Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) and its employees are proud supporters of the Team Canada athletes who participated in the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Paralympics this summer. We were particularly excited to watch all the athletes from Ontario who competed for the podium, especially those who had benefitted from the Quest for Gold Program.

A total of 128 athletes, including guides, were officially named to the Tokyo 2020 Canadian Paralympic Team representing 11 provinces and territories. Of the 71 women and 57 men on the team, 46 are from Ontario or have permanently relocated to this province to train. And 98 per cent of those athletes have benefitted from direct support through the Quest for Gold Program during their career.

Shelley Gautier, an accomplished competitive Para cycler (or “trike racer”), Bronze Medal Paralympian (Rio 2016) and member of the 2021 Team Canada Paralympic team, can speak directly to how the program helps athletes whose sights are set on the Games.

An athlete from an early age, Shelley developed a passion for racing mountain bikes competitively. In 2001 she crashed her bike while on holiday, leaving her in a coma for six weeks. After the accident, Shelley spent eight months in a rehab hospital in Toronto learning to walk and talk again after being diagnosed with hemiplegia, or one-sided paralysis, which affects the right side of her body. Following her recovery, Shelley re-entered competitive sports in para-sailing where she became a competitive sailor. Then in 2009, Shelley became the first female T-1 rider on the international para-cycling scene.