KIN Alumni and Faculty Represented at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics!
With the Tokyo Olympics slated to take place on July 23 – August 8 and the Paralympics on August 24 – September 5 in Japan, the School of Kinesiology is excited to have significant on-site representation in the Summer Games. KIN alumni and faculty members will both compete and work there. We are pleased to highlight a few of the shining KIN alumni athletes who will be competing on Team Canada.
KIN Alumni on the Road to Competing at the Olympics:
Natalia Hawthorn, BKin 2018, 1500m runner to compete in Tokyo
KIN alumna, Natalia Hawthorn hit the Olympic standard for the women’s 1,500 metres at the Stumptown Twilight Meet in Portland, breaking the tape in a time of 4:04.20. Hawthorn’s run makes her the second Canadian woman to run Olympic standard in the 1,500 metres and has now been selected to join Team Canada.
Evan Dunfee, BKin 2014, sets Canadian record in 10,000-metre Race Walk
KIN alumnus, Evan Dunfee set a Canadian record at the Harry Jerome Track Classic on Saturday, June 12th in Burnaby, B.C., eclipsing a mark he set two years ago. Dunfee completed the 10,000-metre race walk in a personal-best 38 minutes 39.72 seconds. Dunfee made history at the 2019 World Athletics Championships when he won bronze to become Canada’s first-ever medallist in the 50km race walk at the global biennial event.
Nikola Girke, BHK ’99, 5-time Canadian Olympic athlete in RS:X Windsurfing
As Canada’s top female windsurfer, Nikola Girke recorded the country’s best-ever Olympic result in the event with her 10th place finish at the 2012 Olympics. In January 2020, she surfaced from retirement to race RS:X in a major international competition and placed 4th at the World Cup in Miami. That result secured a 2020 Olympic spot for Nikola Tokyo. She is traveling to Tokyo on July 12th to compete in the RS:X against women Olympians from 26 other countries.
Liz Gleadle, BKin 2014, Team Canada, Javelin Thrower
Liz Gleadle surprised many in her Olympic debut at the London 2012 games when she became the first Canadian woman to qualify for an Olympic javelin final since 1968. But she had her true breakout season in 2014, after having missed all of 2013 with a back injury. She threw 64.83 metres in 2015 the same year she won gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. Now she goes for her third round of Olympic games in Tokyo.
Tam (Karen) Hoi-Lam, BKin 2021, Hong Kong Swim Team
Karen Tam, BKin 2021 is a recent KIN graduate and past Varsity swim team member. She is a Hong Kong national and will compete in the Tokyo Summer Olympics for the Hong Kong women’s swim team in the 4×100 freestyle and 4×100 medley relays. The team qualified in the 2019 World Championships when they placed 10th in the world for the 4×10 freestyle relay. Karen commented that she “loved the atmosphere in her UBC varsity team. Everyone is pushing each other to be faster and better. My teammates and UBC coaches, Derrick Schoof, Sierra Moores, have been very supportive, along with my HK coach: David Wong.” Karen is hoping to hit 54 seconds as her best time. We wish Karen and her team all success at the Olympics!
Mike Mason, BHK 2010, High Jumper
Mike Mason has been one of Canada’s top high jumpers since he won gold at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships. The Summer Games in Tokyo will make him a 4-time Olympian. In the London 2012 Games he finished eighth. Mason achieved a career highlight with his bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The next summer he added a silver medal at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto. At 35 he is oldest man in the top 60 on the world’s best for 2021. But he won’t be the oldest high jumper to compete at an Olympics. Dragutin Topic of Serbia was 41 when he jumped at London in 2012.
Lucas Bruchet, BKin 2014, 5000-metre track and field
Luc Bruchet is a relatively recent convert to distance running, having previously raced the middle distances of 800m and 1500m. He competed in the 5000 metres at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, where he finished 8th. In June 2016, he ran a personal best of 13:24.10 (in the 5,000 metres event), in the process meeting the Olympic Standard. In July he was officially named to the Olympic team. In the Men’s 5,000 metres at the 2016 Olympics he finished 37th after failing to qualify for the finals.
Matthew Sarmento, BKin 2017, Field Hockey.
Matthew won a silver medal with Canada at the 2012 Junior Pan American Championship before helping the senior squad win silver at the 2013 Pan American Cup. In 2015 he was part of the Canadian team that won a quarterfinal shootout over New Zealand at the FIH World League Semifinals, a victory that would eventually secure Canada’s qualification for Rio 2016. A few weeks later, he helped Canada win silver at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, scoring three goals on seven shots. Sarmento made his Olympic debut at Rio 2016. Matthew Sarmento has more than 50 senior national caps since making his international debut in 2011
The UBC School of Kinesiology Community Serving at the 2021 Olympics!
Maria Gallo, Assistant Coach National Women’s Rugby 7s
KIN Associate Professor Maria Gallo was recently appointed the Assistant Coach for the National Women’s Rugby 7s team to help train the squad for the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The team submitted a request to Rugby Canada that Maria come on board to coach them. She is highly respected as one of the few female rugby coaches in Canada and many of them had worked with her on the National Women’s 15s.
KIN Faculty: Sports Science & Sport Medicine Leads
KIN will have significant on-site representation with Athletics Canada. Dr. Trent Stellingwerff, Dr. Gareth Sandford & Dr. Michael Koehle will travel with the team as Lead of Sports Science & Sports Medicine, Physiologist, and Sports Medicine Physician. Cameron Gee, KIN Post-doctoral Fellow, will also travel with the para-Olympians as a Physiologist.
KIN Alumni Working at the 2020 Olympics
The following KIN Alumni will work at the 2020 Olympics: Nicole Sullivan, BHK’04, physio for Beach Volleyball; Jasmine Mander BKin’18, MPT’20, National Women’s Soccer Team Performance Analyst; 2-time Olympic swimmer Martha McCabe BKin’12, COC Mission Staff member; James Thompson, MKin’14, Med’16, is the High Performance Director of Women’s Goalball at the Paralympics. Dr. Kerry MacDonald, KIN sessional and T-Bird volleyball coach coach, serves as Volleyball Canada staff.
Atila Ozkaplan, VP Production Operations at NBC Olympics.
Atila (BHK 2001, MSc 2004) will be overseeing NBC’s International Broadcast Centre operations at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, which will mark his 7th Olympic Games. He and his team at NBC Olympics have been awarded 5 Sports Emmys. He was also honored as one of the 5 To Watch – Canada’s Sports Business Awards in 2017, recognizing the top sports business leaders in Canada under age 40.
Professor Michael Koehle, Athletics Canada.
Mike’s role at the Games is as a physician for Canada’s Track & Field athletes based in Sapporo, the site of the race walk and marathon events, to help the athletes achieve their maximal performance by managing and mitigating any injuries or illnesses that occur leading up to and during the competition. He will be working with a large team of physical therapists, physiologists, mental performance consultants, coaches, chiropractors and logisticians, and is most looking forward to “getting into that team environment and working together to help the athletes as best as possible.”
UBC Olympians celebrated with virtual send-off prior to competition at Tokyo 2020 Games.
With the official start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games little over a month away, UBC President and Vice Chancellor Santa J. Ono hosted a virtual send-off for the dozens of Thunderbirds past and present who will represent their country as athletes, coaches, and staff.