Even through her own personal pain, Erin Attwell of Victoria rejoiced at Canada’s opening two gold medals in cycling Saturday in the cross-country mountain discipline at the 2023 Santiago Pan Am Games.
She knows what it feels like to be on the podium, having won the silver medal in team pursuit at the last Pan Am Games in 2019 at Lima, Peru.
There are 44 Island athletes among the 473 Canadians competing in the 2023 Pan Am Games in the Chilean capital. There should have been 45 Islanders in Santiago but Attwell was hit by a car on McKenzie Avenue late last month to deny her a place in the Games after she was selected for the Canadian team.
“I’m heartbroken and it’s really unfortunate,” said Attwell.
“We [Canadian women’s pursuit team] were favoured to win at the Pan Ams. It’s an important competition. You get very limited chances to experience multi-sport Games and this is the last Games for us before the Paris Olympics next summer and we were to use this as a trial.”
Attwell said she “was on the ground right away and my bike was destroyed by the collision” but that she considers herself fortunate in one way in that it could have been much worse.
“Some bones should have broken and it’s a miracle that they weren’t,” she said.
As it was, Canadian team doctors took one look at the MRI of Attwell’s knee and declared her unfit to compete in the Pan Am Games, which began Friday with the opening ceremony and run through Nov. 5.
“It could have been much worse and kept me out of the Olympics, as well,” said Attwell.
“It doesn’t take much to slow down for cyclists.”
Attwell hopes to be back and recovered for the Nations Cup in February in Brisbane, Australia, which is a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
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