OTTAWA– Mitch Davidson and Darryl Friesen of Winnipeg as well as Ed Drakich of Toronto and André Trottier of Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Que., were named by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) as officials for this summer’s Olympic Games inLondon.

Davidson and Friesen will work as referees on court and the beach respectively. 

For Davidson this will be his second and final Olympic assignment as a referee.  He turns 55 this year which is the age limit for referees in international competition.

‘’This assignment is a great way to leave the international scene,’’ said Davidson, who is VolleyballManitoba’s technical director and worked last season in World League play.  ‘’My first experience in Beijing was tremendous and I’m really looking forward to London.’’

Friesen, a 44-year-old firefighter in the Manitoba capital, is headed to his fourth Games as a beach volleyball referee. He was the gold medal match official at the 1996 Olympic Games where the sport made its official debut. He has also worked at seven world championships and refereed more than 1,300 matches on the FIVB World Tour circuit.

Drakich and Trottier will be on the control committee which oversees the beach event.

It will be a second Olympics for Drakich who filled a similar role in Beijing.  He is currently the Beach High Performance Director for Volleyball Canada.  As a player in both indoor and beach volleyball, he representedCanadainternationally in over 300 matches and participated in the beach volleyball competition at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

An official for nearly 35 years, Trottier was named an FIVB beach volleyball instructor in December 2009 and has shared his expertise in several countries around the world.

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For more information:

John Blacher
Director of Operations
TeamCanadawomen’s volleyball centre
Tel:(204) 474-7210
E-mail: [email protected]