Athletes returning from London Games get hero’s welcome in Parliament

OTTAWA – Canada’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes have been given new medals, even the ones who didn’t win at the 2012 Summer Games.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper awarded the athletes medals marking Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee at a ceremony Wednesday in the Senate chamber.

Harper singled out several athletes, including trampolinist Rosie MacLennan, who won Canada’s only gold medal at the Games, and Benoit Huot, who opened the Paralympic Games with a gold medal for Canada and a world record in the pool.

Harper quipped that Canadians know who truly won the women’s soccer match at the London Olympics.

The women’s team lost a controversial semifinals match against their U.S. counterparts at the Games but went on to defeat France in the bronze medal event.

The jubilee medals mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne.

Some members of Canada’s Olympic team were in Ottawa as part of the Olympic Heroes tour.

The athletes were later cheered and applauded by members of Parliament and onlookers from the public galleries in a joint session of the House of Commons.