A 15-member entourage from McGill University, including six athletes, is headed to the London Olympics. Among the McGill graduates participating as athletes are former Redmen rowers Doug Vandor (BSc 1998; MSc Experimental Surgery, 2002) of Dewittville, Que., and Derek O’Farrell (BSc, Physiology, 2007), a native of Toronto who resides in Montreal. Former Martlet swimmer Victoria Poon (BSc Kinesiology, 2010) will be competing, along with ex-Martlet volleyball star Marie-Andrée Lessard (in photo above, BCom 2001), who will be in the beach volleyball competition. Both are from LaSalle. Also going to London is Martine Dugrenier of Laval, a McGill grad (BEd 2008) who wrestled at Concordia. The sixth Olympian is Montreal native Jo-Annie Fortin, a synchronized swimmer who was recently admitted to McGill and will be a psychology freshman in September. Among the coaches and officials heading to England are a number of former prominent McGill athletes, including IOC member Richard Pound of Montreal and IOC director of legal affairs Howard Stupp of Laval, in addition to modern pentathlon coach John Hawes of Pointe Claire, plus COC director of Olympic preparation and integrated planning Derek Covington of Montreal and physician Dr. Linda Thyer, who was born in Montreal and raised in Nelson, B.C.
Additionally, McGill’s School of Physical and Occupational Therapy has an Olympian! Isabelle Pearson (BSc Physical Therapy, 2004 MSc Rehab Sciences, 2008), a member of the Faculty of Medicine as a Faculty Lecturer is, right now, in London, preparing for the XXX Olympic Games with Canada’s national judo team.
Read the full article in The Montreal Gazette
July 25, 2012