that could outrun 1960s superstar Harry Jerome, whose legacy is remembered with a prominent statue on Vancouver’s Stanley Park Seawall; grizzly bears that wrestle with the temerity of Hazelton-born wrestler Carol Huynh, who took home gold in 2008.
The motto of the Olympic Games—Citius, Altius, Fortius: Faster, Higher, Stronger—applies equally to our wildlife Olympians. For them, everyday life is the stiffest competition of all: survival of the fittest.
Read more in the current issue of British Columbia Magazine
