Kristina Groves (CP)

Kristina Groves adds 5th event to Olympic schedule at Olympic team trials.
(CSN)

CALGARY-Kristina Groves of Ottawa added a fifth event to her Olympic schedule on Saturday with a victory in the women’s 1,000-metres at the Canada Post Single Distance Championships and Olympic team trials in long track speed skating.

Groves clocked a personal best with Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg second in and Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., third.  Shannon Rempel of Winnipeg was fourth.

“It’s going to be a full slate at the Olympics,” said Groves, 29, pre-selected in the 1,500, 3,000, 5,000 and pursuit.  “The 1,000 hasn’t been my priority this year but it’s an event I’ve used a lot to help me in the longer distances. I’ve had god 1,000 races all year and I love the event because it’s nice and short.  You can just hammer the whole thing.  I was nervous before the race but I had my best ever first lap.”

In the men’s 1,000, Jeremy Wotherspoon of Red Deer, Alta., was the winner edging Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., second while Francois-Olivier Roberge of St-Nicolas, Que., was third and Steven Elm of Red Deer fourth .

Jeremy Wotherspoon of Red Deer, Alta., and Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg had been preselected in the men’s and women’s 1,000 respectively.

Canada can send 20 athletes (10 men and 10 women) in long track speed skating to the Olympic Games and prior to the trials nine of those spots (five men and four women) have been secured by skaters who have pre-qualified based on performances at last year’s world championships and this season’s World Cups.

Competition resumes Monday with the men’s 5,000 and women’s 3,000 metres starting at 2 p.m. local time at the Olympic Oval. The long track team is scheduled to be officially nominated on Wednesday January 4 at a news conference at the Olympic Oval.

Regan Lauscher (CP)

Luge youngsters to debut in Torino.
(The Calgary Herald)

The Canadian luge team will combine experience and youth at the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Former Olympians Regan Lauscher and Grant Albrecht of Red Deer, Eric Pothier of Airdrie and Chris and Mike Moffat of Calgary were all named to the team Wednesday. They will be joined by several athletes making their Olympic debuts. "For a number of our athletes, it will be their first exposure to the Olympics, and it's a position they've earned through hard work and strong performances on the World Cup circuit," Tim Farstad, executive director of the Canadian Luge Association, said in a release. "Our results have shown that Canadian luge athletes are no longer here just to show up and put on the suit. We want to be on the Olympic podium."

Lauscher, 25, is a six-time Canadian champion and Canada's first-ever World Cup silver medallist. She will be joined on the women's side by 19-year-old Meaghan Simister of Regina and 18-year-old Alex Gough of Calgary. "Heading into the 2002 Olympics, I was the lone woman in Canada training with the men's team," said Lauscher. "We now have a strong group of young girls pushing me every day, and it is a great environment to train in because we all hate to lose."

All three racers on the men's team will make their Olympic debut. Jeff Christie, 22, of Calgary has been Canada's men's singles leader on the World Cup track the past two seasons. He will be joined by 21-year-old Calgary natives in Sam Edney and Ian Cockerline.

Canada's doubles squad will be led by Calgary brothers Chris and Mike Moffat, who both slid for Canada at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. The siblings returned to the sport this year after a three-year hiatus. Chris, 26, recorded a Canadian-best fifth-place finish in 2002 with then-partner Pothier, who will compete in Torino with Albrecht.

The team, which will be coached by Walter Corey, is in Europe this week to continue its Olympic preparation.

Thomas Grandi (CP)

GRANDI WINS SECOND MEDAL IN TWO DAYS.
(Brockville Recorder and Times)
Fri 23 Dec 2005

His podium drought over, Thomas Grandi now has his sights set on a return to his gold-medal form of a year ago.

The skier from Banff, Alta., won silver in a World Cup slalom Thursday, one day after claiming bronze in a giant slalom. Italy's Giorgio Rocca won the race, his third slalom victory of the season, after Austrian leader Benjamin Raich missed a gate on his second run. Grandi, eighth after the first run, finished second, edging third-placed American Ted Ligety by .03 seconds.

