Three athletes are among a 23-member entourage of McGill graduates and students headed to Rio de Janeiro to serve in an official capacity at the Summer Olympic Games, Aug. 5-21. The athletes, all from Montreal, include wrestler Dorothy Yeats, an engineering student, and a pair of fencers – both recent graduates – Maximilien Van Haaster (B.Ed. Kinesiology ’16) and Joseph Polossifakis (B. Com ’14).
Read full article: McGill Publications, August 3, 2016
Three athletes are among a 23-member entourage of McGill University students and graduates headed to Rio de Janeiro to serve in an official capacity at the Summer Olympic Games, Aug. 5-21.
In this weekly series we feature an Olympic athlete who juggles work and sport. The Q&As give you their insights for peak performance and top tips to help you whether you’re at work, or working out.
...Born and raised in Montreal, Polossifakis graduated from McGill University in 2014 with a commerce degree. His studies focused on accounting and international business. He did an accounting internship with KPMG in the summer of 2013 and will be doing an 18-month internship, exploring a variety of roles, with Bell starting in September.
Contraint à de longs mois dans son salon à combattre les symptômes d’une commotion cérébrale, de juin 2014 jusqu’à l’hiver de 2015, l’escrimeur montréalais a accueilli comme une délivrance sa qualification officielle pour les Jeux olympiques de Rio, le 26 mars dernier, lors du Grand Prix de Séoul. La centaine de parents et amis qui l’attendaient à l’aéroport à son retour ont béni sa réussite.
ESCRIME. Joseph Polossifakis rêvait depuis 14 ans à une participation aux Jeux olympiques. Son souhait deviendra réalité cet été à Rio.
Le sabreur a mérité sa qualification olympique en obtenant récemment une 39e place au Grand Prix de Séoul, en Corée du Sud.
Au tableau des 64, Joseph Polossifakis avait cependant baissé pavillon 15-11 à son premier affrontement face au Sud-Coréen Hansol Ha. La veille, il était passé directement de la ronde des poules au tableau principal, en remportant cinq de ses six affrontements de cinq touches.
Joseph Polossifakis is going to the Olympics, but the road to Rio de Janeiro has been anything but smooth for the 25-year-old Montreal sabre fencer.
Polossifakis won a gold medal at the Pan-American championships in 2012, but didn’t commit to a full-time training program until June 2014 after graduating from McGill University with a commerce degree. He had 10 months to prepare for the year-long Olympic qualifying schedule, which began in April 2015, but his plan suffered a setback during his first training camp.
