Women's Short Track Relay Team (CP)

Two more world titles and a world record for Canada at short track speed skating world championships.
(Canadian Sport News)

BEIJING- Canada swept the relay gold medals including a world record performance for the men on Sunday at the short track speed skating world championships while Francois-Louis Tremblay of Boucherville, Que., finished third overall.

Canada is the two-time defending Olympic champion in the men’s relay but claimed its first world title since 1998. It’s the first world crown for the women’s relay since 1997 and the first time since 1984 that both the men and women swept relay golds at the same worlds.

Canada ends the competition three gold, two silver and a bronze, its best medal showing at the worlds since 2001 and its most gold since 1998. South Korea led the medal standings including six gold.

In the men’s 5,000-metre relay, Canada and South Korea battled for victory in a thrilling finale to the meet, building up the tempo steadily over the 45 laps in front of hundreds of cheering South Korean fans.

With the U.S. and China far behind, the lead shifted repeatedly on the final three laps, until Mathieu Turcotte of Sherbrooke, Que., dipped inside his South Korean rival to snatch the win by a mere 0.03 seconds for a new world record of 6:39.990. The Koreans were second in 6:40.020 and the U.S., third in 6:50.072. The South Koreans held the previous mark of 6:42.893 set in Oct. 2003.

The other Canadian skaters were Tremblay, Steve Robillard of Montreal and Charles Hamelin of Ste-Julie, Que.

“We were happy to get the gold but when we saw we broke the world record by three seconds we went crazy,” said Hamelin. “It was unbelievably exciting race. Canada’s strength in the relay is its depth. We have eight guys who are capable of coming to the worlds and winning the relay gold. Our little recent drought at the worlds in the relay was also a big motivator. Now we hold the world , Olympic and team worlds relay titles.”

‘’We didn't actually prepare to beat the world record, we just wanted to beat the Koreans because we knew they would be there at the end," added Tremblay.

Canada also won a controversial women's 3,000 relay final that saw both South Korea – which crossed the finish line first- and Japan disqualified. Japan was penalized for failing to touch, while judges ruled a South Korean skater had impeded China's Yang Yang, causing a collision that sent former Olympic gold medalist Yang skidding across the ice at Capital Gymnasium.

The Canadians played it smart and prevailed in 4:18.889 with Chantale Sévigny of Sherbrooke, Que., Alanna Kraus of Abbotsford, B.C., Tania Vicent of Montreal and Kalyna Roberge of Levis, Que. China was second in 4:19.972.

‘’In a relay it’s the team that makes the less mistakes that wins,’’ said Vicent, who nearly fell on her first exchange. ‘’It’s a real thrill to win because it’s been awhile since the women won relay gold. We showed a lot of fight and never gave up even when we fell behind. We were expecting an intense race but the Chinese and Koreans just couldn’t put it together.’’

In the men's overall standings, South Korean Ahn Hyun-soo edged out American Apolo Anton Ohno, the 1,000 and 3,000 winner on Sunday, to take gold for the third straight year. Tremblay, the leader after the first two days, was third for Canada’s first overall medal since 2001.

‘’I’m satisfied with my weekend but obviously considering I went into the last day with a chance to win it all there is a bit of a disappointment too,’’ said Tremblay, the 500 winner on Saturday and second in the 1,500 on Friday. ‘’I felt more fatigue than pressure and the (individual) races just didn’t go my way.’’

Other Canadian results Sunday: for the men Hamelin, the 500 runner-up Saturday, was fourth in both the 1,000 and 3,000 as well as in the overall standings. Tremblay was fifth in the 3,000 and seventh in the 1,000. Turcotte was ninth in the 1,000 and ninth overall.

For the women: Amanda Overland of Cambridge, Ont., was fourth in the1,000, sixth in the 3,000 and eighth overall. Kraus was12th in the 1,000 and 10th overall and Roberge 13th in the 1,000 and 15th overall.

