Ontario athletes shine in the spotlight at Sochi

Ontario is celebrating its athletes who competed and excelled at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

This year, 63 Ontario athletes were a part of the largest Canadian team ever to be sent to a Winter Olympics — competing in 93 of 98 events.

Thirty-four Ontario athletes reached the highest level of their sport by securing a spot on the Olympic podium for Team Canada.

Some of the Ontario athletes who won the top honours for Team Canada include:

Sudbury's own Rebecca Johnston won gold as a member of the women's hockey team, and Meagan Duhamel secured a silver medal in figure skating.

Other medal winners are:

-Dara Howell from Huntsville won the gold medal in the ski slopestyle event;

-One of the five women on the gold medal winning curling team is Ontario athlete Kirsten Wall;

-Brad Jacobs, Ryan Fry, E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden from Sault Ste. Marie and Caleb Flaxey from Caledon won the gold medal in men's curling;

-Ontario athlete Heather Moyse is one of the two members of the gold-medal winning bobsleigh team;

-Ten of the 21 athletes on the gold-medal winning women's hockey team are from Ontario including Meghan Agosta-Marciano, Johnston, Laura Fortino, Jennifer Wakefield, Gillian Apps, Jayna Hefford, Brianne Jenner, Haley Irwin, Natalie Spooner and Tara Watchorn;

-Nine out of 25 athletes in the gold-medal winning men's ice hockey team are from Ontario including Mike Smith, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo, P.K. Subban, Matt Duchene, John Tavares, Corey Perry, Rick Nash and Jeff Carter;

-Patrick Chan from Ottawa won the silver medal in men's figure skating;

-Tessa Virtue from London and Scott Moir from Ilderton won the silver medal for ice dance;

-Seven of the nine athletes on the silver-medal winning figure-skating team are from Ontario including Patrick Chan, Scott Moir, Tessa Virtue, Meagan Duhamel, Eric Radford, Dylan Moscovitch and Kirsten Moore-Towers.

Ontario supports its athletes year round with direct financial assistance through programs like Quest for Gold, and celebrates athletic achievement through recognition programs like the Ontario Sport Awards.

Ontario also assists provincial and local sport organizations to ensure that high performance athletes have the tools they need to succeed at the highest levels of competition, including the Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games.

Team Canada won 10 Gold, 10 silver and five bronze medals at in Sochi.
Top Paralympic athletes from Ontario are getting ready to represent Canada at the Winter Paralympic Games from March 7 to March 17, 2014.