Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to congratulate Larisa Yurkiw on her recent performance at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Larisa is a Canadian skier from Owen Sound who specializes in women's downhill alpine skiing and women's super-G races.
Following a devastating knee injury in 2010, she was cut from the Canadian team and was on her own to fundraise her way to Sochi. Larisa worked hard and qualified for the Olympics with a career-best run. She fundraised on her own, just so she could don the red and white and represent Canada in Sochi.
At the games, Larisa raced hard and in the women's downhill race finished only 1.86 seconds off the gold medal winning time. What an effort. Larisa's performance at the games was incredible. She worked so hard to even be there and has shown all Canadians that anything is possible when one sets one's mind to it.
I speak for all Canadians in saying that we are truly proud of all she has accomplished.