Steve Omischl (CP)

Omischl finishes second in the overall World Cup aerial standings.
(Freestyle Release)

MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy -- Steve Omischl of North Bay had mixed feelings Friday after finishing second in the World Cup men's final overall aerials standings.

As it turned out, even a win in the final World Cup of the freestyle ski season wouldn't have moved Omischl from second to first overall, because leader Jeret Peterson of the United States clinched first with a silver medal in Friday's final. Only an Omischl win and a finish of third or lower for Peterson could have moved Omischl atop the overall standings.Omischl, 25, had already clinched second overal, after winning the crystal globe last year and placing second two years ago.

"I've had better days," said Omischl, 25, who said contest at least allowed himself and others to work on their fundamentals prior to next week's world championships in Finland. Insufficient snow for the in-run meant almost every jumper had to downgrade to jumps they seldom try on the World Cup circuit. That included Omischl's quad-twisting double somersault in Friday's final. However, he slapped back on the landing to finish ninth in Friday's final.

"I'm disappointed to move down (from first to second overall)," said Omischl, who won five medals this season, to Peterson's six."But I guess I'm pretty happy to win on the (2006) Olympic site two weeks ago. I would have been really happy with this year if I hadn't won last season."

Enver Ablaev of the Ukraine won his first-ever World Cup with a score of 224.89. Peterson was second in 205.01 and Vladimir Lebedev of Russia was third in 204.61. Omischl's ninth-place score was 185.26, while Kyle Nissen of Calgary was 11th and Jeff Bean 12th in the 12-skier final. In the final overall standings, Peterson prevailed with 694 points. Omischl was second in 604 and Xiaopeng Han of China third with 455.

Nina Li of China won the women's final with her sixth World Cup triumph of the season. She had already clinched the overall title, but ended the season a runaway winner with 1,025 points and medals in her last 11 starts. Lydia Ierodiaconou of Australia was a distant second in 668 after placing 17th Friday.

In Friday's final, Anna Zukal of Russia was second and Oly Slivets of Belarus third. Deidra Dionne of Red Deer, Alta., had qualified second for Friday's final, with those points carrying over for her final score. She then tried a triple-twisting double somersault, which she had crashed badly last week. Dionne landed the jump, but not in ideal form, to emerge sixth in the final and seventh in the final overall standings.

"I'm kind of disappointed. I was so close, but the goal is next week," she said, referring to the World Championships in Ruka, Finland, March 16-20th. At the last two World Championships, in 2003 and 2001, Dionne has emerged a bronze medallist.

Other Canadian placings in Friday's World Cup were Melissa Prefontaine of Grande Prairie, Alta., in 15th, Veronika Bauer of Toronto 19th and Amber Peterson 20th.

Robin Clegg (CP)

CANADIAN MEN MAINTAIN PACE WITH BIATHLON'S ELITE AT WORLD CHAMPIOHNSHIPS RELAY EVENT.
(CODA Release)

Hochfilzen, AUT-The Canadian men's biathlon team sprinted to an impressive 15th place finish in their first-ever relay event at the world championships in Hochfilzen, Austria on Saturday.

Under a brilliant sunny sky and warm, spring-like temperatures, a crowd of 15 thousand fans watched and cheered as Ottawa's Robin Clegg burst out of the mass start, surging into the top-five during the first leg of the relay race. In the end, the four-man contingency bearing the maple leaf crossed the finish line in the 4 x 7.5 kilometre relay just over six minutes off the leading pace with a time of one hour 28 minutes 25.0 seconds.

"We skied an exceptionally strong race," said Robin Clegg, who received cheers from throngs of excited biathlon fans as he powered his way to the front of the pack. "We were definitely contending with the top teams and it just a great way to end the world championships."

