Six athletes among plethora of McGillians headed for Paris Olympic Games
By Earl Zukerman, Sports Information Officer, McGill Athletics and Recreation
Six athletes are among a 23-member entourage of McGill University graduates serving in an official capacity at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, July 24 to Aug. 11. Heading the list of athletes is Clément Secchi, a three-time Forbes Trophy winner as McGill male athlete of the year, who graduated with a management degree in 2022. He hails from Aix en Provence in France and will be swimming for his native country.
The Canadian entourage includes Briana Scott-Hungerford (BA '12), a former McGill volleyball player from Vancouver, B.C., who is now a distance runner representing Canada in track and field. Rounding out the McGillians are Virginie Chénier (BA '17) of Laval, Que., in archery, and three fencers: Shaul Gordon (BCL/LLB '19, LLM '21) of Richmond, B.C., and a pair of Montrealers, Maximilien Van Haaster (BSc '16) and François Cauchon (BCom '22).
The official count does not include future McGillian Caroline Crossley, a rugby sevens player from Victoria, B.C., who is expected to be enrolled in law school this fall.
A high-profile official heading to France is long-standing IOC member Richard Pound (BCom'62, BCL'67), a former McGill swimmer who competed in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
The Canadian Olympic Committee mission staff is sending 11 grads to Paris, including Montreal native David Paradelo (B.Eng '09), head coach of the women's water polo team, former McGill volleyball player Marie-Andrée Lessard (BCom '01) of LaSalle, Que., who will serve in the role of Games Leadership, and Hubert T. Lacroix (BCL '76, MBA '81). A former McGill women's basketball coach who was president of CBC/Radio-Canada, Lacroix is serving as COC Team Leader.
Another key post is held by Philip Jevtovic (BA '15), a former McGill basketball player who serves as director of high performance analytics and strategy with Canada Basketball.
The medical team includes a pair of physicians from the McGill Sportsmedicine Clinic: Dr. Mickey Moroz (MDCM '16, MEd '18) and Dr. Gabrielle Ostiguy (Medical Fellowship '15). Also on board with medical services is Tiffany Hunting (BSc PT '09, MSc '11) of Cowansville, Que., a head physiotherapist with Judo Canada who played varsity rugby at McGill.
Rounding out the COC staff on site is Emily Phoenix (BA '16), a team leader with Golf Canada, from Calgary, Alta., along with athlete apparel outfitter Shane Fombuena (BEd PE '13), chief sport officer Eric Myles (EMBA '11) and communications manager Manny Almela (BA '99) of Greenfield Park, Que., who once served as sports editor of The McGill Tribune.
Also working at the Games is Victor Mansure (BEd'10), a former McGill basketball player who is now serving as director of the Brazilian Basketball Confederation; and Ana Shapiro (BEd PE '98), a former McGill hockey player who currently handles the global event marketing account with Allianz, one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers.
In addition to the aforementioned McGillians are two grads who are officially covering the Games as members of the media, although they are remaining in North America. Based at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto is senior consulting talent producer Bob Babinski (BA '86). And covering the Games for NBC, the American TV rights-holder, is former McGill swimmer Jennifer Lorentz (BA ´01) of Orlando, Fla. Lorentz is in her seventh Olympics as a graphic designer with the network. Due to staffing restrictions, Lorentz will be based at the NBC Broadcast Centre in Stamford, Conn.
Another McGillian of note is Karolina Wisniewska (BA '99), who will be serving as Canada's co-chef de mission at the upcoming Paralympic Games, which follow the Summer Olympics..
McGill has a long tradition of involvement with the Olympics and the University's Percival Molson Memorial Stadium served as the field hockey tournament venue for the 1976 Montreal Games.
McGill and the Olympics over the years
The athletes heading to Paris are among 152 McGill students or grads that have gone on to compete for Olympic glory over the past century. Since first appearing at the 1904 Games, McGillians have won a combined total of 33 Olympic medals, 12 of them golden, in addition to eight silvers and 13 bronzes.
McGill's first-ever Olympian was the legendary Percival Molson, who competed in track and field at the 1904 Summer Games in St. Louis. The University has also had three graduates serve as flag-bearer in the Opening Ceremonies. Representing Canada was boxer Dr. George B. Maughan at the 1932 Los Angeles Games and track star James Worrall at the 1936 Games in Berlin. And representing Armenia at the 2020 Tokyo Games was figure skater Tina Garabedian.
McGill gymnast R. Tait McKenzie, a world-renowned sculptor, was the only artist to take part in five Olympiads. He represented the country in art competitions, winning a bronze medal at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles in "mixed sculpturing - medals and reliefs."
The most decorated McGill Olympian is the late Dr. Phil Edwards, a graduate from the faculty of medicine, who racked up five bronze medals while representing Canada in track & field at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam (1928), Los Angeles (1932) and Berlin (1936). He was the first Canadian male to win medals in three different Olympiads and his achievement stood for 66 years until matched by short-track speed-skater Marc Gagnon (1994, 1998, 2002), who collected three golds and a pair of bronzes.
Swimmer George Hodgson, who reached the top of the podium twice at Stockholm in 1912, is the only McGillian to strike gold at the Summer Olympics. Five McGill students have struck gold a combined total of 10 times at the Winter Olympics.
Hockey goaltenders Kim St-Pierre and McGill teammate Charline Labonté each earned gold at three separate Olympiads. St-Pierre won at 2002 in Salt Lake City, 2006 in Turin and 2010 in Vancouver, while Labonté stood atop the podium in 2006, 2010 and 2014 in Sochi. Another McGill teammate was Catherine Ward, who was part of the golden squad in 2010. Freestyle skier Jennifer Heil struck gold in 2006 and hockey player Mélodie Daoust won gold in both 2014 and 2022.