Posted: December 17, 2005

Athletics: Two more silver medals for Canada in track and field at Francophone Games

NIAMEY, Niger- High jumper Kwaku Boateng of Montreal and the women’s 4X400 metre relay each won silver medals Friday to conclude the track and field events at the Francophone Games.

Canada’s track and field team finished the Games with three gold, three silver and three bronze medals.

In the 4X400 relay, Esther Akinsulie of Ottawa had a tremendous anchor leg to lead Canada to the podium. The other Canadian runners in order were Lauren Seibel of Vancouver, Tasha Monroe of Calgary, and Melina Thibodeau of Victoria

“I still can’t believe we won a medal,” said Monroe. “Esther and Melina had run earlier on in other events and they were awesome and provided a lot more than we expected. We only had a few short practices this week so I was very impressed to see our baton exchanges in the final go so smoothly.”

In the men’s high jump, Mustapha Raifak of France won the gold medal at 2.24 metres while Boateng took the silver at 2.20. Edwad Ant Sebastien of Romania also cleared 2.20 but needed more attempts than Boateng and was awarded the bronze. Jeff Caton of Toronto was fourth and Derek Watkins of Ottawa fifth.

Other Canadian track and field results on Friday: Andrea Vinet of Saskatoon was fifth in the 100 hurdles, Akinsukie seventh in the 200 and Thibobeau eighth in the 800,

For the men, Trevor O’Brian of Victoria was seventh in the 1,500 and Jason Warick of Saskatoon and Ken Myers of Calgary, eighth and 10th respectively in the marathon.

The gold medallists at the Games for Canada in track and field this week were James Steacy of Lethbridge, Alta., in the men’s hammer throw, Kelsie Hendry of Saskatoon in the women’s pole vault and Whitney Evans of Calgary in the women’s high jump. The other silver medallist was Jared McLeod of Winnipeg in the men’s 110 metre hurdles and the bronze medallists were Patrick Russel of Toronto in the decathlon, Eric Forshaw of Windsor, Ont., in the men’s discus and Robert Hanson of Saskatoon in the men’s pole vault.

Canada had a 38-member track and field team at the Games which reunites nations and regions of the world that have French as a common language. The previous Francophone Games in 2001 were held in Ottawa-Hull.