A great experience
Charchuk reflects on experience at World Winter Games in Austria
Special Olympics has taken multi-sport athlete Janet Charchuk across Canada and around the world. Charchuk recently returned home from the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria, where the 34-year-old Alberton resident achieved gold in the 100-metre snowshoeing race.
“My 100 metres, my gold medal,” she says, was the highlight of her Games. Attending her first-ever World Games was a huge milestone for Charchuk, who participated in the National Games in London, Ont., in 2001 and Regina, Sask., in 2005 for swimming; the nationals in Prince Albert, Sask., for softball in 2004, and the nationals for swimming in Brandon, Man., in 2006.
She also plays golf, bowling and bocce, and has participated in track and field. She also does yoga and works out at a fitness gym. Charchuk and her mother, Jackie, did a weeklong stopover in Italy following the Games, where a visit to Rome
ranks as her post-Games’ highlight.
Charchuk was on course to win gold in her 200-metre race in Austria also, but she ran so fast that her time didn’t count. She explained that she ran the preliminary in a minute 55 seconds (1:55), and finished first in the final in a time of
1:30. The preliminaries, however, are used to determine what division athletes subsequently compete in.
If their time improves by more than 15 per cent they are automatically disqualified. She was one of 50 athletes whose times did not count.
But Charchuk, who trained with Donna Campbell, takes comfort that her 1:30 was a personal best in the 200 metres.
She ran in a preliminary 4x100-metre relay, but the team wasn’t able to race in the final after one of the team members required medical care.
She said the team accepted the situation well.
“It was pretty cool I was able to go to the worlds for snowshoeing,” Charchuk said. “That was the sport I started with in Special Olympics in 1996.” There were lots of other highlights from the Games, like being presented with new phones and international communications packages from sponsor Telus; being treated to a parade and a dinner by a host town in Austria, and having their snowshoeing team “adopted” by an Austrian school group.
On the subsequent tour of Italy, the gold-medallist was treated like a celebrity. With the World Games over, Charchuk is turning her attention to golf, hoping to help her friend, Heidi Mallett, qualify for the nationals.