Prior to Wednesday, Grandi's best result this season was fourth in a slalom at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. But he'd also failed to finish a couple of races and had only cracked the top 10 on one other occasion.
Grandi admitted his confidence had taken a hit prior to Wednesday's bronze-medal result. "The last few days, I really made a huge step in my skiing," said Grandi. "Before that, I wasn't 100 per cent ready, and that showed in my results."

Despite his recent successes, Grandi said he still sees room for improvement. "Basically, I skied sections today good enough to win, but I still made a couple of mistakes," said Grandi, who earned his only two World Cup gold medals in a three-day span last December. "I know that I need to be more consistent. Each race, I'm getting more confident, and I think with that comes consistency."

Grandi's medal is the seventh for the Canadian ski team with over half the World Cup season and the Winter Olympics in February still to come. Grandi said he's not worried about him or his teammates peaking at the wrong time. "(It's not like) swimming, or any sport where the endurance factor is such a big deal," said Grandi. "In a sport like skiing, you just get it one day. All of a sudden, you're skiing great, and there may not be a real explanation for that."

With podium finishes in all four disciplines (downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super-giant slalom), Canadian skiers are starting to draw attention from perennial powerhouses Austria and Germany. "There's a big buzz over here," said Grandi, who joined Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., Thursday as the only Canadian multiple medallists this season. "It started last year, and I think now it's just growing."

Megan Agosta (CP)

Canada's last Olympic hockey tune-up a clunker.
(The Calgary Herald)

Melody Davidson offered up no platitudes -- no excuses -- for the dud of a performance offered up by Team Canada on New Year's Day in Winnipeg.

A 5-3 loss to the U.S. in the final clash before the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy? Absolutely unacceptable, according to the no-nonsense coach of the national women's hockey team. "You really want to know?" Davidson said, when asked to detail her post-game speech. "Honest, I just said we were horses--t. We just didn't compete.''

But why? Going into the game, Canada had won eight of its past nine meetings against the Americans. A flag-waving sea of 12,628 patrons in patriotic red packed the MTS Centre on Sunday, and the game was nationally televised on TSN. With the nation looking on, Canada gave the casual fan no reason for confidence in the chance of a repeat of the 2002 gold-medal performance at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games.

Davidson was at a loss to explain the sudden bout of mediocrity. "I'm not sure," she said. "Maybe it was the new jerseys. Maybe it was the crowd. Maybe it was New Year's Day, and they didn't get to go out last night. "That's the way sport is. As a coach, you get your team as ready as you can, and they show up or they don't show up. Everyone in that room knows damn well they didn't show up."

The Olympic team was announced at GM Place at the same time as the men's Olympic roster was unveiled.

Forwards Hayley Wickenheiser, Vicky Sunohara, Jayna Hefford, Jennifer Botterill, Cassie Campbell and Danielle Goyette and defender Beckie Kellar are back for their third Olympics.

Caroline Ouellete, a forward/defender, forward Cherie Piper, defenders Cheryl Pounder and Colleen Sostorics and goalie Kim St. Pierre are back from the 2002 team. But they'll be joined by a new wave that includes forwards Meghan Agosta, 18, Sarah Vaillancourt, 22, Gillian Apps, 22, Katie Weatherston, 22, Gina Kingsbury, 24, and defenders Gillian Ferrari, 25 and Carla McLeod, 24 - all of whom are making their Olympic debuts.

Goalie Charline Labonte, a late cut in 2002 and veteran Sami-Jo Small, another 2002 vet who will be an alternate goalie this time, complete the team.

Joe Sakic (CP)

Canada is sending a veteran-laden hockey team captained by Joe Sakic to the Olympics.

Todd Bertuzzi is on board but teen star Sidney Crosby will have to wait another four years.

Selectors went with the tried and true in naming 10 who won 2002 gold and adding others who impressed during the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. Of the 23 players named, 21 were involved in one or both of those tournaments. "We've seen these people succeed at very high levels," head coach Pat Quinn said of the experience factor.

It will be the third Winter Games for Sakic, the classy Colorado Avalanche veteran. "To play in the Olympics, to play for your country, there's nothing like it," he said. "You love doing it, and I'm looking forward to it again. "We're all looking forward to trying to win another gold."

