Mr. Speaker, over the weekend one of P.E.I.'s most famous and most loved athletes struck gold in Nagano, Japan.
Dave MacEachern, Eli as he is known to islanders, and his teammate Pierre Lueders from Edmonton entered their names in the history books when they tied for gold with Italy in the two-man bobsled competition. After four runs both teams had the exact accumulated time. Although a tie is rare, it is not the first time.
However, the importance of this medal is not missed by Canadians. This is the first gold in 34 years for Canadian bobsledders and Eli is the first islander ever to win an Olympic gold medal.
Just to show how supportive islanders are to their athletes, last week over 17,000 islanders put their signatures on a 400 page fax sent to Dave in Nagano.
On behalf of all islanders I want to congratulate Eli for his outstanding performance. At the same time I want to wish him and his team mates the best of luck in the four man bobsled scheduled for this coming week. Good show, Dave.