An athlete who stepped aside during the Sochi Winter Olympics to let a teammate shine, will be awarded a special medal “from the people of Canada.”
During last winter’s Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Canadian speed skater Gilmore Junio did something incredible.
When his teammate, Denny Morrison, fell and failed to qualify for the 1000-metre event, Junio gave Morrison his spot in the race.
Junio said Morrison had a better chance of winning a medal than he did, so it was in the team’s best interests to let Morrison race.
After years of working towards a spot in an Olympic race, it is overwhelmingly generous to allow someone else to take your spot in a race.
Morrison didn’t disappoint. He won a silver medal for Team Canada.
Now, Junio will be given a one-of-a-kind commemorative medal that honours the selfless act he performed for his teammate.
He will receive the medal on Wednesday in Kitchener.
A special website called Thanks Gilmore Merci was set up to honour Junio and to collect money to design and create the special medal, which will be awarded “directly from the people of Canada to be given to Junio… in recognition of his incredible demonstration of true Canadian values,” according to a statement on the website.
The website was set up, and the medal designed, by a Canadian design firm called Jacknife.
They called on Canadians “to celebrate the incredible personal sacrifice made by Canadian Olympian Gilmore Junio at the 2014 Winter Games.”
Related link
The Thanks Gilmore Merci website.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Jacknife design created the medal pictured in today’s article to recognize Gilmore Junio. Design the medal that you would give Gilmore Junio. What features did you include that communicate Canadian values.
Reading Prompt: Extending Understanding
Gilmore Junio’s action were nothing short of selfless. What is the most selfless act that you have ever done? Why and how did you make that choice?
Primary
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge and experience, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Junior
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Language Feature: Elipses ( … )
Elipses are punctuation marks that can be used in a few different ways. One way that they are commonly used is to omit (leave out) a portion of a direct quotation. For example, today’s article includes this quote,
A special website called Thanks Gilmore Merci was set up to honour Junio and to collect money to design and create the special medal, which will be awarded “directly from the people of Canada to be given to Junio… in recognition of his incredible demonstration of true Canadian values,” according to a statement on the website.
The complete quote from the website is:
Thanks Gilmore asks Canadians to contribute to a crowdfunding campaign to help make a commemorative medal directly from the people of Canada to be given to Junio. Jacknife’s goal is to present Junio with a commemorative medal produced by the agency and funded by Canadians in recognition of his incredible demonstration of true Canadian values.
Why might the author of today’s article have chosen to leave out portions of this quote?
