London’s Olympic gold medallist made a virtual appearance at this year’s Lewis Coray Trailblazer Awards to cheer on Black youth from the community nominated for their outstanding accomplishments.
The 11th annual awards ceremony held every year during Black History Month honours London’s first Black police officer, retired Sgt. Lewis “Bud” Coray. He served for the London Police Service for over 30 years after joining the force in 1951. Coray is recognized in the London community as a leader who helped pave the way for the future generations of people of colour.
“This is a time for us to celebrate and recognize our diversity and our achievements, while acknowledging the sacrifices endured as we move toward the shared goal of racial equality,” said London’s police chief Steve Williams during the virtual ceremony held Wednesday evening.
The evening’s event theme was “an evening of champions.” Damian Warner, 2020 Olympic champion and Londoner, was the evening’s keynote speaker who spoke to the nominees about the impact Black role models had on his journey to becoming a gold-medal athlete.
“It’s important to have people who are in these communities or people who have lived in these communities to be strong role models and to lead in a way that can help kids realize that there is greatness beyond what they know,” Warner said. “I appreciate guys like Lewis Coray for being one of those role models.”
Warner described how his goals of becoming an Olympic athlete began when he was a young boy. He told nominees that success is possible by working hard and surrounding yourself with good people.
This year’s nominees included 17-year-old Jessica Gyamfi, 16-year-old Sharon Zembwe and award recipient 16-year-old Rebecca Lufungulo.
Lufungulo was just two-years-old when she and her family immigrated to Canada to escape the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During her speech, she detailed her aspirations to become a first-generation child to attend post-secondary school for nursing.
The 2022 Lewis Coray Trailblazer Award winner’s plaque is sponsored by the London chapter of the Congress of Black Women.
