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| Subject: Nice Immigrant/Olympic story |
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Tiny Hazelton bathed in Olympic glow
Allison Cross and Gary Kingston
Vancouver Sun
Monday, August 18, 2008
HAZELTON -- Some people in this small village stayed up all night, while others set their alarms for 2 a.m. Saturday to ensure they´d be awake to watch one of their own wrestle for Olympic gold.
All together, an entire town held its breath.
When Carol Huynh won the match in Beijing, beating three-time world champion Chibaru Icho of Japan in two straight rounds, the people in her home town leaped from their seats, whooping with joy.
And when Huynh, the 27-year-old daughter of refugees who was raised in this town of 350, began to cry and shake as she received Canada´s first gold medal of this Olympics, her townspeople were crying and shaking along with her.
The people of Hazelton have taken some ownership of Huynh´s victory, having watched her grow up in a family that started with nothing in a tightly knit town where little comes easy.
In the mostly native community, where the economy is suffering and young people find little to inspire them, Huynh has come to represent what a strong work ethic can do for a young person of any background who is determined to succeed.
"It shows the talent out here in the small communities," said Doug Donaldson, a Hazelton resident for 18 years. "We´ve been going through some tough times here. We´ve been having to kick and claw and scream our way to survive up here for the last 20 years, and I think Carol really epitomizes that because she had to claw her way to the top. The kids here need one of their own to look up to. You´ve got make hope concrete."
Dewey Cummins, 92, wasn´t able to keep from crying as he watched Huynh, whose parents left Vietnam in 1980, wrestle her way to victory.
"It was very emotional," said Cummins, whose church sponsored Huynh´s family to Canada. "I was very touched by the whole thing."
Cummins gave Huynh´s father his first job in Hazelton working on a farm, and calls himself Huynh´s de facto grandfather.
Huynh herself spoke of her family´s struggle as she stood in Beijing with a gold medal around her neck and a bouquet of flowers in her arms.
"My parents always worked so hard to support their family and make sure we had a better life than they had," she said. "It´s very special that they be here and see such an accomplishment, for me to reach my dream."
Huynh´s parents, three of her siblings and her husband -- all dressed in "Go Carol" T-shirts -- were in the packed crowd at the China Agricultural University gym for her victory.
It was the first time her parents had seen her wrestle in person since they snuck in the back door of the high school gym in Hazelton on a couple of occasions.
"My parents were always worried that wrestling was too tough a sport for women," said Huynh´s older brother, Hui. "But I think they´re very proud of her for accomplishing what she wants to do. They may not understand why she wants to do it, but they´re definitely proud of her."
In heavily accented English, Huynh´s father Viem Huynh said he was, indeed, extremely proud of his daughter. "She worked so hard on the plan, now she make something here. I am very happy."
Viem Huynh was born in China but moved with his family to Vietnam at age three. There, he met and married Mai Trinh. The couple and their first two children, Ngoc and Hui, fled Communist-controlled Ho Chi Minh City as "boat people" refugees for Indonesia, where they stayed eight months before being sponsored to Canada.
They were immediately placed in tiny Hazelton, where a virtually penniless Viem did some carpentry and worked in a sawmill for a number of years before he and Trinh, who had been waitressing, bought a small, 12-room motel a decade ago. Carol was born nine months after the family arrived in Hazelton, followed by two more siblings.
"I come to Canada and Canada helping me," said a beaming Viem. "I got my young kids and my wife. And all I can think is I have to work hard for a new life."
Janet Francis, a Hazelton resident who came to Canada from India in 1968, recalled how the community helped the Huynh family integrate. "They didn´t speak any English," she said.
Once a week, a different home would take the family in, either for a meal or a game of bridge, to help them learn the language and feel immersed in the community, she said.
"They soon picked up enough English to manage," said Francis, noting that all five Huynh children eventually became known for their athletic and academic achievements.
Huynh followed her older sister, Ngoc, into wrestling when she was in Grade 10, said her high school coach, Joe Sullivan.
Sullivan, who helped produce a remarkable number of champion wrestlers out of Hazelton secondary school before retiring last year, attributed the program´s success to the fact that it doesn´t discriminate according to socio-economic status.
"We´ve always tried to be really inclusive. It is not a rich area, here. There are a lot of poor people and their kids would not be able to participate if they had to come up with funds to travel."
Sullivan is convinced athletes of Huynh´s calibre can emerge from small towns and rural communities, if they are given enough training and support.
"They aren´t elite athletes, these Olympians," Sullivan said. "They´re just boys and girls like Carol."
There were only about two or three other Asian families in Hazelton, but both Hui Huynh, now a software engineer in Denver, Colo., and Carol said that other than the occasional name-calling in school, they experienced little in the way of overt racism.
"I had lots of friends in high school and to me, it wasn´t a big factor," said Carol, adding her main regret about growing up in Hazelton was not taking advantage of the outdoor opportunities.
Hui, 30, described Carol, who went on to wrestle and study psychology at Simon Fraser University, as a rambunctious, athletic youngster.
"She was always jumping around. We nicknamed her monkey because she loved to climb on things -- trees, monkey bars, hanging upside down. She was more gymnastically oriented than any one of the rest of us."
Ngoc Huynh and another girl were the first two female wrestlers in the program run by Sullivan, who admits some people in town were initially "dead set against" him adding women, but later came around.
Carol Huynh is actually the second Hazelton wrestler to compete in the Olympics. Lyndsay Belisle finished 11th in 2004.
When Carol Huynh joined the program with several friends in Grade 10, Sullivan knew he had a terrific athlete and person. "She was a first-class student, a real athlete-scholar, and very personable. She is a very likable young woman. And her athletic ability is obvious."
Meanwhile, in Hazelton, firefighters at the Gitanmaax Volunteer Fire Department didn´t want to stop celebrating. Outside the station hung a spray-painted sign congratulating Huynh. The TV was on all day Saturday, as volunteers switched channels to catch replays of the gold medal match.
gkingston@vancouversun.com
[18-08-2008,16:46]
[**.155.160.37]
Sharon |
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(in reply to: Nice Immigrant/Olympic story)
Hi Sharon
Thanks for sharing the inspiring story above.
I just want to ask if you could possible reply on my post titled "Previous Work/Travel history & Canada Immigration" , dated 18 August.
Thanks
[18-08-2008,16:57]
[**.65.166.154]
Umair Malik |
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