Bertuzzi's notoriety since his NHL suspension over the Steve Moore attack in March 2004 will no doubt follow him to Turin but, in the end, he was considered too good to omit.

Kevin Lowe, assistant to team executive director Wayne Gretzky, said he hoped Canadians would support Bertuzzi's selection. "We're proud to have him," Lowe told reporters. "He's going to be a big part of this team.

There was no room on the team for much-ballyhooed rookie Crosby, who was recommended by Mario Lemieux after the 2002 captain took himself out of the running. Crosby is second among NHL rookies and 29th overall with 33 points.

Goaltender Martin Brodeur, defencemen Rob Blake, Adam Foote, Ed Jovanovski, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger, and forwards Sakic, Simon Gagne, Jarome Iginla and Ryan Smyth are the 10 holdovers from Salt Lake City. "It's a great honour to be named to the team," said Brodeur. "Everybody was waiting for the team to be named and now it's done and we'll move forward in getting ourselves ready for February."

Brodeur is expected to be the No. 1 goalie. The others are Roberto Luongo and Marty Turco. Joining Sakic and Bertuzzi up front are Shane Doan, Kris Draper, Dany Heatley, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Rick Nash, Martin St. Louis and Joe Thornton.

Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards (CP)

Skeleton no longer a drag for Hollingsworth-Richards.
(CanWest News Service)

EDMONTON - Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards got fed up with finishing sixth and seventh in her chosen sport, skeleton, so she decided it was time to stop dragging her feet. And she means actually dragging her feet.

After 10 years of competing internationally, the 25-year-old virtually unknown from Eckville, Alta., has suddenly vaulted into world prominence this winter, winning her first ever World Cup event in the season-opener and following that breakthrough with three consecutive podium finishes. ``Last year she was consistently sixth or seventh and she told me was sick of that, she wanted to start winning,'' says her husband, professional saddle bronc rider Billy Richards.

She's become a winner and an Olympic gold-medal favourite, she believes, because of a number of factors. None, however, more vital than her decision to stop dragging her feet and become more aggressive. ``Before I used to go down the track, make sure I had safe lines, clean lines,'' she says in a telephone interview from the Toronto airport. ``We can drag our feet and have nice, pretty little runs, but that's not necessarily going to be the fast time. ``You could be taking more risks, but the outcomes could be you might be on your back, or you might be standing on the podium.''

So Hollingsworth-Richards has gone out on a limb. In the most important season of her career, with the 2006 Winter Olympics now just two months away, she's taking the high-risk, high-reward route and enjoying the benefits.

Hollingsworth-Richards took one of the biggest steps of her career Dec. 14 at a track in Sigulda, Latvia. It was a track that intimidated her so much she had never finished in the top 10. This time, however, she recorded the fastest second-run time to grab the bronze medal, giving her a gold, two silver and a bronze in the first four World Cup events. ``That was a big point for me because it was such a scary track,'' she admits. ``I had just been dragging my feet down the ice, scared and not wanting to be there. Now I feel if I can medal at a track like that then I feel really, really confident.''

Hollingsworth-Richards, ranked No. 2 in the World Cup standings behind reigning world champion Maya Pedersen of Switzerland, had shown flashes of brilliance through her long career. She was second in the 2000 world championships and had World Cup podium finishes in each of the past three seasons. But never had she shown the consistency to be considered among the world's best.

The change began on a golf course at the Canadian Sport Centre Calgary's Golf with an Olympian tournament two years ago when she hooked up with True Energy Trust, an Alberta junior oil company that became her major sponsor. True Energy gave her a three-year commitment that eliminated financial worries and allowed her to spend more time with coach Jim McMillan, and then bought her teammate Lindsay Alcock's old sled. ``It's newer, mine was 1998, hers was a 2002 model, so the aerodynamics and everything constructed within the sled is faster.''

So this November she took the sled, the better coaching and improved training along with her new attitude to the Olympic track in Turin, Italy where she put the finishing touches to her new-found confidence. ``That training week was a great confidence booster, to be fast on that track and know that I can compete with the best in the world and potentially win a medal in Turin.''

