Georgetown’s Olympians in The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

By: Kaelin Jumaa

Born in Mississauga and raised here in Georgetown, 22-year-old Jasmine Baird is now a professional snowboarder competing for our nation in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics! The Canadian Olympian started winning awards at a very young age, coming in first in the Junior National Championships in slopestyle and won second place in big air at the Senior Championship. Just four years before the current event held in Beijing, Baird first competed on an international level at the 2017 FIS Junior World Championships, gaining seventh place in slopestyle and fifth in big air. She later went on to win gold thrice in her professional career out of six events, earning the Nor-Am Cup title for slopestyle in the 2012 event.

The Mississauga-born athlete has competed in various international events, from Colorado to Italy before competing at the Winter Olympics held in Beijing, China. For Jasmine Baird, snowboarding has always been a lifelong passion; she participated in national competitions at the young age of 15 before progressing onto an international level just three years later. A true Canadian, Baird aspires to follow in the footsteps of fellow Olympian snowboarder, Spenser O’Brien, who competed at both the 2014 and 2018 Olympics for Team Canada. Sadly, Baird injured her left knee only a few years ago, keeping her off her snowboard for over a year to guarantee a full recovery. Although a big setback, the professional snowboarder trained harder than ever before, allowing her to compete at the World Cup competition in January 2021! Aside from her impressive career and endless list of achievements, Baird also loves to cook and hike in her spare time, proving that she is just an ordinary young woman with an unmatched skill in snowboarding!

"I want to be a role model for younger girls and help promote women in snowboarding. I also want to take part in the spiking progression going on in women's slopestyle and big air."

- Jasmine Baird

Find Jasmine Baird on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasmine.baird/

Another female athlete at the Beijing Olympics may sound familiar to some of the staff here at CtK. Sarah Fillier of Georgetown competes for Team Canada in women’s hockey, supporting our team immensely to win gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics! On February 17th, Fillier and her team played against the USA’s best hockey players, ultimately scoring three goals against the American women which led to their final victory and the USA’s third defeat from a Canadian hockey team. Not only does Fillier make our wintry country proud, but she also puts our beloved school on the map.

The Olympian graduated from our very own Christ the Kind C.S.S. in 2018, merely four years ago! To walk the same halls as the gold-medalist is a dream come true for many of our school’s athletes, the hockey player is an inspiration to all students here at CtK! Before her professional career as an Olympian, Sarah Fillier played for the Oakville Hornets, just a few cities over. In the same year of her graduation from CtK, Fillier secured third place at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championships, being dubbed as one of the top three players on her team. She went on to play for the U22 team of the Ontario Women’s Hockey Organization. In this team, she became part of its senior squad for the Four Nations Cup, scoring her first goal in her team’s 6-1 takeover of Sweden and claiming the title of the first athlete part of Generation Z to score for the National Women’s Team!

Sarah Fillier has won numerous awards through the winter sport, such as the National Rookie of the Year for 2019 and the ECAC Rookie of the Year for 2019. Like many people born in Georgetown, Sarah also has a twin, Kayla Fillier, who she plays hockey with at Princeton University. Both sisters attend Princeton, with Sarah currently studying psychology at the institute.