Local athlete eyes gold for upcoming Paralympic Games in Paris

Barrie athlete Renee Foessel has her sights set on gold as she prepares to compete in her third Paralympic Games later this month.

Foessel, 29, who has worked as a records and information management clerk for the Barrie Police Service for the past six years, is in Paris to compete as a member of Team Canada in F38 Discus. 

Foessel, who was born with cerebral palsy that affects one side of her body, was also the youngest Canadian para-athlete at the 2011 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Championship. In 2013, she was also named most outstanding female field performer by Athletics Ontario.

The team was officially announced July 25, and, once again, Foessel made the cut, an accomplishment that she said was no easy feat this year.

“This year was a bit of a challenging year. We’ve had the most competitive year that we’ve ever had coming off of the World Championships where our team was able to obtain 14 medals — which was 10 quota spots," she told BarrieToday. "Previous to that, we haven’t had athletes that have medalled that high, so it just goes to show how significant the team is in terms of placements and opportunities at this year’s Paralympic Games."

The pressure was on, admitted Foessel, because of how competitive the team has been.

“I hit my qualifications standards pretty early … and that, along with placing first in nationals is what confirmed my spot,” she said. “I’ve known since (then) that I was likely to be selected, but officially hearing it (July 25) was definitely a weight off of my shoulders.”

Foessel will first land in Spain for the “staging camp” before heading to the Olympic Village in Paris on Aug. 30 ahead of her competition date of Sept. 6.

Going into her third Paralympic Games — she previously competed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016 as well as Tokyo 2020 in Japan (which took place in 2021) — Foessel says she's able to approach the opportunity with a bit more of a “veteran’s” viewpoint.

“I feel like I have a different confidence, or a different lens, when looking at this. My first games … I sort of had the blackout effect of being so new to the sport (and it) being my first village experience. You’re kind of tumbling your way through it,” she said. “Going into Tokyo, I was going in ranked pretty high and placed a lot of pressure on myself. I don’t think I really took the opportunity to soak in the experience.”

She’s hoping the third time's the charm, and said she’s excited to be a veteran member of the team.

“What I am excited about is being able to mentor and feeling grounded. Hopefully I can go in and enjoy the experience and achieve what I am ultimately looking for, which is to do well and enjoy having my family and friends surrounding me in Paris.”

Foessel will be heading into the event ranked sixth, but the competition is stiff, she said.

“It’s a very close race. You could come first or you could come eighth. It’s just a matter of who can really perform on the day of and bring those final few metres forward. It’s going to be a very interesting competition,” she said. “It will mean more than it ever has to achieve a personal best or a podium experience because of how competitive it is.”

The thought of making it to the top of the podium, and hearing the Canadian national anthem is hard to even put into words, she admitted.

“I don’t think I can even explain or express how that would feel,” she said. “For me, though, what I am most excited about for this experience is that it’s the first time my family will be able to watch me and attend the Paralympic Games. So not only to do that, but to do it with my family supporting me and being present there, it would be beyond words.”

Knowing that she’s got so many members of the community supporting her — including her Barrie police colleagues — has gone a long way to her success in her athletic career, she noted.

“Being able to achieve what I have done so far ... a big part of that is the friends, family, coach, teammates … and the city of Barrie and Barrie Police Service,” she said. “They’ve all been so supportive of me being able to pursue a professional career in sport, but also a professional career outside of sport.

"That’s something a lot of high-performance athletes are not able to do.”