Having now firmly established herself as a solid Olympic medal contender Hollingsworth-Richards returns to the circuit next week confident of doing well in the three events leading to Turin. Even the Olympic pressure, she says, won't rattle her out of her line at Turin. ``I feed on it,'' she says of the pressure. ``I think it's great energy to talk to people about it. It's a reality that I have the potential to win a medal, and I don't see that as pressure. On that day it's going to be me and my runners on that track, putting everything I've learned in the last 10 years into those two runs.''

Sara Renner (CP)

Santa delivers a plane ticket: My Christmas would have been perfect if only . . .
(Sara Renner for The Calgary Herald)

You would have to be a real Scrooge to cancel Christmas. I never met anyone who would admit to this until I became that person.

Last spring, I had my year-end debriefing with my coach, Dave Wood. We went through the season and figured out when I was hot and when I was not. There was a good start on the World Cup followed by a nosedive after New Year's, which lasted until I regained my form for the World Championships in February.

The jury was out and it wasn't entirely my fault. Last year, Christmas had taken the wind out of my sails. My husband's family is Italian and my family is mostly Canadian but heavy on the Swiss cheese fondue on Christmas Eve. Between the numerous nights spent with the Italian family, making toast with glasses of Spumanti, combined with the symbolic Swiss tradition of dipping your bread in kirsch before the cheese plunge proved to be a combination that didn't mix well with high-level sport.

I hardly had time to get quality training in over the holidays and got a cold. It wasn't just my nose that got plugged. Cheese, flour and water make glue.

It's trivial in the grand scope of the world, but getting a cold is flirting with disaster for endurance athletes. If you haven't met a Nordic ski racer then you wouldn't know we are rabid hand washers and sanitizers. We even have a team policy that, when someone gets the sniffles, they are sent into isolation. At the World Championships, our hotel was full and Chris Jefferies was sent with a pile of Kleenex to the next town. Health is important and energy management even more so.

This year, the lead up to the holidays was on track. Canada outdid itself in the World Cups in Vernon and in Canmore. Our team had its best-ever World Cup stint with six medals, the race organizations were first class and most of the spectators lost their voices.

Instead of parading around town after the races, the newly announced Olympic team was whisked off to seclusion in Nipika Lodge at Kootenay National Park. With no TV or radio, we spent most of our time gazing into the fireplace, having saunas, hippie hot tubs (they have a wood stove submerged in a cedar tub) and skiing. Life was simple and we had time to decompress and look ahead to the Olympics.

Upon return to Canmore, my skin turned green and I grinched out. I went skiing with my parents but had to leave them behind in the parking lot.

Then it started to rain so I made a donation to UNICEF but it continued to rain. I had a sneaking suspicion my husband and alpine skier Thomas Grandi was going to surprise me and come home from Europe, but their team has a must-win-in-order-to-eat-turkey policy and Santa doesn't give plane tickets for silver and bronze.

Aside from a missing husband and the rain, Christmas was perfect. We sang Silent Night with a fire extinguisher ready in case our candle-lit tree fell over. I had fondue but had a great day of training the next day. Best of all, Santa did end up delivering on that plane ticket. I have one to go to Europe 10 days early and will spend the new year watching some alpine skiing.

Mike Ireland (CP)

Ireland defies odds with berth: Head injury put Olympic dreams in doubt.
(The Calgary Herald)

Doctors said he shouldn't race, skeptics said he couldn't race and sensible people wouldn't even try to race. Yet Mike Ireland defied them all.

On Tuesday afternoon, he took a huge step in his return from a serious head injury by tying Jeremy Wotherspoon in the Canada Post 500m event and securing a spot on the national team for February's Winter Olympics. "In early September, we were visiting friends and they asked when Michael would be back skating," said Bob Ireland, minutes after his son finished racing. "We said it would take a minor miracle for him to be back skating this year and qualify for the Olympics.""I guess this must be a minor miracle," chimed in mother Darla.

After suffering a severe concussion from a bicycle training accident in September of 2004, Ireland was sidelined for a full year until he gingerly returned to the ice 10 weeks ago.

No one imagined he would come so far, so quickly. "I had been working with four different doctors in Calgary and I went to Montreal to see a neurosurgeon," said the 31-year-old from Winnipeg. "They all told me not to do anything until I don't have any symptoms. "In August, I decided, 'I still have symptoms but, whatever, I want to give it a try.' At that point, I couldn't even spin for five minutes. The only thing I was doing was a fast walk, like old people.