The Canadian quartet, which also included Jean Paquet of Loretteville, Que., Gerhardt Klann of Edmonton, and David Leoni of Camrose, Alta., finished the four-leg race after shooting 14 spare rounds, with one penalty loop. In relay events, each athlete is allowed six spare rounds to hit their 10 targets, and if a target remains after the three spares are used than a penalty loop ensues.

Norway led the men in Saturday's sprint to take home the gold medal and world title. Following Norway just +26 seconds behind was Russia, with Austria taking the bronze. Our result today was very, very promising," said Roger Archambault, technical director, Biathlon Canada. "The 15th place standing is one thing, but the time we finished off the lead is what is impressive. They're basically in the five per cent range of the top nations and this definitely gives us something to work with heading into 2006."

This is the first time in over five years that Canada has seen a men's relay team compete on the international stage.

The young Canadian women's team, which consisted of 24-year-old Sandra Keith of Calgary, 22-year-old Zina Kocher, Red Deer, Alta., Marie-Pierre Parent, 22, of Ancienne Lorette, Que., and Martine Albert, 32, Rimouski, Que., made a significant impact on the shooting range missing just seven targets to finish the 4 x 6 kilometre track in 15th place with a time of one hour 20 minutes 54.7 seconds.

"I think this is a great result for us and we are all very happy both our skiing and success on the shooting range," said Keith of the Canadian team, who equaled the day's best shooting score. "This is only our second time competing in a relay together and we are just trying to get as much experience in the event before the Olympics in 2006."

The Russian quartet took home the world title. The German team slid into second for the silver medal while Belarus took the bronze.

Dale Henwood (CP)

The Big Picture with Dale Henwood: A Case for an Independent Sport Corporation.

Canadian high performance sport needs a leader, someone who ultimately can make decisions. A leadership model is required; one that creates an entity detached from government and one that has the authority to make decisions, in particular, but not exclusively, decisions of a technical nature. A new Canadian sport agency would function as a special operating agency, a model that has become increasingly popular at the federal level. It provides greater freedom from administrative rules and red tape in return for a commitment to achieving specific results. Scan the list of top sporting countries and they all have adopted some variation of a centralized leadership and decision-making model.

A Canadian Sport Review Panel (CSRP) has been approved by the Federal/Provincial-Territorial Ministers of Sport (April 2004) and is presently conducting in-depth analysis of all high performance plans and objectives of all Olympic and Paralympic sports. This is a good start but we must move quickly to formalize an expert based and performance driven organization that has some independence from government and the ability to make decisions.

This independence allows for the experts to make decisions that government can not or will not make. Government objectives can be met by contractual agreement, credit and profile can be given to government and other funding partners. As an example, by contractual agreement, the new sport agency could be charged with the delivery of the high performance sport programming aspects of the Canadian Sport Policy.

On a domestic basis, some provinces (i.e., B. C., Manitoba, and Saskatchewan) have devolved the government’s role in sport to outside agencies. Additionally, similar mandated agreements, signed by all 14 federal/provincial/territorial Ministers exist with respect to ethics in sport, doping in sport and the delivery of the Canada Games program. Why not for high performance sport?

The new agency would be performance driven, where winning (rooted within a framework of fair and ethical play) would be the focus. The new agency would provide leadership (and thus decision making), vision and accountability. This agency would be accountable both up the system to the funding partners, as well as down the system to the recipients of the funding. This would lead to a level of accountability that is much higher than what presently exists.

As a nation we have great athletes and coaches and we have invested huge resources (financial, human, intellectual) within the sport system. One of the critical missing ingredients is our ability to make decisions that will allow Canadians to be among the best in the world on a consistent and repeated basis. In business vernacular, the goal is to be at the top of the first quartile each quarter and the new agency can deliver this result.

Sara Renner (CP)

DEPLETED CANADIAN SPRINTER MAINTAINS PACE WITH WORLD'S ELITE DISTANCE RACERS AT CROSS-COUNTRY SKI WORLD CUP.
(CODA Release)

Holmenkollen, NOR-Canada's Sara Renner woke up this morning with the willingness to put her body through the ultimate mental and physical test - a 30 kilometre classic World Cup cross-country ski race in Holmenkollen, Norway on Saturday.

