TORONTO (April 30, 2021) - On Friday, the Shooting Federation of Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee nominated Team Canada’s sole athlete to compete in shooting at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
For the second straight Olympic Games, Calgary’s Lynda Kiejko secured the women’s 10m air pistol quota spot for Team Canada by winning gold at the 2018 Continental American Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico. She followed up by besting the four other potential Canadian athletes at a January 2020 High Performance Team Trials, just four months after giving birth to her third child. She will also compete in the 25m pistol event in Tokyo, having achieved the Minimum Qualification Score needed to enter.
"Heading into my second Olympic Games fills me with excitement and great honour to represent Canada on the world’s greatest athletic stage," said Kiejko. "Representing Canada at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was a great learning experience and one which I have used as motivation for the last five years preparing for Tokyo 2020.
“I am proud to compete in Tokyo, 57 years after my father, the late Bill Hare, competed at the 1964 Olympic Games. There have been many challenges in preparation, and I couldn't be more excited by the potential that we have built as we continue to strive for excellence."
Kiejko has shown great potential at international events including the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games, where she won gold in both the 10m air pistol and 25m pistol. Winning those two gold medals in 2015 qualified her for her first Olympic Games in 2016. Leading up to the 2015 Pan Am Games, Kiejko also placed sixth at the 2015 Changwon World Cup.
In addition to strong World Cup and Pan Am Games showings, she also won bronze at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in 10m air pistol pairs with her older sister Dorothy Ludwig, a London 2012 Olympian. Kiejko cites sharing the podium with her sister as her greatest memory as an athlete. Both Lynda and Dorothy come from a family of Olympic calibre pistol athletes as their father, Bill Hare, was a three-time Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the air pistol discipline.
Shooting will take place July 24 to August 2 (Day 1 to 10) at the Asaka Shooting Range, a legacy venue of the 1964 Olympic Games.
"No matter the challenges that have tried to pull Lynda off track, Lynda has remained incredibly focused on her path to get to Tokyo. Clearly, she has a talent for staying on target!" said Marnie McBean, Team Canada's Tokyo 2020 Chef de Mission. "And to follow her father’s footsteps, 57 years after he competed at Tokyo 1964 is an incredible story.”
Kiejko will be accompanied at Tokyo 2020 by Rockglen, Saskatchewan’s Lisa Borgerson who has been nominated as the Canadian National Pistol Coach.
Prior to being named to Team Canada, all nominations are subject to approval by the Canadian Olympic Committee’s Team Selection Committee following its receipt of nominations by all National Sport Organisations.
The latest Team Canada Tokyo 2020 roster can be found here and the qualification tracker can be found here.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Joey Hutton, High Performance Coordinator
Shooting Federation of Canada
T: 613-727-7483 x2121
E: jhutton@sfc-ftc.ca
Josh Su, Specialist, Public Relations
Canadian Olympic Committee
C: 647-464-4060
E: jsu@olympic.ca