"When I first got on the ice, it hurt just to bend down and skate warmup laps. I couldn't even get in the skating position. I tried training for a week and got dizzy, so I backed off. Then I tried again. "Every practice was 100 per cent effort just trying to keep up and I still got dropped every practice. By everyone. Even the guys who normally have no endurance were dropping me like a bad habit. Even girls were passing me. "Every week got a bit better and, by mid-October, I knew the speed would come and the feel was there."

Tuesday at the Olympic Oval, it all came together. This time, Ireland's head was spinning for all the right reasons. After suffering through a 20-month stretch without competing, he's bound for Italy. And he didn't sneak in the back door. His time of 34.65 in the second heat was just 9/100ths of a second slower than his personal best. "Those times were pretty decent for how I felt," said Ireland, who also has a nagging groin injury. "I figure I can be a factor at the Olympics. I think I'm a little behind a couple of the top guys but I just have to step up my potential to their level.

"The (symptoms) aren't really getting better, but it's not feeling any worse and I've increased it (the workload) exponentially every week. "I'm past the point of worrying about things. Maybe I'm prolonging the recovery, but I almost feel better getting some exercise."

Jenn Heil (CP)

Jenn Heil is good as gold.
(The London Free Press)

Four years ago she went to Salt Lake 2002 with stars in her eyes and came agonizingly close to taking home a prize.

Jennifer Heil of Spruce Grove, Alta., went to Salt Lake at age 18 as Canada's youngest athlete and was also the country's first to compete. "It's absolutely amazing," she said the night she checked in. "I open my window and I can see the course from my room. It's the most incredible sight I've ever seen." Heil missed the medal podium by 1/100th of a point. "You were second," the Russian coach came up and told her of the moguls event, which is decided both by timing and judging.

Four years later Heil is going back to the greatest show on snow without the stars in her eyes but with her eyes very much on the prize, the biggest prize, the Olympic gold medal. And as she completes the Road to Turin, she does so completely at peace with what happened to her then and completely prepared for the now. "The 1/100th of a point I think about pretty much every time the subject of the Olympics come up. But you know what? I went to those Olympics telling myself I wanted to achieve one thing -- I wanted to make my best run and wake up the next morning and say I had no regrets.

Heil, in the interim, has become Canada's greatest female moguls skier and the best in the world. She made history in 2004 by becoming Canada's first World Cup champion and successfully defended her title in 2005 by making it to the podium six times and winning gold five of those six. She also captured gold in dual moguls at the world championships.

Heil, who finished first and second at the two pre-Christmas events this year, returned home for the holidays for four more events prior to settling into a Canadian training camp in Tignes, France, prior to Turin.
"That's where we started our season. Tignes is not that far from Turin. One day we drove there and walked up to the venue in our running shoes. The stands were already up. "It just didn't have the same effect on me as when I saw the Olympic setup in Salt Lake. That's the beauty of experience. It didn't impress me the way Salt Lake impressed me. It felt really good not to be impressed by it.

"Everything feels really good right now. I reached my goal as World Cup champion. The biggest joy has been getting better each day and pushing the limits. "I'm glad it's getting close. There's definite anticipation."

Olympics are greatest manifestation of peace on earth.
(The Toronto Star)

THE WORLD AWAITS; In this era of globalization, perhaps only sport provides a common ground for countries to begin resolving their differences, and remains a powerful symbol for billions around the world.

Ask sports enthusiasts about 1972 and their response will probably depend on location. Canadians might recall the Summit Series and a hockey win; the rest of the world would likely speak of the horror of the massacre at the Munich Olympics.

In 2006, the world's attention will also be divided. This year, Canadians hope to celebrate Olympic gold medals. A larger part of the globe will celebrate the beautiful game, and mark the World Cup on their sporting calendars.

This has the potential to be a very memorable year because of those two huge gatherings of the global village The Winter Olympics are the smaller Games but still attract billions of viewers. The World Cup will likely be the most-watched sporting event on the planet, even though only 32 countries have qualified for the finals, which begin in June in Germany.

