Team N.L., bearing medals and big smiles, welcomed home with fanfare
After two weeks of stiff competition at the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island, the last of Team Newfoundland and Labrador's athletes — four of them proudly wearing their medals from the second week of competition — landed back in St. John's to a hero's welcome.
Mike Gosine, Maddox Glover, Lily Evans and Mark Butt, last off the plane, walked through the doors of the St. John's airport's arrivals area with their medals hanging around their necks and were greeted by an eruption of applause from their teammates, family and friends.
Gosine, 17, of Tors Cove won bronze Saturday in men's boxing in the 75-kilogram weight class.
"It's all wicked. You've got all your friends around you and meet some new friends and talk to all these new people. Then you get to compete for the province, which is wicked, too," said Gosine at the airport Monday.
"Everyone is wicked-happy when you get a medal like that because it's hard to get a medal in boxing. You've got to fight every day pretty well to even get through the standings."
Gosine has more bouts on his horizon; he's preparing for training to start ahead of a national event in Quebec in July.
Lily Evans, 16, of Pouch Cove and Mark Butt, 17, of Bloomfield also brought home bronze, with their victory in figure skating pre-novice pairs on Friday.
Evans and Butt attended the Skate Canada Challenge last year after only five months as a pair. The duo ranked seventh in that event and continued to train together year-round ahead of the Canada Winter Games.
"When we heard our scores and found out that we were going to get a medal, we were ecstatic to say the least," said Butt.
"It's something we've dreamed about and we've worked countless hours on and put a countless amount of time and effort into."
Butt also said there's more competition on the horizon and the hard work isn't over.
Finally, Maddox Glover was a gold medal winner in men's Special Olympics Level 2 figure skating on Thursday. The 13-year-old from Conception Bay South was named Team N.L.'s flag-bearer for Sunday night's closing ceremonies.
"I just feel really excited — ever since I first got [the medal]," Glover said.
In total, Team N.L. won four medals in four events, including Gleb Evstigneev's gold win in the first week of the Games in men's trampoline.
Roughly 250 athletes, coaches, managers, and mission staff travelled from the province to P.E.I. for the two-week event this year.
Team N.L. was represented by 20 teams participating in 16 sports.
The next Canada Games will take place in 2025 and will be hosted on the home front in St. John's.
