Three young Canada Artistic Swimming (CAS) athletes have received a very special distinction. They are the first recipients of the Vilagos Family Bursary, established by the Vilagos family as a legacy in honour of the accomplishments of Penny Vilagos and Vicky Vilagos. The sisters were seven-time national duet champions of Canada and the 1992 Olympic Silver medallists in duet at the Barcelona Games.
The bursary is awarded to the members of a duet at the Junior World or Youth World Championships level who are registrants in good standing of CAS, are full-time students and are also involved in full-time training in artistic swimming.
The initial recipients are three members of the 13-15 National Team Duet: Mya Fortin, Tara Goettisheim and Charlotte Gray.
Vicky Vilagos, with her mother Diane Vilagos, presented cheques to Mya and Tara on November 2nd at the 2019 Natation Artistique Québec Figure Meet held by the Dollard Synchro club in Montréal, QC.
Lindsay Duncan, a CAS Board member, was on hand for the presentation, and passed along congratulations from the entire CAS community.
“Canada was represented very well by this young group of athletes who finished 11th in the duet event at the first-ever World Youth Championships event in Samorin, Slovakia, and I know we are all proud of their accomplishments here in Canada too.”
Penny Vilagos and Vicky Vilagos were inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 2002 and into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2014. They too offered their congratulations to the 2019 recipients.
“We are so pleased to be able to encourage young artistic swimming athletes with this bursary,” said Vicky Vilagos. “This sport was so integral to our lives as we grew up, and competed at the highest levels. We hope our bursary helps ignite that spark that will propel this next generation to achieve their dreams in the years to come.”
They look forward to presenting Charlotte Gray with her bursary award in Toronto at a future opportunity.