Team Canada’s Bridgeland Connection
by Janet Pittis
The Milano Cortina XXV Winter Olympic Games are set to begin in Italy on February 6, 2026. As proud Canadians, many of us are looking forward to cheering on the athletes who will be representing Canada.
Over the years, Bridgeland has been home to several high-performance athletes, some of whom have competed and or coached for Team Canada. I would like to profile two of these athletes who are currently living in Bridgeland.
Olivia Li
Olivia Li and her family have been living in Bridgeland for the past five years. Olivia competed for Team Canada in the Pentathlon at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. The modern Pentathlon consisted of five events: fencing, freestyle swimming, laser pistol shooting, cross-country running, and equestrian show jumping, which has been replaced with obstacle course racing after the 2024 Olympics.
Olivia started pentathlon when she was 14 years old. She describes herself as not a naturally gifted athlete but one who possesses a good work ethic. Through much hard work and dedication, she excelled and eventually achieved an elite level in her sport, an incredible achievement for an athlete who started learning the sport at a relatively late age.
Olivia has retired from competing but is now coaching young high-performance pentathletes. She described to me her deep appreciation for the privilege of competing for Canada. Olivia would like to thank all her neighbours in Bridgeland who supported her fundraising efforts while she was competing in the Pentathlon. She also wants to thank physiotherapist Carolyn Hiles and chiropractor Dr. Chris Anderson, as well as her massage therapist Jessica Villeneuve, here in Bridgeland, for their sponsorship and support.
Karine Dazé
To become an athlete capable of competing at the Olympic level obviously requires a high level of ability in a chosen sport, as well as total self-dedication, commitment, and personal sacrifice. It also requires the support of a whole community of family, friends, sports professionals, mentors, and excellent coaches.
Karine Dazé is one such coach. She grew up in a small ski town in Quebec, where she excelled in snowboarding. Karine quickly developed into an elite snowboarder, specifically in the snowboard halfpipe. When she moved to Calgary, she began working for Riders On Board Snowboard Club at WinSport, where she currently works as a coach. Karine’s coaching specialty is in biomechanics, which is the study of how the body moves. As a coach, the ability to break down a movement and build it back up is a tremendous help to elite snowboarders’ performance. In the halfpipe snowboard competition, athletes are expected to perform tricks involving one or more rotations of 360 degrees in the air and then land them perfectly. There is only one halfpipe in Canada now, and it is in Calgary at WinSport. One of the final World Cup qualifying events before the 2026 Olympics will be held there.
Karine has coached for Team Canada in the snowboard halfpipe event at the Youth Olympic Games. Two of the athletes that Karine has coached, Felicity Geremia and Ryan Vo, have been selected for the Canadian National Snowboarding Team and have the possibility of competing for Canada in the upcoming Olympics.
Karine is currently coaching a Brazilian halfpipe snowboarder who will be competing at the upcoming Olympic Games. His name is Augustinho Teixeira. Karine will accompany him to the Olympics, becoming the first female to coach a snowboard halfpipe athlete at a Winter Olympic Games.
Karine has lived in Bridgeland for the past six years and really enjoys the community and the people she has met here. She describes Bridgeland as a community with good, positive, and uplifting energy.
Good luck to all the athletes competing at the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in February. The advice that both Olivia and Karine would give them would be to enjoy the experience and have fun.
Go Team Canada Go!
Karine Dazé
Olivia Li
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