Pointe Claire girl is headed to Sydney
after writing a very special Olympic essay

July 31 2000
DAVE STUBBS
The Gazette; Canadian Sport News and L'agence Diapo Contributed to This Column

Sonia Jean-Philippe first heard about the contest only a week before its June 11 entry deadline, and it took her a few days of careful consideration before she finally put her thoughts on paper.

"Why are the Olympics so special to me?" the adidas Forever Sport Challenge wanted to know. Well, it seems they're very special to Sonia, who found 400 words to describe how they captivate her family, and how the Sydney Games will educate us about friendship, world travel, the discovery of new cultures . . . even kangaroos. The essay by the trilingual Pointe Claire resident made such an impression on the judges that soon she'll be living a dream, joining three other Canadians from Sept. 10 to 17 in Sydney, where they'll put their track-and-field skills to work against other 13- and 14-year-olds from 10 countries.

Sonia will for the first time ever travel beyond North America and report on her competitive and cultural experiences for the excite.ca Web site. That she'll miss a little of her Grade 10 studies at College St. Louis is just an unfortunate consequence, she says with a laugh.

"When I found out I won, I called just about everybody I know," she said. "I'm really, really excited."

The 14-year-old has just begun her sixth year of track, a specialist in the 200 and 400 metres for the Pointe Claire Panthers, a club founded and coached by her father, Marlain. When not training or racing, she plays bantam soccer in her home town.

She and her fellow contest winners - Lauren Champagne of Winnipeg, Jordan Marcoux of Saskatoon and Tyko Tyler of Nepean, Ont. - will compete in the 100 and 800 metres, the 90-metre hurdles, long jump and shot put. Last week, Adidas brought them to Toronto to meet their team captain - 1996 Olympic relay gold medal-winning sprinter Glenroy Gilbert.

"I can't describe the overwhelming fian sport heroes, MVP Grants, Nike Canada, CAAWS, girls body image,where to play sports, girls self-esteem, girls soccer, girls cycling, girls and nutrition, nutrition for active girls, Canadian Association for women and sport, girls@play, snowboarding, skating, boarding, girl site, sports girl, extreme girl, mountain biking, skateboards, surfboards, X Games">

The young athletes will compete against their peers from Australia, Italy, France, New Zealand, Ireland, Korea, the Netherlands, Trinidad & Tobago and the U.S. For a week, they'll sightsee, file stories to the Internet, mingle with Olympians, and enjoy the electricity of the Games that will be all around them in Sydney. They're hoping they'll see the opening ceremony on Sept. 15, as well.