The Canmore, Alta. native, who is known more in the World Cup circles as one of the strongest sprint skiers on the circuit, turned a few heads in Norway proving she can keep up with the elite distance racers too. The 28-year-old Renner skied with the top-15 until the final lap where she ran out of gas, and crossed the line in 25th spot with a time of one hour 30 minutes 01.3 seconds. "Finishing in the top-25 for a sprinter is a pretty good result," said Renner, who won her first international medal two weeks ago at the world championships. "It is a really tough race mentally and it is painful on your body.."

Renner was the only Canadian woman to take on the Norwegian grind in front of thousands of screaming fans that camp out in advance of the race, which is the focal event of a huge winter festival. "This race depletes you and you have nothing left in your legs," added Renner, while taking a walk following the event. "It is a terrible feeling, but a great one at the same time because you know you gave everything you had. But, it is a fun event to take part in because it is a festival of skiing and there are so many people that come to watch."

Marit Bjoergen of Norway won the gold medal in the women's event in front of her hometown crowd. Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic was second while Finland's Virpi Kuitunen was third.

Two Canadian men also tested their physical stamina in the 50-kilometre classic race. George Grey of Rossland, B.C. led the Canadian duo with a 38th-place finish and a time of 2:18:33.8 under warm and perfect racing conditions. Devon Kershaw of Rossland, B.C., another strong Canadian sprinter, also completed the race on Saturday with a time 2:22:30.0, good enough for 48th spot.

Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia set the time to beat. While Veerpalu took home the gold medal, it was Germany's Jens Filbrich in second and Norway's Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset in third.

Clara Hughes (CP)

Skaters in fine form for Finale finish.
(Oval Release)

CALGARY – The $19,000 purse at the 15th annual Olympic Finale is now in the hands of the top skaters in the world.

A $10,000 cheque was presented to American speed skater Chad Hedrick, who set a new world record in the men’s 3,000-metre distance, taking more than three seconds off the old record. The prize money was posted for world records broken in distances designated by the International Skating Union (ISU).

Clara Hughes, who skated a world’s best in 10,000 metres, was on hand to receive a Brothers of the Wind ring, a traditional gift for world record breakers from the Olympic Oval ice technicians who work everyday to make the fastest ice in the world. Hughes also received the Canon Top Canadian Athlete Award.

The Canon Top International Athlete award was present to Dutch Junior Champion Ireen Wuust, who broke World Junior records in the Ladies’ 1000, 1500 and 3,000-metre distances and the World Junior Record for overall points in a competition. Wuust also received $3,000 in prize money with her ring.

The third ring was presented to Netherlands’ Wouter Oldeheuvel who set a new World Junior record in the men’s 3,000 metres. Oldeheuvel also broke the World Junior Record for overall points. The junior skater takes home $1,000 in prize money.

More than 35 country records were set and 550 personal best times were posted. Canadian National team members picked up four new country records. In addition to Hughes, Steven Elm of Red Deer broke his men’s 3,000-metre Canadian record. Juniors Denny Morrison, of Fort St. John, BC, broke his own record in the 1500-metre event and Regina’s Justin Warsylewicz broke his record in the 5,000-metre event.

Winners on the final day of Finale competition include: Ladies 500-metre sprint winner Krisy Myers (AB), and Japan’s Tomoko Kawada and Aya Kajiki; Ladies 1000-metre sprint winners Myers, Danielle Wotherspoon (AB) and Nancy Swider-Peltz (USA); Men’s 500-metre sprint winners Japan’s Kuniomi Haneishi and Korea’s Suk-Kang Lee and Soon-Chun Kwon; men’s 1000-metre sprint winners Francois-Olivier Roberge (QC), Sterling Sobczak (MB) and Vincent Labrie (QC); and Warsylewicz who won the men’s marathon.

