Tyler Christopher (CP)

TYLER JUST GETTING STARTED; CANUCK'S FUTURE BRIGHT AFTER BRONZE.
(The Toronto Sun)

The Canadian flag was stretched across Tyler Christopher's shoulders, his chest still heaving to catch his breath.

After a bronze-medal performance in a smashing debut on the world stage last night, the B.C.-born, Edmonton-based runner wasn't ready to stop just yet, however.

Legs burning from the pain of such an excruciating effort in his 400-metre dash, Christopher did another, much slower lap of Olympic Stadium. "I was soaking it all in," Christopher said of the stroll in which he saluted his mother Elaine, who had made the trip from Chiliwack, B.C., and dozens of Canadians waving flags. "I was enjoying it. The fans cheering. The friends and family. The whole thing. It was what I came here to do."

Enjoying, no doubt, the prospects for the future as well. By finishing third behind Americans Jeremy Wariner and Andrew Rock, the 21-year-old announced to the world that he is ready to be Canada's next big track star. "We're going to go after them," Christopher's Edmonton-based coach Kevin Tyler said. "He has shown he can run with the best in the world and that's going to motivate him. This is just the beginning."

Christopher had talked confidently all week of winning gold, but the reigning Olympic champion Wariner would have none of it. The 43.94 clocking made the lanky Texan just the seventh person to break 44 seconds in the event.

Christopher's time of 44.44 broke the Canadian record he already had set twice this year, as raw speed continues to be harnessed into impressive results.

The Canadian's quest for gold almost cost him any medal at all, however. Determined to challenge Wariner, he began his kick with 150 metres to go, much earlier than normal.

As a result, Christopher became desperately leg-weary in the closing strides, watching sure silver slip to bronze -- barely. "It took every ounce of strength and determination to even stay on my feet and cross that line," Christopher said. "I kept looking over to my right. I was so worried six people were going to pass me.

"But I'm so happy. To have any medal is an honour."

So too is proving himself at such a young age. By the time the Beijing Olympics roll around in 2008, he'll be much closer to his peak physical years. "To run 44.4 in his first serious year training for the event is fantastic," Tyler said. "He's pretty raw."

And as the cocksure Americans have found out over the past couple of months, pretty talented as well. Both Rock and Wariner welcomed Christopher into their fraternity however, as all three embraced on the track shortly after the race.

"Anyone who runs 44.4 at age 21 is fast," Rock said. "I think he's got a great future and a great head on his shoulders and a lot to look forward to."

Intensely wired all week, Christopher yesterday allowed himself to revel in his accomplishment and all it signals. "I came in here to win the gold and my determination may have cost me the silver in the end," said Christopher. "But I wouldn't have got this far without that determination.

"I'm extremely happy to be a part of this generation of athletes. The more we run and the more we mature, it's just going to get faster and faster."

Not that speed was ever an issue with this kid. "I've been watching him run literally from the time he was two years old," Elaine Christopher said, a smile as wide as her son's strapping shoulders. "He never had that baby waddle. He just ran.

From Day 1, he always wanted to go. "He never slowed down. Ever."

Katie Wilis

CANADA'S KATIE WILLIS LANDS IN HISTORY BOOKS AFTER WINNING GOLD AT SKI JUMPING EVENT IN GERMANY.
(Ski Jumping Canada)

Klingenthal, German-Canada's Katie Willis landed her way into the history books as not only the youngest athlete, but also the first Canadian woman to win a gold medal at an international ski jumping event. The 14-year-old Canuck finished on top against the world's best athletes, many who are nearly a decade older than her, at a summer Continental Cup event in Klingenthal, Germany on Tuesday.

"This is just amazing and I can't believe I did it. I am still in shock for sure," said Willis, whose victory now moves her into third spot overall on the international women's standings. "I didn't expect this at all. I just wanted to focus on giving it all I had, and putting two really solid jumps together."

