Olympic dreams

Former Tiger Adrienne Power is Beijing bound. (Nick Pearce Photo)

Adrienne Power is an Olympian. The three-time Dalhousie Female Athlete of the Year was named to Canada’s track and field team for the Beijing games as a “rising star” after winning the 200-metre gold medal at the Senior National Championships (SNC) earlier this month.

Her time of 23.02 in a qualifying heat was just .02 of the Olympic ‘A’ standard that she needed for automatic qualification. “Rising star” designation is awarded to athletes who have some international experience and are capable of finishing in the top half of the field in Beijing.

The 26-year-old native of East Jeddore attended Dalhousie from 2000 to 2005 and was a key member of the Dalhousie women’s track and field program, winning nine medals, including six gold, at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championships. Ms. Power is also the only Atlantic Canadian university athlete to ever win the CIS athlete of the year award.

“Having an athlete like Adrienne continue to be a part of the Dal program is certainly an huge plus for us,” says former Dalhousie head coach Dan Hennigar. “The younger athletes can definitely learn a lot from the way Adrienne trains and competes.”

While training for the upcoming Olympic Games, she reflects on how her time at Dalhousie allowed her to follow her Olympic dreams. She says the level of competition and pressure that came from competing as a university athlete prepared her to compete on an international stage: “The CIS and senior national championships are pretty close in terms of pressure and nervousness…all of those (CIS) races definitely helped me become a strong competitor both mentally and physically.”

After a training session in Singapore, Ms. Power will arrive in China for the second half of the Olympics. She is scheduled to compete in the 200-metre heats on August 19, with the finals scheduled for August 21.