Quebec’s Muncef Ouardi placed first in the overall standings for the men’s sprint. Kajiki placed top in the Ladies competition.

Summer sports need cash injection.
(CanSport Release)

The recent financial windfall which befell Canada's Olympic winter sports, thanks to the millions of dollars donated by the federal government and corporate Canada to the Own The Podium program, is about to benefit the long-neglected Canadian Olympic summer sports. Prompted by the Canadian Olympic Committee, and especially by CEO Chris Rudge, the summer sports people have discussed the possibility of establishing their own Own The Podium program. They will meet in Regina in mid-April during the COC's annual general meeting to affirm their positions.

The six committee members to lobby the feds are Anne Merklinger, director general of canoe and kayak; Dave Bedford of water polo; Jean-Guy Oullette of athletics; Tim Page of diving; Charles Parkinson of volleyball and Don Adams of equine sports.

In addition to the committee, the summer sports people will have to elect a leader much in the mould of Cathy Priestner Allinger, who impressed the government with her technical knowledge, logic and explanation of accountability in sports. "We hope to have as many summer sports representatives in Regina as possible," said Merklinger, generally recognized as one of the smartest Canadian sports officials. "Prior to that, we will have a conference call again next week to discuss details of our plan.

"We realize that our job will be more difficult than the one the winter sports had because we have to explain the needs of individual sports and twice as many team sports. It will still be similar to the presentation made by the winter sports who were fortunate to have Cathy Priestner leading their pitch. She is generally highly respected."

The committee will try especially hard to raise financial support for team sports. One of the spokesmen for team sports, water polo's Bedford, had this to say: "Our job will be to make certain that we produce a document which will not be dissimilar to the winter sports people's presentation," Bedford said. "It has to be a relevant document with measurable results. We will have to prove that our people are accountable and that the government will have a clear view of where to and how much of the money is being distributed."

Rudge, who prefers to be in the background, is quietly confident that federal and provincial governments, as well as corporate Canada, will support the summer Olympics the same way as winter Olympics athletes.

It's high time, too, so we don't finish behind Upper Slobovia when the 2008 Beijing Olympics roll around.

Donovan Bailey and Myriam Bedard (CP)

Bailey, Schmirler headed to Canadian Olympic Hall.
(CBC Sports)

Track hero Donovan Bailey tops a list of medal-winning athletes heading to the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.

The Canadian Olympic Committee announced its latest inductees on Thursday. In addition to Bailey, diver Anne Montminy, cyclist Steve Bauer, and Sandra Schmirler's curling team are also being honoured by the Hall.

Bailey, from Oakville, Ont., is perhaps the most well-known Canadian Olympian ever. In 1996, at Summer Games in Atlanta, he ran to gold in the 100 metres in world record time. A week later, the Bailey-anchored Canadian relay team struck gold, upsetting the seemingly-unbeatable Americans in the the 4x100-metre relay. Bailey retired in 2001 after struggling with nagging leg injuries.

Montminy is also one of Canada's most popular athlete in recent years. The Montrealer won two medals at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia. She claimed a bronze medal in the 10-metre platform event and teamed with Emilie Heymans to win silver in the first women's synchronized 10m diving Olympic competition.

Bauer, from Beamsville, Ont., won silver in the cycling road race at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Schmirler skipped a Regina team – Jan Betker, Joan McCusker, Marcia Gudereit and Atina Ford – to the gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. It was first time curling was an official sport at the Games. The Schmirler rink, which included Jan Betker, Joan McCusker, Marcia Gudereit and Atina Ford, is going into the Hall in the team category. The Regina rink won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. Schmirler, born in Biggar, Sask., died of cancer at 36 years old in 2000.

Ottawa's Currie Chapman, a member of the Canadian alpine ski team from 1964 to 1969, and head coach of the women's ski team from 1980 to 1988, enters in the coaching category.