The Calgary native, who has been competing internationally since the first Continental Cup event for women took off in 2004, scored a total of 218 points to knock off the world's best, as 33 athletes from nine different countries suited up. Eight of the top-10 jumpers in the world were in the field.

"I don't think I understand the significance of this achievement for helping put my sport in the spotlight right now, but I do hope it will generate some additional interest and sponsorship for our program," said Willis, whose best result to date was a seventh-place finish.

Willis was joined on the podium with Norwegian Annette Sagen who finished in second spot with 213 points, while Jessica Jerome of the United States was third at 211.5. It was an equally brilliant day for Canada's Atsuko Tanaka of Calgary who narrowly missed the podium in fourth spot at 210.5. Both Willis and Tanaka train at the Canadian Ski Jumping Training Centre at Canada Olympic Park, site of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games.

"This is a fabulous day for ski jumping in Canada and a huge boost for our program," said Brent Morrice, president, Ski Jumping Canada. "Our young athletes are landing the best results we've had in years. Our men's team have all met the Olympic qualification criteria as of this week, and with Katie's gold today, it will help propel our program to the next level."

Women's ski jumping has been recognized by FIS for more than 10 years. Canada is in the forefront of the drive to have women's ski jumping sanctioned for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Women have been jumping for nearly 100 years, and are steadily increasing the distances jumped. In 1911 a daring Austrian, Countess Paula Lamberg, jumped a record 22 meters. To illustrate the progress the sport has made, girls as young as eight now jump this distance routinely at Canada Olympic Park.

Willis will take aim at winning back-to-back gold medals when the Canadian women suit up on Thursday in Pohla, Germany for the third of five summer competitions.

Ski Jumping Canada, who operates the National Ski Jumping Training Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, is the governing body for ski jumping competitions in Canada. Through the support of CODA over the past 15 years, Canada has developed its largest ever talent pool of ski jumping athletes. For more information on Ski Jumping Canada, please visit us at www.skijumpingcanada.com on the Internet.

Top-Five Results:
1. Katie Willis, CAN, 218; 2. Annette Sagen, NOR, 213; 3. Jessica Jerome, USA, 211.5; 4. Atsuko Tanaka, CAN, 210.5; 5. Line Jahr, NOR, 208.5.

Mark Boswell (CP)

Canadian athletes win just one medal at world championships.
(The Daily Courier - Kelowna)

HELSINKI (CP) -- Canada's Mark Boswell proved once again that he is a big meet performer.

The veteran from Ontario, plagued by an up-and-down season, narrowly missed a medal Sunday, finishing fourth in the high jump on the final day of the world track and field championships.

"I battled to the last," said Boswell. "I had a rough start and ended off on a great note. I am not that disappointed. I tried my best and was sitting in medal contention on my last jump."

Boswell cleared a year's best 2.29 metres. Yuriy Krymarenko won the gold after clearing 2.32, while Victor Moya of Cuba and Russia's Yaroslav Rybakov tied for the silver with 2.29. When two or more jumpers clear the same height, the fewest number of attempts is the tiebreaker.

Boswell, whose Canadian record is 2.35, missed on his first attempt at 2.25 -- and that was the difference between silver and fourth place. He was one of Canada's final hopes for a second medal in Helsinki, along with Gary Reed of Kamloops and Carmen Douma-Hussar of Cambridge, Ont. Reed finished eighth in the men's 800 metres Sunday, while Douma-Hussar was ninth in the women's 1,500.

Canada's worst-ever performance at the worlds came in 2001 at Edmonton, when the team failed to win a single medal. Canadians were also shut out at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Reed, who lives and trains in Victoria, believed a medal was within his grasp after recording the third fastest time in the semifinals, a Canadian record one minute 44.33 seconds. But three rounds of racing took their toll, as the 23-year-old faded down the final stretch Sunday to finish in 1:46.20. Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain won in 1:44.24.

