Canadians also conquered Finland: Two shared 19 golds!
Canada claimed 22 gold medals at indoor worlds, I’ve been reminded. And two women accounted for 19 of them! That would be our old pal Olga Kotelko and our new bud Christa Bortignon, who took seven golds and one silver in Finland. She also set two W75 world records: 10.04 in the 60 and 3.67 in the long jump, which was 14 years old. Olga came away with 12 golds in the W90 group and set records in the pentathlon, 400, 800 and high jump. With only 21 athletes entered, Canada took seventh in the medal standings. First was Finland, followed by Germany, UK, France, Russia and Team USA. Fifty nations medaled in Jyväskylä.
Olga flopped before switching to a roll for WR, sez photographer Rob Jerome.
11 Responses
I love that Olga is wearing spikes.
Things I never heard from my mother or grandmother: “I think I need some new spikes.”
Well see what your mother and grandmother were missing. Olga and Christa are terrific athletes and women. Is there a photo out there of Olga with her bright red coat with the maple leaf design and the black fur hat? She looked ready to take on the world – and she did.
Christa is amazing – watching her is inspiring.
This is just the greatest picture. Thanks.
Christa:
Once again, an awe-inspiring performance. And I think you’ve got even better long jumps in you in the future. See you at the track -Grant L
Will someone tell me how Olga can do all those
events? I thought the pentathlon involved jumping
hurdles(surely she doesn’t do that).I’m only 78
and feel like I’m running out of steam.Im going to
look at her picture every day as long as it’s on
the website.
Thank-you,
Phyllis Provost
The Pent dos involve hurdles – so Phyllis – you and I need to get together and work on hurdling! Olga is truly amazing – and a really nice down to earth person as well.
Print out that photo and put it on the frig for inspiration. Remember you may be 78, but Olga is 93 – you and I are just kids.
Mary,
You’re right…Olga looked ready to take on the world in that Canadian red coat and black fur hat.
A friend of mine snapped an iPhone photo of me giving a Olga a big hug while she was wearing that outfit before I began photographing her competitions. I took the HJ photo above.
Always a pleasure and privilege to photograph Olga, but this time the photo I’ll treasure most is one I didn’t take myself.
Congratulations, Olga and Christa. Awesome performances, to say the least. Wow! In addition, our Mary “Hurrahda” did some damage of her own by collecting some terrific hardware. Fabulous, kid. Smartty
thanks, Mary.
I will do that but I still don’t see how she can
jump hurdles-what is the height of hurdles.Once
upon a time I wanted to learn how to do hurdles;
but thought I was a little too old!O well, will
just have to admire her and you too, of course
with your running.
Phyllis P.
Here’s another beautiful fact about Olga. I saw her many times walking to and from the bus stop in Jyvaskyla. She was alone. No handlers, no entourage. She manages to travel and get from place to place all by herself. That’s a marvelous attribute as well, independence. And boy, she’s sharp as a tack. I want to be her.
regarding the previous post by Rita:
Having the privilege of knowing Olga- concurred!!
(I want to be like Olga when I (hopefully get a chance to) get old!) -Grant L.
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