Kierra Smith is coming home to Kelowna after her Olympic debut.
The 22-year-old, a seventh-place finisher in the women's 200-metre breaststroke final at Rio in a time of 2:23.19 — after placing first in her heat with a clocking of 2:23.59 — will arrive at the Kelowna International Airport on Sunday at 11:50 p.m.
Smith, a member of the Liquid Lightning Swim Club in West Kelowna, earned the right to swim for Canada in Toronto at the Canadian Olympic trials. She competed in both the 100- and 200-breaststroke events.
Norm Letnick, MLA Kelowna-Lake Country, BC Minister of Agriculture is among those encouraging people to head to the airport and welcome Smith home.
"I want to show her that we all appreciate the years of training she's put in and the sacrifices she's made. We would like to try to really pump her up, so she will be encouraged to train for another four years and aim for the podium in the next Olympics."
Kelowna residents are encouraged to head to the airport at 10 p.m. to prepare for Smith's welcome-home celebration.
Smith was among 142 athletes in 18 sports representing Canada with a connection to B.C. Twelve of them are bringing home eight medals.
Taylor Ruck, 16, born in Kelowna but a resident of Scottsdale, Ariz. since she was 10 months old, swam to a pair of bronze medals — in the 4x100- and 4x200-metre freestyle relays
Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, overcame an early crash that dropped her to 15th place to win the bronze medal in the women's cross-country mountain bike race at Rio.
In all, B.C. athletes earned half of Canada’s medals at the Games. It was the most medals won by Canada at a non-boycotted Summer Olympics.
Premier Christy Clark said B.C. Olympic athletes showcased to Canada and the world what British Columbian are capable of.
“Our athletes contributed significantly to Team Canada's medal count, but perhaps even more than that, they inspired another generation of young Canadians to dream big, and participate in international sport."
Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development added:
"We are very proud of our local athletes who competed in the Olympic Games and I’m thrilled that so many of them were able to realize their dreams of reaching the podium. This province came together over the past 16 days to cheer on our athletes. Each and every one of them should be proud of their efforts on the world stage."
Letnick said he was "really proud" of Smith and "can’t wait" to see what she accomplishes in the future.
"We were cheering and yelling at the TV set. I'm sure with another four years she's going to do even better."
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.