"To be honest I was pretty exhausted," said Reed. "The semifinal took it out of me. For the most part, in Paris (the 2003 world championships) I went out in round one; in Athens it was the semis; here in the final. "Maybe the next one's a medal."

Canada claims university medals.
(The Peterborough Examiner)

IZMIR, Turkey (CP) -- Chanelle Charron-Watson won a bronze medal in the 400-metre freestyle yesterday as Canada continued its strong showing in the pool at the World University Games.

Ranked 13th to start the day, Charron-Watson finished third in a personal best time of four minutes 13.27 seconds. Olympic gold medallist Camella Potec of Romania was first, while Becky Cooke of Great Britain took the silver.

"I didn't know where I was in the race, I just raced the person beside me (Cooke)," said Charron-Watson, a law student at Laval University. "When I saw I was third it was a wonderful feeling."

The Canadian made sure to soak up the atmosphere of her first major medal ceremony. "I just looked at the flag and all the hard work was worth it," said Charron-Watson.

In women's soccer, Canada clinched a berth in the quarter-finals with a 4-1 victory over the Czech Republic.

Canada's men's basketball team defeated Italy 84-76 to finish 3-0 and first in Pool D in preliminary round action.

Canada defeated Russia in men's volleyball, 3-1 (25-20, 15-25, 25-21, 27-25) to improve its record to 3-1. The women's volleyball team lost to Turkey in straight sets (25-16, 25-14, 25-17) to drop to 2-1 in the preliminary round.

Jennifer Carroll won a silver medal in the 50-metre backstroke Saturday to collect Canada's first medal.

Carroll, the 2005 Canadian university swimmer of the year, finished in a time of 29.32 seconds to finish behind Japans Aya Terakawa, a finalist in the 200 backstroke at the Athens Olympics. "It was really special," said Carroll, a student at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres. "I was so proud to see the Canadian flag."

Toronto's Liz Warden, who learned to swim in lower Buckhorn Lake was fourth in the 400-metre individual medley in 2:17.55.

Danielle Goyette (CP)

Canadian women prepare to defend Olympic gold.
(The Record - Sherbrooke)

With every scrape of her blades on the ice, Danielle Goyette can hear the next generation skating up behind her in the fight to represent Canada at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

To stave off the competition, Goyette trains like a wild woman, sometimes riding the bike so hard she vomits at the end of a workout. Not a pleasant experience, but necessary for the 39-year-old forward to stay with the national women's hockey team.

"I'm the oldest player on the team, so I know I have to keep up to those younger players," Goyette said Monday over lunch at Calgary's Father David Bauer Arena. "For me, if I'm not in the best shape -- if I'm not in better shape than the other players -- then I'm going to be gone.

"For me, it's a lot of pressure. But I like the pressure. That's why I push so hard."

Twenty-seven of Canada's top female hockey players met in Calgary on Monday to prepare to defend the gold meal in Turin. Only 20 will make the final roster, so competition should be intense over the next six months as the women train full-time together to defend their gold medal.

The Americans won gold in 1998 in Nagano, but Canada knocked off the USA 3-2 in a game that's seared into the collective memory of this hockey-mad nation.

"Salt Lake City was so special for this country," Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson said Monday. "It was the first time in 50 years the men won a gold medal and the first time ever the women won a gold medal."

But the winds of change are blowing around the women's squad after a shocking 1-0 shootout loss to Team USA in the Women's World Hockey Championships.

The older guard, -- including Goyette, Vicky Sunohora, 35, Dana Antal, 32, and Cassie Campbell, 31 -- will be pushed by hot prospects such as Tessa Bonhomme, 20, Meghan Agosta, 18 and Ashley Riggs, 20.

"I really, truly, honestly believe there are no guarantees on this team," Campbell said. "Everyone from myself to young Meghan Augusta, we have to prove that we belong here."

The defeat in Linkoping, Sweden this April marked the first time the Canadians have ever fallen to the Americans at the world championships, and Campbell doesn't want that to be a harbinger of things to come at Turin.

