More than two years have passed since Canadians donned red mittens and cheered on home-grown athletes in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
Has our spirit lagged or are we prepared to wave the flag once more, even though the Summer Olympics is so far away from home?
Abbotsford residents certainly have something to cheer about.
Among more than 10,000 competitors in London for the Games are six local people who number among the finest athletes in the world.
Abbotsford’s own Sophie Schmidt is a midfielder with the Canadian women’s soccer team, and a key player who will figure prominently in any success the team has.
Valley Royals track and field star Mike Mason will need to set a personal best if he is to medal in the high jump, but he has been getting close to those lofty heights. His Royals teammate Jessica Smith competes in the 800-metre run.
World champion swimmer Brent Hayden, a proud Mission Marlin, is a medal hopeful in the pool.
Fellow Mission natives Kim Smith and Teresa Gabriele are starters on the Canadian women’s basketball team.
London may be a long way away, and most of us will have to cheer from a distance, unlike 2010 when we could toast our athletes from the stands.
But with all the other mayhem going on in the world, supporting our local Olympians will be a welcome relief.