So in this era of globalization, can global sports help define a year? "There are many cultural, economic, political and other factors that determine the meaning of a year, the consequence of a year, the impact of a year," said Bruce Kidd, the University of Toronto sport historian and Olympian. "What bugs me is the fact that sport is excluded from that list. It's a powerful symbol for people," he said. "It's not of a determining factor, but it is an important factor and I'm glad we're talking about it."

Next month in Turin, 2,500 athletes from 85 countries will compete in 15 Olympic disciplines, vying for 84 medals. More than 20,000 people have volunteered to work the Games, and it's estimated there will be one million spectators. On television, billions will watch.

The same goes for the World Cup, which for many nations is far more important than the Olympics. The 32 countries contesting the trophy in Germany come from all corners of the world and represent countries as disparate as Angola and Japan. It's believed that 3.2 million people will watch the matches in person, and more than 3 billion - from San Jose to Seoul, Sydney to Stockholm - will follow play on television.

The World Cup and the Olympics share something besides huge global audiences, astronomical revenue and incredible cachet Both link sport to a higher purpose. The Olympic movement urges us to "Celebrate Humanity;" this year's World Cup slogan is "Time to Make Friends." And FIFA, international soccer's governing body, lists "unifying people" as one of its objectives.

"It may be too simple to say, as some idealists do, that sport is a force for good in the world," wrote Christopher Hill, a professor of international relations at Britain's London School of Economics, in Sport and International Relations An Emerging Relationship. "But it does breed 'understanding' in the sense of common interests and enthusiasms - the words Bobby Charlton and George Best have enabled many a linguistically challenged Brit to enjoy hospitality abroad," he added. "It is the ability to cross over between the local, national and international on one hand, and to connect the mass and the elite on the other, that makes sport such an important phenomenon."

Watch any Olympic opening ceremony and a spectacle celebrating not only humanity but also peace and diversity unfolds. Before the 2004 games, Athens spokesperson Pierre Kosmidis told the BBC "the Olympics are what brings people from different places together - they are the biggest manifestation of peace and noble competition in the world."

The Olympic ideal tries to separate sport from politics, but that's really not possible. In the 1930s, the Olympic movement decided to award the games to Germany for political reasons the president of the International Olympic Committee, Henri de Baillet-Latour, a Belgian count, advocated that Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Berlin host the Games in order to signal to the world that Germany was back in the international fold after World War I.

But the Nazis' rise to power gave the IOC pause, and led them to make demands of Adolf Hitler - over the regime's anti-Semitic and racist policies - that all athletes be treated equally at the Games.
At one point during the Games, de Baillet-Latour approached Hitler and confronted him over his exclusion of Jews and mistreatment of blacks. "When you are invited to a friend's home, you don't tell him how to run it, do you?" Hitler is said to have retorted. "Excuse me, Chancellor," de Baillet-Latour said, "when the five rings are raised over the stadium, it is no longer Germany. It is the Olympics and we are the masters here."

With the year's sporting calendar filled to capacity and the two global sporting gatherings dominating, 2006 is shaping up to be memorable.
"There are moments when the attention of an entire community or country or - in the case of the World Cup," Kidd said, "the globe focuses on sport."'The Olympics are what brings people from different places together - they are the biggest manifestation of peace and noble competition in the world.'  

Sale and Pelletier (CP)

Figure skaters Sale, Pelletier marry.
(CBC.ca)

Olympic pairs figure skating champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were married in front of 100 guests during a private ceremony in Banff, Alta., on Friday. "Today's ceremony was all I could have imagined and more," said Sale. "I sure love my husband."

Sale, 28, from Red Deer, Alta., and Pelletier, 31, of Sayabec, Que., began skating together in 1998. They won the world championship in 2001 in Vancouver.

At the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the judges placed Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharuldize first but, when a scandal over how the verdict was arrived at broke out, gold medals also were awarded Sale and Pelletier.

The pair now skate professionally and have starred in a series of ice shows. "Jamie is my best friend and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with her," Pelletier said after exchanging vows.

The newlyweds will return to Smucker's Stars On Ice in the United States next week, a show that tours Canada in the spring.