"Sometimes when you win, you don't learn anything," she said. "When you lose, you do learn.

"I think this is the best thing that could have happened. I think it got us out of a little bit of complacency that was maybe settling in there. Everyone on this team works so hard. But when you lose, you realize that you're maybe not as good as you thought you were."

That being said, head coach Melody Davidson refuses to make changes for the sake of it.

"We've got lots of games for people to play their way on or off the team," she said. "In the end, we just want the best possible group to push us towards gold."

Over the next six months, the Canada will play a 46-game schedule to train for the Olympics -- including six clashes with the USA. The Canadians take on the Americans on Oct. 6 at the Agridome in Regina, Oct. 8 at the Credit Union Centre in Saskatoon and Jan. 1 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg.

The first test for Canada comes on Aug. 20 versus Finland in Calgary.

"It gives us a chance to play games with pressure -- games that matter," Hayley Wickenheiser said. "It gives us a chance to become a team, really."

Emily Brydon (CP)

CANADIAN ALPINE SKI TEAM ATHLETES TO TEST WINNING TECHNIQUES AND EQUIPMENT AT GM AERODYNAMICS LABORATORY.
(Alpine Canada)

Calgary, Alberta (August 9, 2005) - In a sport such as ski racing where a hundredth of a second can differentiate between first and tenth place, every edge counts. That is the motivation behind a sophisticated training session planned for female members of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team on August 20, 2005 in a state-of-the-art aerodynamics laboratory at the General Motors Technical Centre in Michigan.

During the testing, Canadian Alpine Ski Team athletes will have to withstand wind speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour, while experimenting with various tuck positions and equipment in an effort to find the optimum racing formula in preparation for the 2005/2006 racing season. The facility is traditionally used to test the aerodynamic capabilities of new GM cars and trucks but will play host to the Canadian National Alpine Ski Team for the fourth consecutive year.

WHO: Canadian Alpine Ski Team Athletes:
Mélanie Turgeon, Québec (QC)
Emily Brydon, Fernie (BC)
Geneviève Simard, Val Morin (QC)
Kelly Vanderbeek, Kitchener (ON)
Allison Forsyth, Nanaimo (BC)
Brigitte Acton, St-Jovite (QC)

WHERE: General Motors Aerodynamics Lab
Warren, Michigan

MEDIA ACCESS: Saturday, August 20, 2005
11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST

Selected members of the men’s Canadian Alpine Ski Team will get to use the facilities on October 1, 2005.

PLEASE NOTE: Limited media spots are available for this event. Please contact Janice Avon at 604-601-8564 to confirm accreditation.

GM of Canada is the official sponsor and exclusive vehicle provider for the nation’s premier developmental alpine racing series - the Pontiac GMC Cup. For over 35 years, GM of Canada has supported the development of elite amateur ski racers in Canada. The Pontiac Cup Series from 1969 to 1981 produced Canadian international skiing greats and Olympic medalists, such as Alpine Canada Alpin president Ken Read, and World Cup champions Laurie Graham, Steve Podborski, Todd Brooker and Kathy and Laurie Kreiner.

Motor skill problems result in short-track speed skater missing Olympics.
(CP Wire)

Knowing it was the right decision didn’t make it any less heart-breaking for short-track speed skater Amelie Goulet-Nadon.

Faced with a motor skills deficiency that has hampered her skating, Goulet-Nadon has decided not to compete at next month’s Olympic trials, meaning she won’t be going to the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy. ``It’s disappointing and it’s going to break my heart to see the Olympics on TV,’’ the Montreal skater said in an interview Tuesday. ``I knew for a couple of months I was maybe going to have to withdraw from the competition. It’s emotional but at the same time it’s just what it is. I have to accept the fact.’’

Goulet-Nadon, 22, was a member of the bronze-medal winning relay team at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, and the Canadian record holder in the 500 metres. She was considered a medal threat in Turin until she suffered a loss of motor pattern last summer while trying to correct a detail in her skating stroke.

