Canadian Sport Institute Ontario – TORONTO (August 9, 2016) – Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) is please to provide a unique perspective from the pool deck of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. CSIO’s Director, Business Development is assisting CBC in their coverage of the Games. John is available to talk with media about Team Canada’s success in the water and how CSIO has collaborated with various performance partners to support many of these athletes during their career development pathway.

Five of the swimmers competing for Team Canada train daily out of Swimming Canada’s High Performance Centre-Ontario (HPC-O) at Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre and the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario under Head Coach Ben Titley. These five athletes are:

• Penny Oleksiak – 2016 Olympic Silver & Bronze Medallist
• Chantal Van Landeghem – 2016 Olympic Bronze Medallist
• Michelle Williams – 2016 Olympic Bronze Medallist
• Sandrine Mainville – 2016 Olympic Bronze Medallist
• Audrey Lacroix – Made the semi-final in 200m Butterfly, to compete Aug. 9

Penny and Michelle have also been supported through CSIO’s Ontario High Performance Sport Initiative program, or OHPSI (NEXTGEN Ontario). The OHPSI (NEXTGEN Ontario) program was designed by CSIO and funded by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport (MTCS), to provide sport science and sport medicine services to athletes who are best capable of achieving future international success on senior national teams in targeted winter and summer sports. The OHPSI (NEXTGEN Ontario) investment also contributes to funding athlete participation in training camps, international events, coach and technical leadership support and enhancing sports’ daily training environments.

Other swimmers on Team Canada that CSIO has supported through the OHPSI program are:

• Kylie Masse – 2016 Olympic Bronze Medallist
• Javier Acevedo
• Ashton Baumann
• Dominique Bouchard
• Kennedy Goss
• Brittany Maclean
• Martha McCabe
• Erika Seltenrieich-Hodgson
• Evan Van Moerkerke

Prior to working with the CSIO, John was the Head Coach and Director of Swimming for the Toronto Swim Club. After taking over that role in 1994, John’s leadership helped TSC grow from a small community club of 30 members into one of the top swim clubs in Canada with membership approaching 300. Over John’s 17 year coaching career, he trained athletes to become national champions, national record holders and onto National and Olympic teams. In addition to his role with the Toronto Swim Club, John coached many Canadian National and Provincial Teams at various international competitions. As a former competitive swimmer, John was a national medalist and Canadian University All-Canadian.

Media Availability:

Who: John Grootveld, Director, Business Development – Canadian Sport Institute Ontario

When: August 10 – 13, 2016 from 3pm – 7pm EST

Where: Via Conference Call or Email – jgrootveld@csiontario.ca or locally in Rio: +55 21994408927 

About Canadian Sport Institute Ontario

Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) is a non-profit organization committed to the pursuit of excellence by providing world-class programs, services, and leadership to high performance athletes and coaches to enhance their ability to achieve international podium performances. CSIO offers athletes a range of sport science and sport medicine services including nutrition, physiology, biomechanics, strength & conditioning, mental performance, sport therapy and life services. CSIO also delivers programming and services to National and Provincial Sport Organizations and coaches to work towards building a stronger sport system in Ontario and Canada.

CSIO services approximately 700 high performance athletes and 250 coaches, at its main facility at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, its satellite location at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, and in daily training environments across Ontario. CSIO is part of a larger network of 4 institutes and 3 multi-sport centres across the country known as the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, working in partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee. CSIO is further supported by the Ministry of

Tourism, Culture and Sport, Sport Canada, Own the Podium, and the Coaching Association of Canada, along with the National and Provincial Sport Organizations within the sector.  www.csiontario.ca

-30-

Media Contact:

Laura Albright, Senior Communications Coordinator

Canadian Sport Institute Ontario
Tel: 416.596.1240 Ext. 238

Email: lalbright@csiontario.ca

www.csiontario.ca