By Matthew Morgan [1]
BELLEVILLE – Loyalist students say they are excited about the opening ceremony for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea [2] set to take place Feb. 9.
QNet News spoke with five students about the upcoming Winter Games.
John Joseph Sexsmith, 19, a second-year police foundations student, said he is most excited to see Belleville Senators [3] forward Chris Kelly [4] compete for Team Canada as their captain.
John Joseph Sexsmith (left) with Aaron Carere (right). Both are second-year police foundations students. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
Sexsmith also gave high praise to three-time World Champion figure skater Patrick Chan, [5] another Canadian athlete competing in PyeongChang. Chan is a two-time Olympic silver medalist. Sexsmith said Chan’s past success is why he feels that he will have a good showing at the Winter Games.
Sexsmith gave his predictions on where he thinks Canada may finish overall in the medal count and how many medals he believes Canada will win.
“I have high expectations for the Canadian athletes,” he said. “Twelve to 15 gold and 30 medals in total for Canada.”
“I hope at least second in the overall standings, but hopefully first,” Sexsmith said. He said that he will be watching the opening ceremony at home on Friday.
Aaron Carere, 20, another second-year police foundations student, is looking forward to the competition.
“I’m excited to see Canada pull through and just as excited to see Canada go up against the rest of the world,” he said. Carere said he plans on watching the figure skating, hockey, skiing and snowboarding events.
“Tessa Virtue [6] and Scott Moir [7]…those two figure skaters are known for their past Olympic success and will probably do great things for Canada,” he said.
He said he is expecting Canada to win 30 to 40 medals, including 12 gold.
“Once our athletes do their best and represent our country, then I’m sure they’ll do fine and bring home a few medals,” he said. Carere said he plans on catching the opening ceremony with his friends.
Kristien Duff, 18, a first-year student in the early childhood education program, said she is looking forward to watching the opening ceremony with her friends and will be mostly watching a lot of hockey and speed skating once the games begin.
Kristen Duff, a first-year early childhood education student, is excited about the upcoming Winter Games. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
Like Carere, she feels Canada’s figure skating duo of Virtue and Moir will make Canada proud and maybe find their way on the podium once again because of their excellent chemistry as well as their past Olympic success.
“I believe Canada will finish in the top five for sure,” she said. She also predicted Canada’s total medal count to be 23 medals, including six gold.
Jayden Jones, 21, a student in the public relations program said he’ll mostly be watching hockey but will also catch some figure skating and curling.
Jayden Jones, a public relations student. Photo by Matthew Morgan, QNet News
“I’m excited to see the brand new athletes that Canada has to offer,” Jones said. “Canada’s flag-bearers Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue should do well simply because of their chemistry and overall experience.”
He said that Canada will win 15 gold medals and finish with a total of 35.
Jones said that he will not be watching the opening ceremony but will watch some of the hockey games and other events during the games.
The last Olympic Winter Games were in Sochi, Russia. Canada finished with 25 medals in total and third in the overall standings. Those 25 medals were just one shy of Canada’s record of 26 which happened back at home in Vancouver at the 2010 Winter Games.
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