By concentrating so hard on fixing the problem, Goulet-Nadon said she ``de-programmed’’ herself. It’s like she’s short-circuited her own body and can no longer feel her left leg touching the ice. ``It would be like tomorrow if you forgot how to walk with your left foot,’’ she explained. ``It’s like the switch is off in your brain. You see people walking, you know how to do it, but you just cannot apply it at the moment.’’

Stress contributes to the problem. ``I tried to focus on that one movement every day, every minute of practice,’’ Goulet-Nadon said. ``I started to think about it 24-7. By thinking about that and by starting to stress about it, I started to forget how to do the movement that was really natural before.’’

Alain Delorme, the strength and conditioning consultant for the Canadian short-track team, said Goulet-Nadon risked injury skating at the trials. ``After several physical examinations, we have determined Amelie’s motor problem stemmed from her central nervous system,’’ Delorme said in a release. ``The Olympic trials could have put her health in danger, given the challenges and the risks of falling that she faces at high speeds.’’

Since she was 12-years-old skating came as naturally to Goulet-Nadon as breathing. Now it’s like walking on coals, each step calculated, deliberate and sometimes painful. ``I’ve gone from being one of the best skaters in the world to not being able to follow the girls in training,’’ she said. ``The year before I was training with the boys for more challenge. It’s been really hard mentally.’’

While she’s given up on Turin, Goulet-Nadon has set her sights on the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. ``Vancouver is in five years,’’ she said. ``It gives me a lot of time. I would like to be there for sure.’’

For most of her life Goulet-Nadon has been in a hurry. Short-track speed skating demands explosive speed and lightning reflects. To go fast again, Goulet-Nadon knows she has to slow down and rekindle her natural reflects. ``I already see some improvement,’’ she said. ``I can get some speed now, I can accelerate. It’s kind of a slow process. ``I wasn’t a really patient person before. I went through a lot of stress and frustration. I think the whole issue has made me a more patient person now. We say through problems you learn. Now I see that’s true.’’

Tyler Christopher (CP)

HOME-GROWN TALENT SHINES; CHRISTOPHER PROVES ATHLETES CAN TRAIN HERE
(The Toronto Sun)

The Canadian flag flew at a medal ceremony in Olympic Stadium last night and it did so with a little extra meaning.

His birth certificate gives Tyler Christopher the ticket to be Canada's next big track star. But his permanent address may mean even more to the development of the country's future elite athletes.

The Chilliwack, B.C., native, who won bronze in the men's 400-metre sprint on Friday and collected the medal last night, wears the Made-in-Canada label with pride.

And the fact that he trains at home is a gleaming endorsement for the direction Athletics Canada officials are encouraging top prospects to consider. "The biggest thing here is that we're doing this in Canada," Christopher's coach, Kevin Tyler, said. "We have the resources and we have the people to do it. We've got to invest in our system.

"Everyone is talking about excellence back in Canada, but you've got to act on it and you've got to act every day."

Athletes such as Christopher and Victoria's Gary Reed, who has a legitimate medal shot in tonight's 800-metre final, are proving that it can work. Chrisopher works with Tyler in Edmonton while Reed trains in Victoria as part of the PacificSport Canadian Sport Centre.

Both are helped by increased funding from the Canadian Olympic Committee, which has made the commitment to identify top medal prospects and support them accordingly. "It's good that there is a choice and an alternative now for our athletes to consider," Athletics Canada head coach Alex Gardiner said yesterday. "In the past, we haven't been able to compete financially with NCAA schools who offer so many of our athletes scholarships. "But we have more money in the form of the excellency program and support from the COC now and the ingredients are there for a viable Canadian choice."

Both Tyler and Gardiner are careful not to paint all NCAA schools with too broad a brush.

Hurdler Perdita Felicien was nurtured by Gary Winkler at the University of Illinois and Winkler has worked closely with Athletics Canada. In the past, former Texas coach Dan Pfaff has developed some of Canada's top sprinters.

