Special Olympics Yukon has announced the members of its Team Yukon '08 contingent, who will travel to Quebec City to take part in the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games, which are being held from Feb. 26 to March 1.

The team is comprised of eight members in total and will feature four athletes, two coaches, a team manager and a chef de mission. Garry Chaplin and flag bearer Owen Munroe will compete in cross-country skiing, while Julien Richard and Aimee Lien will participate in the sport of figure skating.

The announcement was made during a press conference on Wednesday at McDonald's Whitehorse, who will be the team's title exclusive sponsor for a second straight Special Olympics Canada Games event.

"We are very pleased to once again be the sponsors of Team Yukon 08," said Mike Thorpe, owner of McDonald's Whitehorse, at the press conference. "We just try to do what we can to support the local athletes who have been working really hard and it is nice to get some notoriety for the hard work that these guys do. We have had the opportunity to be involved in a number of Special Olympics Yukon initiatives and we are really quite pleased to be a part of this one as well."

The Special Olympics Canada Games are held every two years, alternating between summer and winter competition.

At the previous Winter Games, held in Charlottetown in 2004, Team Yukon sent one cross-country skier and one speed skater.

This year, the team could send a maximum of two athletes for an individual sport. The quota is based on the number of athletes registered in Special Olympic programs in a territory or province. From these Games, athletes will be chosen to go onto the 2009 World Winter Games to be held in Boise, Idaho.

The selection process for cross-country skiing was determined by three qualifying races, held in February and March of 2007. Whitehorse's Canada Winter Games were used as the qualifier for figure skating.

This will be the first time since 1993 a Yukon figure skater will be competing at a Winter Games competition.

Danielle Armstrong has been a coach in the Special Olympics figure skating program for three years. She said the team has really improved, leading up to the Games.

"Our last practice, last Saturday was probably the best practice that they have ever had," she said. "I think they are really starting to realize that we have only got a certain amount of weeks left in training and everything is starting to fall into place."

She said she is looking forward to watching their programs the most.

"We had to revamp them compared to last year because they had grown so much as athletes that we had to add more stuff," Armstrong said. "So I am excited to see the new moves that we have been working on this season."

Armstrong said that both Lien and Richard are more prepared for the competition after taking part in the qualifiers at the Canada Winter Games last March.

"It was all new to them and so now we sort of have an idea of what to expect," she said. "I think they are more prepared for it."

Lien, who has been figure skating since she was five, said she is looking forward to travelling to Quebec City for the first time.

"It's going to be fun," she said. "I'm going to see all my friends and see my coaches and my parents and all my friends who are going to be there."

Lien, 14, said her personal goal is to impress her coaches, friends and family as well as do a good job at the competition.

Serge Michaud is the executive director for Special Olympics Yukon and the chef de mission for the Winter Games. He said the figure skating program is a demonstration of the growth made by Special Olympics Yukon in the last four years.

"We started (the figure skating program) right after the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Charlottetown," he said. "In four years we went from nothing, not even ice time to 13 athletes and still growing with four or five coaches. All these athletes are just doing amazing on the ice."

He said he is excited about the upcoming competition.

"I think it is a true testament to the efforts of all our coaches and the training they give our athletes," Michaud said. "They really care, they really want to see our athletes succeed and they want to see them flourish under the limelight."

Michaud said the support given to Special Olympics Yukon in Whitehorse is an example to be led across this country.

"I think the City of Whitehorse as a community is amazing at supporting its own," he said. "I am proud of where I come from and the sponsors that we have and I know they are proud of the athletes."