'A pretty big honour': These two N.L. torchbearers will represent Canada at the 2023 Special Olympics
Andrew Hynes and Lynette Wells get a second chance after 2022 World Winter Games were cancelled
When Andrew Hynes and Lynette Wells heard they would be part of the torch run leading up to the 2023 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Berlin, they felt pure excitement.
"My reaction was, 'Oh my God, I can't believe this is happening.' I always wanted to go to a World Games. It's a really amazing feeling for me," said Hynes.
"It's a pretty big honour for two of us to be going there, representing Newfoundland, representing Canada and representing the Law Enforcement Torch Run Special Olympics for N.L.," Wells added.
They will be two of only 110 participants from across the world in the torch's final leg — with Hynes being one of only 10 athletes, and the only one from Canada.
As so-called Guardians of the Flame, law enforcement members and Special Olympics athletes will carry the Flame of Hope into the opening ceremony in Germany's capital on June 17.
Hynes and Wells had been selected for a final leg torch run once before — at the 2022 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Kazan, Russia. Those Games, however, were first postponed due to COVID-19 and then cancelled amid Russia's war against Ukraine.
For the two athletes, that decision meant a temporary end to their dream.
"It was very exciting for us to be selected to go to Russia.… So we were pretty disappointed," said Wells, a Memorial University campus enforcement officer and the provincial director of the Law Enforcement Torch Run.
"I was pretty sad. I was crying and everything. And I didn't know what to do," Hynes added. "I decided to start from scratch again, working my way back up, and that's what I did."
That's what they did, indeed.
After having to go through the application process again, they were thrilled to find out they were given another chance to carry the torch.
"[Lynette] was at my hockey practice. And she came down the stairs and she told me … 'You have a chance to go to Berlin, would you like to go?' And I said, 'Oh, yeah.' And then I just went nuts," said Hynes.
"I went and hugged her, and I went and hugged my mother. I hugged everybody. It was a very nice moment for me."
Hynes, who plays floor hockey and soccer, is an active Special Olympian of about 25 years but has never competed at the World Games. The torch run also provides him a chance to shine on an international stage.
"I always wanted to go as an athlete but I didn't get a chance, so this is a good opportunity for me to show them what I'm capable of doing," he said.
"I love my province. I love my country, as well. And I can't wait to represent Canada and Newfoundland."
The five-day torch run will lead him and Wells across nine different communities around Berlin, and then into the German capital itself. They left Newfoundland on Wednesday and will run about 10 kilometres each day, said Wells, who hopes to see as much of Berlin as possible.
While Hynes has heard about the quality of German hockey and beer, Wells is looking forward to temperatures above 20 C.
The support they've received, not just from their inner circles but from the entire province, is "overwhelming," she said.
"Everybody's been behind us, two of us, 100 per cent. It's been great to see," said Wells.
"I just want to say 'thank you' to everybody that supported us throughout all this for the last three years. We really appreciate it. And I mean, Newfoundland and Labrador, we're very small but we have a lot of support behind us."
The World Summer Games take place in Berlin from June 17 to 25, welcoming 7,000 athletes from 170 countries, including four from the province.
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