Two Female Olympians Join FitSpirit Team

Two Female Olympians Join FitSpirit Team
Emilie Heymans and Kathy Tremblay to Inspire Young Women To Participate in Sport

TORONTO and MONTREAL, Feb. 9 /CNW/ - Today, FitSpirit announced thatEmilie Heymans, three-time Olympic Medalist in diving, and Kathy Tremblay,Olympian and Triathlete, have joined the team as motivational speakers, whospeak to young women about the importance and value of sport. The currentFitSpirit team includes a wide variety of exceptional female athletes who usetheir experiences to speak to young women about adopting an active, healthyand well-balanced lifestyle. "FitSpirit is thrilled to have Emilie and Kathy join our growing team, asit helps us get our message out to more young girls about the importance ofathletics in their life," said Claudine LaBelle, founder of FitSpirit. "AtFitSpirit, we are looking to bring role models like Emilie and Kathy to sharetheir experiences with sport, nutrition and life. Young women need inspirationand we have a team that shows them how to elevate their lives through sport." "Empowering young women to see the value of sport in their lives isfulfilling," said Emilie Heymans. "The more girls there are playing sports,creates more self-confident women we will have in the world. I am proud to bea part of the FitSpirit team and tell young women about my experiences and howthey changed my life." Emilie Heymans, a three-time Olympic Silver Medalist, secured a medal in10M platform diving at the 2008 Bejing Olympics. At the 2004 Athens Olympics,Emilie won a bronze medal in the 10M synchro diving event with partner BlytheHartley. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Emilie won a silver medal in the 10Msynchro diving event with partner Anne Montminy. For further details on Emilieplease visit: http://www.emilieheymans.ca/ "Showing girls that being active is not only empowering but also cool,"said Kathy Tremblay. "FitSpirit provides a positive way to reach young womenin building their confidence to see the value of exercise, sport andnutrition." Kathy Tremblay, an Olympian and Triathlete, finished third in May 2006 inthe Mazatlan World Cup, making her the only Canadian woman to have a World Cuppodium finish. She finished second at the 2008 Pan American Championships inthe USA, and won the National Championship in 2007. For further details onKathy please visit: http://www.kathytremblay.ca/

FitSpirit currently has a strong roster of female athletes, who conductpresentations, physical activity sessions, and FitSpirit challenges, such asthe upcoming Snow Challenge at the Stoneham Mountain Resort on February 20thwhere two hundred girls are expected. Other athletes include: Isabelle Baird,an Olympic Triathlete, Andréanne Dumas-Lamarche, a river surfer, AndréanneÉthier-Chiasson, a champion wakeboarder, Audrey Lemieux, a cycling champion,Jennifer Botterill, Jayna Hefford, Cheryl Pounder and Sami Jo Small, alltwo-time Olympic Gold medalists in hockey, Tracey Ferguson, a paralympicathlete in basketball and athletism, Molly Killingbeck, a silver Olympicmedalist in Track & Field, Manon Jutras, an Olympic cyclist, AnoukLeblanc-Boucher, a two-time Olympic medalist in speed skating and AnnieMartin, an international beach volleyball player.

The FitSpirit program focuses on promoting health and physical activityamong female teenagers between 13 and 17 years old. FitSpirit presentsseminars at schools in Quebec and Ontario. Since 2007, FitSpirit has had anaudience of more than 25,000 female students in Quebec and Ontario. The femaleteenage membership for FitSpirit is 3,000 and growing. For more informationvisit www.fitspirit.ca.

For further information: Sarah Thompson, PUNCH Canada, (647) 837-1266, sarah@punchcanada.com