GOOD-LOOKING HARDWARE.
Athletes lucky enough to win a medal at the Ontario Winter Games in Muskoka will have a keepsake to be proud of.
Photo by Kim Good
MUSKOKA — The purpose of the Ontario Winter Games, delivered by the Sport Alliance of Ontario, is to provide a high-level sport competition for young athletes age 22 and under, and in doing so, support personal and community development through sport. However, for many of the almost 3,000 athletes who will participate in the games, the goal is much simpler — win a medal.
Each winter games, the medals are designed and constructed at the discretion of the local organizing committee.
“We wanted to make sure these kids, who are premier athletes in Ontario, when they win a medal, they are proud of it, that it had some weight … so that they may put it in a frame or do something with it and not just put it in a shoebox,” explained Andy Mattice, the medal and protocol representative under the 2010 Ontario Winter Games organizing committee.
The resulting medals are three inches in diameter, 170 grams and hang on a one and a quarter-inch blue ribbon. On the front is the Ontario Winter Games Muskoka 2010 logo, with the trillium in its full logo colours. The back of the medals depict a three-dimensional Tom Thomson-style windswept pine atop a rocky landscape, a scene characteristic of Muskoka.
“The committee put together a medal we feel is good-looking,” explained Mattice.
“Some of the events, there is so much involved (in organizing) that medals can become secondary. I give the board credit for making sure this little piece of the puzzle was done properly.”
Sourcing the medals locally was also important to the committee, who commissioned Johanne Stewart of Dreams Becoming Reality Marketing in Huntsville to design the medals and Awards R Us in Gravenhurst to supply the finished product.
In total, 1,675 gold, silver and bronze medals will be handed out during the games, primarily over March 4-7, when the majority of the sports competitions get underway. However, the first of these medals have already been handed out, last weekend (Jan. 16 and 17) at the Ontario Winter Games cross-country ski event, held at Arrowhead Provincial Park.
“At the end of the day, the point (for the athletes) is to have fun and enjoy the sport,” said Mattice, “but if they happen to win a medal, they can be proud of it.”