But at some U.S. schools, there is too much emphasis on a rigorous schedule which can see athletes compete 30 times a year and leave them spent by early spring.

"One of the main advantages is our coaches in Canada are under no pressure to beat the neighbouring university weekend in and weekend out to accumulate points for their school," Gardiner said. "Athletes can be given the opportunity to develop not only at their own pace, but at a proper pace."

Gardiner, who will be leaving Athletics Canada after this meet to become the COC's director of international performance, is all for giving athletes options. But he is adamant that one of the more serious ones should come in their own back yard.

"The message isn't the same across Canada," Gardiner said. "Some areas are more predisposed to going the U.S. scholarship route than others.

"But if Gary Reed can get into the final of the 800 metres and finish in the top five in the world and if Tyler Christopher can win a bronze medal here, it sends a pretty strong message that such development can be done at home. In the past, we've been afraid to be too aggressive in getting that message across."

Victor Lachance, the outgoing Senior Leader and a driving force behind the Sport Matters experience, will work closely with Mr. Bird on several key initiatives. “Ian’s arrival marks another milestone in the evolution of the SMG and the community as a whole,” stated Mr. Lachance. “We’ve recognized for some time now the need for a full-time Senior Leader and Ian is the right fit at the right time.”

Most recently, Mr. Bird has served as Executive Director of the Canadian Professional Coaches Association where he has strengthened the public policy and leadership capacity of Canada’s coaches. As Chair of Athletes CAN, the Canadian association of national team athletes, Mr. Bird championed shared leadership – a model that will complement the SMG’s flexible and unstructured approach to shared contributions from leaders in sport and physical activity. In 2003, he was selected (over Wayne Gretzky, among others) as the winner of the Canadian Athlete Leader of the Year Award. Mr. Bird is also known for his contribution to the development of young people through sport and his role in spearheading the growth of Esteem Team, Canada’s first national athlete role model program.

“Like many sport leaders, my life has been largely shaped by my experience in sport,” noted Mr. Bird. “I anticipate that my Olympic experience, my work with Canadian youth, athletes, and coaches, and my commitment to the public policy process will find a good home at Sport Matters. I can’t wait to get started.”


The news of Mr. Bird’s new leadership role with the SMG was hailed as good news by sport leaders. “This is a real boost to the Sport Matters Group and its future activities” says Tom Jones, CEO of Commonwealth Games Canada. “I can’t think of a better leader than Ian to help all of us create and deliver better sport in Canada.” f sport and physical activity in Canada, and Ian is certainly someone who can help us shape that future” says Anne Merklinger, Director General of the Canadian Canoe Association. “Ian can help raise the tide for all sport organizations.”

“The SMG is fortunate to have a person like Ian Bird at the helm” says Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee. “ Ian brings great strength to sport in Canada given his breadth of experience and perspective as an athlete, a youth leader, an administrator and advocate. The COC has been exceedingly pleased with the collaboration fostered by the SMG, and I look forward to working together on the challenges ahead.” The COC is one of the major supporters of the SMG’s activities.

The SMG has been a unique and welcomed development for our sector “ says Dina Bell-Laroche Executive Director of the True Sport Secretariat. “Ian’s style of leadership will help reinforce the crucial role of sport, recreation and physical activity in Canadian society.

“The link between sport and physical activity is extremely important.” says Dr. Andrew Pipe, Director, Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre of University of Ottawa Heart Institute. “With Ian as senior leader, the Sport Matters Group can make a powerful contribution to healthy Public Policy concerning physical activity and sport.”

The SMG is a voluntary group of sport leaders and organizations who have come together to deliberate and collaborate around issues that affect sport and physical activity in Canada. The Group operates like a community of practice which undertakes various public policy activities relevant to sport and physical activity. It is currently composed of roughly 90 national and provincial organizations and individuals who care about the future of sport in Canada.