On the Special Olympics Canada website you’ll find a biography of Cochrane cross-country skier Elouise Stewart.
In it, the 39-year-old Special Olympian, who also plays soccer in the summer, says her goal is “to succeed to the best of her ability and to make her country, province and home town proud.”
She did exactly that at the Special Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea, winning gold in the 10-kilometre cross-country freestyle event and silver in the 7.5-k event.
“I’m thrilled for her, absolutely thrilled,” said Cochrane resident Philippa Thomas, Stewart’s friend who drives the skier to her events and helps with her event preparations. “She’s worked very hard to get to where she is and deserves all the success, and deserves these medals and then some.”
Stewart claimed the medals with a time of 50 minutes, three seconds for gold in the 10K on Feb. 3 and 33 minutes, 23 seconds for silver in the 7.5K on Feb. 2, skiing against athletes from Germany, Finland, Norway and the U.S.
Janelle Martin, president of the Cochrane Challengers, was also elated that Stewart’s dedication and hard work earned the cross-country skier medals.
“She’s done amazingly,” said Martin, whose Cochrane Challengers work with special-needs families as a support group, and helped raise funds for Stewart’s trip to Pyeongchang. “It is incredible. She’s trained so hard.”
Thomas said Stewart and her mom return from Korea 4:30 this afternoon (Feb. 6), and Thomas will be front and centre at Calgary International Airport to greet them.
“She deserves a group of people there to ‘Rah! Rah!’ her in,” Thomas said.
