As the 2020 Summer Olympic Games begin, the York University Athletics & Recreation department is proud to cheer on its nine alumni heading to Tokyo, Japan to compete for Canada at the Olympics.
 
Brandie Wilkerson
 
Arguably one of Canada's greatest metal threats, Wilkerson attended York until 2014 and starred for the women's volleyball team during her time with the Lions. She CIS second-team all-Canadian and OUA first-team all-star honours for two straight seasons, 2011-12 and 2012-13. The native of Toronto also ranked fourth in the OUA and first on the team in scoring in 2013-14 (3.91 points per set) and sixth in kills per set (3.10), despite starting just 11 matches. Wilkerson's career began on a high note at the beginning of the last decade – the now-29-year-old was named York's female rookie of the year in 2010-11 and earned the OUA rookie of the year award. She was a CIS and OUA all-rookie team member and an OUA East second-team all-star that season.
 
Melissa Humana-Parades
 
A six-time FIVB Gold Medalist, 12-time FIVB Medalist, five-time Canadian champion, two-time AVP champion, Commonwealth Games champion, and most recently, a world champion, earning the first-ever Gold for Canada, Humana-Parades is an extremely accomplished volleyball player with roots at York University. She and her family have been synonymous with the York volleyball programs for decades. She previously played for four years for the Lions, her brother Felipe was a five-year member of the men's team and their father Hernan was a long-time coach of both teams.Her Lions career included three OUA all-star honours, a CIS second-team all-Canadian selection and York's female athlete of the year award in 2012. She won back-to-back bronze medals at the U23 world championships, competed at the 2015 Pan Am Games, the FISU Games in 2013, and toured around the world to compete at the FIVB and NORCECA events, winning numerous medals in the process. The team of Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan won the gold medal at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships, defeating the American team of April Ross and Alix Klineman 2-0 for Canada's first-ever medal at the event. She has also become an asset to student-athlete development at York since graduating from the institution in 2014 She was an assistant coach with the Lions women's volleyball team in 2017.
 
Shady El Nahas
 
A 23-year-old Canadian from Alexandria, Egypt, El Nahas competed as a wrestler at York in 2017, where he went a near-perfect 23-1 in OUA competition with 19 pins. He was a gold medallist at Concordia, McMaster and York regular-season events. He was a 2017 York rookie of the year nominee, and earned the men's wrestling MVP during his only season with the Lions. Since then, El Nahas has achieved considerable success on the international stage. He is a two-time gold medal winner at the Pan American Judo Championships in 2019 and 2020 and also took gold at the 2021 IHF Judo Grand Slam in Tbilisi, Georgia. He has four other medals at Grand Slams, three bronze medals and a silver at 2018 Osaka. At the 2021 World Championships, El Nahas got into a bronze medal match where he lost to Ilia Sulamanidze of Georgia to finish in a tie for fifth.
 
Brittany Crew
 
Crew is a decorated former Lion with multiple medal-winning performances at international competition, and recently earned a slew of impressive awards for York at the national stage. A 27-year-old shot putter from Toronto, Ontario, Crew graduated from York University in 2019 with a degree in kinesiology and health science. She is a three-time gold medallist at the U SPORTS Championships (2015, 2016 and 2019), and earned bronze at the 2015 FISU Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea, and was rewarded in each of those gold-level seasons with the York female athlete of the year award in 2015, 2016, and 2019.  Set a U SPORTS record for shot put with a 16.96m toss at 2016 nationals, then broke her own record in 2019, launching a 17.56m throw. She outthrew her nearest competition by over two metres en route to winning the event. Crew returns to the Olympics for a second time after donning the red and white in 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
 
Pierce Lepage
 
The 25-year-old runner from Whitby, Ont., graduated from York University in 2019 with a degree in interdisciplinary social science. 2019 was a landmark year for Lepage after joining York earlier that year. He struck gold at three different events at the York-hosted OUA championships, winning in 60m hurdles, long jump, and high jump. At that same year's U SPORTS championships, he earned gold in 60m hurdles and long jump. He was also part of the silver medal-winning 4x200m relay team, and won bronze in high jump. Lepage was named 2019 York male athlete of the year. At international events, Lepage is known for competing as a decathlete, routinely reaching the podium on the world stage. In his first decathlon of 2019, LePage scored a personal best 8453 points to win the Decastar meet in June. That also gave him the decathlon qualifying standard for Tokyo 2020. He shared the podium with Canadian teammate Damian Warner at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, winning bronze, and had a silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. After not competing in decathlon in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, LePage attended the famed Hypo-meeting in Götzis, Austria in May 2021 where he won silver behind Warner with a personal-best 8534 points.
 
Bismark Boateng
 
The 29-year-old Canadian from Accra, Ghana wasn't always a track & field athlete. He began his postsecondary athletic career with the Rams as a soccer player, but eventually discovered track and transferred to York to join the team. His sprinting career took off from there, proving he made a wise decision. He struck gold in 60m at the CIS Championships in 2015, and took home silver in 2016. Internationally, Boateng was part of the gold medal 4x100m relay winning team at the 2018 NACAC Championships in Toronto.
 
Khamica Bingham
 
A 2020 humanities graduate, the 27-year-old sprinter from Brampton, Ont., has played a key role in Canada's Olympic efforts since she joined Canada nationally. She is a two-time medallist in the Pan American Games, earning a silver with Canada at Lima 2019 and a bronze at Toronto 2015. Bingham made her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 where she anchored the 4x100m relay team to a sixth-place finish, in what was Canada's first Olympic final in the event since Los Angeles 1984. She missed advancing to the 100m semifinals by just one place. In 2013, she represented Canada at the Universiade, finishing fourth in the 100m semis.
 
Arthur Szwarc
 
Szwarc was a Lion for two seasons, earning accolades in both years for men's volleyball. His Lions won an OUA bronze medal in 2015 and he was named a CIS second team all-star in 2016. While at York he also represented Canada at the 2015 Universiade and FIVB Junior World Championship and won bronze at the 2015 U21 Pan Am Cup. Szwarc turned pro in 2017, joining French club Arago de Sète for two seasons and being named the Best Middle Blocker of Ligue A in 2018. He then moved to Italian side, Top Volley Cisterna. In January 2020, Szwarc was named best middle blocker at the NORCECA Continental Qualifier as Canada went undefeated to secure their spot at Tokyo 2020.
 
Andrea Prieur
 
Prieur is a Certified Athletic Therapist who currently serves as Sports Medicine & Sports Injury Clinic Manager at York University, starting that position in 2018. She graduated from the athletic therapy program over 20 years ago and continued to stay directly involved. This isn't Prieur's first stint representing Canada internationally. She has been a member of the Canadian Core Health Care teams at multiple major games, including the 2012, 2016, and now 2020 Summer Olympics. She was also the chief athletic therapist for Canada at the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy.
 
Follow news on these York Lions alumni using #AlwaysALion. For a full schedule of events, visit the CBC Olympics website.