BY VICKI GILHULA
Olympic medalist Silken Laumann is worried
about Canadian children, and she has plans to do something to
help them become healthier adults.
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She is concerned most kids do not get enough
exercise.
Experts are already ringing alarm bells
suggesting young people who spend too much time watching
television or sitting in front of computer are at risk of
having a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
Laumann spoke at the Heart and Stroke
FoundationÂ's fundraising breakfast Monday morning at the
Caruso Club.
The Canadian rowing star retired after
winning the silver medal at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996,
and is now an inspirational speaker.
She is also in the process of launching her
pet project, the Silken Laumann Active Kid's
Movement.
Â"We want our children to be the best they
can be,Â" she said, but 37 per cent of Canadian children are
overweight and only half get the exercise they need.
She challenged the audience to get creative
with ways to encourage young people to become active such as
establishing a Â"walking school busÂ" program.
In Guelph, a teacher got teens involved in
taking Phys. Ed. by offering programs in pilates and yoga, she
said.
Part of her project will be to establish
networks of community-minded people throughout the country that
can mentor each other to make their ideas become reality.
S
he told the audience not to worry about
whether or not they have the expertise to get involved in the
movement.
Nor should they wait for the government to do
something.
(We donÂ't need expertise), Â"we need to get
started.Â"
Parents should set good examples for their
children by eating right and being physically active,
said.
Â"Most of us treat our bodies as
Â'rent-a-wrecks,Â" rather than high performance vehicles, she
said.
Â"We take care of their families and their
careers but not our health.Â"
Laumann made the greatest comeback in recent
sports history.
Badly injured while training for the 1992
Olympics, her doctors told her she would never be able to
compete again. She didnÂ't listen.
Although she had to walk with the help of a
cane, she made it to the Olympics that year in Barcelona, and
won the bronze medal in single skulls event.
Using her own story of the Â"comeback kid,Â"
Laumann inspired the audience to be the best they can be and to
have the courage to dream the impossible.
In 1998, the Mississauga native was inducted
into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
She now lives in Victoria with her husband
and two children.