DIDSBURY — Didsbury swimmer and Olds Rapids head coach Wesley Wilks won a bronze medal in the 50-metre (m) men's Special Olympics breaststroke Aug. 11 during the Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
He also placed seventh in the 100m men's Special Olympics freestyle race.
The Games began Aug. 8 and end Aug. 25.
“This bronze medal feels like gold to me," Wilks said afterwards. "I have worked so hard over the last three years. It’s been really tough, I haven’t had much coaching and I’ve been training myself for three years on my own.
"This feels like gold because it was really hard to get and I went into this Games thinking that winning a medal might be doable, but I probably won’t do that well. So getting the bronze, feels like gold to me.”
Wilks qualified for the Games during provincial Special Olympics competition this past spring, representing rural Alberta. He said two female teammates are representing Calgary/Strathmore and Lethbridge.
During an interview with the Albertan, Wilks was asked if he was nervous.
“Funny enough, I'm the least amount of nervous,” he said. “I'm least stressed from compared to all the other competitions I've been doing the last eight years.”
Wilks noted he’s been in competition at this level a couple of times before.
He won six gold medals during the 2019 Canada Summer Games: gold medals in 50m and 100m backstroke, 50m butterfly, 50m breaststroke, and the 50 and 100m freestyle.
At age 24, This will be his last year of eligibility, Wilks said.
“They use a birth year eligibility. And my birth year is 2000 which makes me eligible, because the qualification this year is 2000 to 2012, whereas four years from now, it will be 2004 to 2016 right? So this is my last year of eligibility.”
Wilks trained hard for this year’s competition.
On Tuesday he did a morning and a night session in Lethbridge to get ready for the Games “so I can be in peak form when I compete.”
Wilks was asked if current Canadian swimming phenom Summer McIntosh is an inspiration for him.
She just won four of five gold medals during the World Aquatics Championships, held July 11-3 in Singapore. McIntosh just missed a fifth and final gold medal, finishing third in the women’s 800m freestyle.
Wilks said McIntosh is a hero for a generation younger than his. He said swimming heroes in his generation include American Michael Phelps, who won five gold medals and one silver during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
— With files from Canada Summer Games Communications Liaison Kara Spady