Honoured as a builder is Dr. Thomas Fried of Toronto, a member of the medical team for many Olympic and Pan American Games.

The induction ceremony will be held April 15 in Regina.

Judges suspended in gymnastics controversy.
(CBC Sports)

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) came down hard on several judges Friday, months after the sport's highest court allowed American Paul Hamm to keep his Olympic gold medal.

Senior official Xiao Guanglai of China and judges Jorge Sandoval (Venezuela), Jose Mendez (Portugal) and Xavier Colon (Puerto Rico) were handed one-year bans stemming from the controversial men's vault final at last summer's Athens Games. The suspensions will be lifted on Feb. 25, 2006.

Hamm was awarded the gold in the all-around competition over South Korean Yang Tae-young despite a scoring error. FIG admitted a mistake was made but said a protest wasn't filed in time to change the decision. In their Oct. 21 ruling, Court of Arbitration for Sport arbitrators said the Korean protest was submitted too late. They also said CAS was not in a position to correct results due to an admitted error by an official.

In August, Yang mistakenly was docked 0.1 points for the level of difficulty in his parallel bars routine and finished third. If Yang had received the proper score, he would have finished 0.051 points ahead of Hamm, although that assumes everything in the final rotation would have played out the same way.

Judges Chris Grabowecky of Calgary, Yuliy Kushenkov of Ukraine and Timur Amirbekov of Kazakhstan were issued a letter of warning by CAS for their insufficient work during the men's team competition.

Three other judges who were temporarily suspended following the event were further disciplined on Friday by FIG for errors that may have helped Hamm win. American judge George Beckstead and Spain's Benjamin Bango are suspended until the end of the year, while Oscar Buitrago Reyes of Colombia is prohibited from judging until August.

Beckstead oversaw the panel that determined the start value for Yang on the parallel bars, while Bango and Buitrago Reyes made "serious mistakes in judging at the parallel bars," according to the FIG.

Canadian officials felt Kyle Shewfelt should have been awarded the bronze medal in the vault. Shewfelt finished fourth, but the Canadians claimed Romanian bronze medallist Marian Dragulescu's performance was overscored. "Throughout this process, my only concern has been what is best for the sport of gymnastics," Shewfelt said in a statement. "While I would never personally take satisfaction in the fact that these judges were suspended, I am happy that the sport has identified the error and has taken an aggressive stance on correcting it.

"I commend FIG for respecting the hard work and dedication of our athletes and recognizing that we deserve to be judged fairly at the Olympic Games."

FAME CONTINUES TO FIND SHEWFELT.
(The Calgary Sun)

Everything in Kyle Shewfelt's world is coming together again -- a new house, a new coach and induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. At the ripe old age of 22. "I am young," Shewfelt said yesterday, following a press conference at the Olympic Oval to reveal the 2005 inductees. "But gymnastics is a young sport. It's cool."

The official induction will be held at the Hall of Fame Museum in Red Deer May 27. Shewfelt is not only the youngest inductee, he's also the first gymnast.

In the whirlwind of celebration since Shewfelt won gold on the floor at last summer's Athens Olympics, he's had doubts about his dedication to the sport. But not anymore. He's back training with U of C coach Troy Smith, after Altadore coach Kelly Manjak moved to Ontario. But it took some time for him to rediscover his passion for the sport.
"After accomplishing a major goal, you always ask, 'what's next?' And after my coach moved, it took some time to adjust," said Shewfelt, who will focus on the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

Also set to be inducted, as a builder, is Stan Schwartz, who served as Stamps president from 1996 to 2003. Schwartz was recently re-hired by the club as senior consultant to the executive committee. "I've been fortunate to be associated with a lot of great people," he said. "It's more important for people to read about the players and the coaches. They don't want to read about the president and the business."

Canadian nordic combined chair Alf Fisher will also be inducted as a builder.