8/10/21
by: Niagara Host Society
Niagara 2022 Celebrates One Year Out From Canada Summer Games
5,000 participants.
4,500 volunteers.
13 provinces and territories.
18 sports and venues.
And now less than 365 days out.
Last Friday, we passed the one year mark from the start of the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games, which are set to begin on August 6, 2022. After the cauldron is lit, 5,000 participants over the span of two weeks will compete for glory for their provinces and territories. All of their hard work will come to fruition in the Niagara Region.
In celebration of this milestone, CHCH, local dignitaries, POESY, and various athletes from Team Ontario, the Niagara Olympic Club, and Brock Niagara Penguins came together at Canada Games Park (CGP) to showcase what our Games are all about. You can view the segments here.
POESY, a Toronto-based singer/songwriter, joined the invited guests for the festivities at CGP to give a brief interview to CHCH about her involvement with the Games. After her interview aired, CHCH televised the first-ever performance by POESY of ‘Steel Heart’, which is the official anthem of the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games. This new song, set to be released in November along with a music video, was written, produced and recorded by POESY.
Discovered on CTV’s The Launch, POESY will also be a featured performer at the 200-day-countdown celebration event, which will be held at the Meridian Centre in St Catharines next January. The musician will also perform at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
Additionally, during next summer’s two-week event, the brand-new legacy facilities built for Niagara 2022 (like CGP) will be on grand display. Local inhabitants and visitors will be able to watch sporting competitions and cultural events not only at these venues, but all across the region, ranging from Grimsby to Port Colborne.
CGP, on the south end of Brock University’s campus, is a state-of-the-art facility designed to be accessible for everyone. Monumentally, the site is expected to have substantial completion in Fall 2021 and be fully completed by the end of January 2022. This is despite a mandated shutdown by the government for four weeks that took place during April 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside material shortages and other obstacles.
The COVID-19 pandemic also caused the Canada Summer Games in Niagara to be pushed back by a year to 2022, after they were originally set to take place on the same dates in 2021. The postponement will enable Niagara to provide participants and visitors with the phenomenal Games experience that was promised. Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast will also be reunited in one of the biggest sporting competitions to be held in Canada since the pandemic began.
It’s a sentiment that Steve Sevor, Chef de Mission for Team Ontario, echoed. “Getting back to sport is super important and I think from everyone’s perspective, whether it’s the participant, whether it’s the administrators that help support, even the spectators. It’s really important to have sport in our lives and it’s been demonstrated over the last 16, 17 months.”
The Canada Games have served and continue to act as an important stepping stone on an athlete’s path to becoming a future Olympian. Functioning as a developmental environment, athletes from all across the country will come together in a demonstration of amateur athletic prowess in the Niagara Region for next summer’s 28th edition of the Canada Games. This is reinforced by a Niagara 2022 hopeful, Liam Mather.
“I know once upon a time I was watching the older kids competing at the Olympics and Canada Summer Games, and I mean that’s what got me started in track,” said Mather, who wants to represent Team Ontario in the men’s 110-metre hurdles in Niagara. “So, I want to be able to inspire them like they inspired me once upon a time.”
Held every two years, alternating between winter and summer, the Canada Games are the country’s marquee event for amateur sport representing the highest level of national competition for thousands of up-and-coming Canadian athletes. More than 5,000 participants and close to 4,500 volunteers are expected to take part in Canada’s largest multi-sport event in the Niagara Region from August 6-21, 2022.
About the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games
At the peak of Niagara’s boldest summer yet, more than 5,000 up-and-coming athletes, their coaches and support staff will gather to compete for the podium in Canada’s largest multi-sport event. From August 6 to 21, 2022, Niagara will surge stronger than ever on the national stage. The 2022 Games, made possible thanks to funding and support from the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, the Niagara Region, and the Canada Games Council, will give rise to new legacies of ambition, confidence, and compassion that will inspire generations to come.
For further information, visit us at niagara2022games.ca or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (@2022canadagames).
