(Submitted photo/Julie Kozun)

By Ben Tompkins

Off to Paris

Melfort athlete excited for 2nd Paralympic games

Aug 14, 2024 | 6:00 AM

A local athlete will be heading to Paris, France for the 2024 Paralympic Games, in less than a week.

Melfort native Julie Kozun will be participating on the women’s sitting volleyball team, just as she did in Tokyo in 2021.

“I’m ready, readier than ready, counting down the days. It’s exciting and I think once I’m with the team it will be getting more real again I guess,” Kozun told northeastNOW.

“I’m pretty excited and I know what to expect in terms of village life and everything like that, so I’m not too nervous about what that’s all going to be like. I think just having fans in the stands will be different this time. We’ve played in front of crowds before, so I’m not nervous about it. I’m just excited and really hoping that we are able to win a medal this time and kind of have our redemption.”

Team Canada finished fourth at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo after entering the event as the fifth-ranked team in the World.

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Now coming off a more recent second-place finish at the world championships in 2022, Kozun is confident in her squad’s ability.

“I think mentally and athletically we’ll be more ready. Our preparation schedule has been very busy, we have been to every single competition that we could have and we’ve been training every month,” she added.

“I definitely think we’ll finish first or second in our pool and advance to the semifinals. We’ve played a lot of these teams before.”

Canada will be in a pool with Brazil, Rwanda and Slovenia. Four other countries will be in a separate pool with the top two from each advancing to the playoffs.

There will only be three round-robin games played by each team, before the semis and finals.

Kozun will leave for Paris on Saturday before she begins a week and a half of training with her team in France.

The Canadians’ first game will be on August 29th, following the opening ceremonies on August 28th.

Kozun will be bringing plenty of Melfort with her for the ride, as her parents, boyfriend, aunts, and friends will be watching her in Paris, every step of the way.

“It’s pretty honourable to be the only Saskatchewan athlete. I always like to pipe up and say I’m from Saskatchewan when people ask where we’re from. Also just being a part of the Paralympic movement is incredible, just keeps working towards fairness and equality across the board. I think it’ll be good for more awareness to be out there, so hopefully people tune in,” she concluded.

“I’ve grown to be pretty close with a lot of my teammates’ family as well, so I think we’re just gonna be able to feel the support while we’re there and playing. It’ll probably be a pretty incredible feeling. We’ve only had a handful of competitions where all of them have been there before, and it was pretty great when they were there.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8