(Photo by Amal Abdulsalam, via the Goulbourn Skating Club.)
Ottawa City Council has approved the renaming of an ice rink in the Goulbourn Recreation Complex for Katie Xu and Jack Fan. It will commemorate the Special Olympics medalists who have been ambassadors for the special needs community.
“It’s so exciting for them, the Goulbourn Skating Club and the special needs community,” says Cathy Skinner, a long-time coach with the Goulbourn Skating Club. “Especially since this year is the 50th anniversary of the Special Olympics, so how appropriate that we are celebrating these athletes achievements instead of focusing on any disability they might have!”
The pair joined the Goulbourn Skating Club in 2011 and have received acclaim from Skate Canada and Special Olympics Canada, for their success in competitions over the years, achievements that have made them decorated figure skaters. Among many notable achievements, Katie and Jack recently became World Champions as each skater scored three medals at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria in 2017
This name change is ridiculous !
First of all why change the name , secondly there are a 100 people in Goulbourn who deserve to be honored before 2 skaters .
The people of Goulbourn should be asked about the name change first and should it not be left to a bunch of councillors who don’t even live in Goulbourn .
Please see the “Recommended reading” articles where there was an opportunity to comment.
I know that you must be really upset about losing the name “rink A”. I however am not upset. “A” is not even part of community or even part of neighborhood. Hello, it’s not even a part of Stittsville.
Rob Greer you clearly have no idea of the process required to name something. The community WAS asked for their opinions and the rink in question has never had a name other than Rink “A” since the Goulbourn Rec complex opened many years ago. These 2 athletes have trained in this rink for the past 8 years, they are multiple World medalists with 3 Gold and 3 Silver World medals, they have 6 National medals between them, 1 Canada Winter Games Gold medal, a Special Olympics Canada Male athlete of the year award, a Special Olympics Ontario male athlete of the year award, both are multiple Ottawa Sports Award winners, they have both been honoured in the House of Commons for their achievements, they have been awarded the Special Olympics Ottawa Male and female athletes of the year awards, both have been Stittsville Youth of the year nominees, they both participated in the ceremonial flag raising on Parliament Hill on National Flag Day, they both performed on Parliament Hill rink as part of the Canada 150 celebrations, one was awarded the Dynes Sports Management Athlete of the month , they have won 5 gold and 1 Bronze medal at the Provincial level, and they are great ambassadors for the Stittsville community… So if you feel there are 100 people in Stittsville who should be honoured for their achievements go ahead and nominate them, but in my opinion these 2 exemplify true champions in more than one way.