Robin and Brian McKeever (Canadian Paralympic Committee)

Chris Williamson and guide Bob Taylor. (CPC Photo)

Lauren Woolstencroft (CPC Photo)

Paralympic Update: Brother act gives Canada first gold at Paralympics: Victory in 5K for visually impaired follows double gold in Salt Lake City.
(The Vancouver Sun)

TURIN - In the McKeever family, brotherly bonds may be strong, but not tight enough apparently to break a bet.

Brian McKeever, his head freshly shaved, won gold Sunday in the men’s five-kilometre cross-country race for the visually impaired at the Paralympic Winter Games. His older brother, Robin, was his guide—“it really is a team thing and I couldn’t have done it without him,” said Brian—but Robin eschewed a similar shave to honour a bet with the juniors he coaches in Alberta. He kept the two-toned gold and straw-coloured dye job he got after two of his kids won medals at the recent world junior championships.

The normally black-haired Robin actually joked that Brian’s hair “fell out last night from all the stress.” If there was stress, it was alleviated by the pair’s gold medal, the first of the Games for Canada, and the Canmore, Alta., duo’s third career gold after they won two events in 2002. “Rob towed as hard as he could and that was the difference,” cracked Brian, 26.

Canada picked up a second medal Sunday when visually impaired alpine skier Chris Williamson of Markham, Ont., and his guide, Bob Taylor of West Vancouver, won silver in the men’s downhill. “It’s a great way to start,” said Williamson, who missed the first three races in Salt Lake City in 2002 after tearing a medial collateral ligament in his knee a day before the opening ceremony. Remarkably, he came back and won the slalom on the closing day. “I had that horrible start in Salt Lake and a fabulous ending. To start this on a good note with a medal, it’s a good momentum builder for myself and hopefully the rest of the team.”

Elsewhere, Canada improved to 2-0 in men’s sledge hockey and assured itself of a spot in the semifinals with a 12-0 thrashing of Italy. Canada beat Great Britain 9-0 on Saturday. Things will get tougher Tuesday when Canada completes the round-robin against Norway, the silver medallists from Salt Lake City in 2002, when Canada finished out of the medals.“I think we have the best offensive talent in the world and we’ve been getting held off [the scoresheet] or getting just one or two goals in our last couple of tournaments,” said Billy Bridges, who scored five goals for Canada against Italy. “I think this is really good for us.”

In curling, Canada opened round-robin play Sunday with a 6-3 win over Denmark after stealing three in the fifth end of the six-end contest.

Brian McKeever was an up-and-coming junior skier when he was diagnosed at 19 with Stargardt’s disease, a rare genetic disorder that causes macular degeneration.
Not particularly close growing up, Brian and Robin grew closer together after that. “It hit pretty hard,” said Brian, whose father was afflicted with the same disease.Robin, who competed at the Olympics in Nagano in 1998, became Brian’s guide in 2001 and now is also a full-time coach.

Canada had a terrific medal opportunity dashed Saturday in heartbreaking fashion when paraplegic Shauna Maria Whyte had the binding connecting her sit sled to one of her skis break late in the 10-kilometre biathlon. She was in second place at the time. “When I knew I couldn’t finish the race, I bawled my heart out,” said Whyte, who had poured $6,000 of her own money and that of her parents and friends into the sled. “You put your heart and soul into a competition like this, years and years of training. I’ve had other disappointments in my life, worked extremely hard to get over those hurdles. Then something like this happens . . . I just broke down.”

Lauren Woolstencroft of Victoria earned Canada’s third medal of the 2006 Paralympic Games Monday by winning a silver in the women’s standing super-giant slalom.

Woolstencroft, who was born without legs below both knees and no left arm below the elbow, drew motivation from a frustrating fourth-place finish in the downhill. “I’m very satisfied,” she said. “I wasn’t very happy with my fourth place. I felt I skied great today and that’s all I wanted to do. I knew I had it in me.”

Woolstencroft won the gold medal in the super-G at the 2002 Salt Lake City Paralympics and currently leads the World Cup standings in the event. Born in Calgary, she began skiing at age four. She recently completed her electrical engineering degree at the University of Victoria and will begin a new job in Vancouver this summer.

Chris Williamson of Markham, Ont., picked up Canada’s first alpine skiing medal of the Games on Sunday, taking silver in the men’s visually impaired downhill. It was the second Paralympic medal of Williamson’s career. He won gold in the slalom at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. “It’s a great way to start,” said Williamson, who tore a ligament in his left knee the day before the start of competition in 2002. “The last time in Salt Lake was a bad way to start.”

“Today was really good. I mean, whenever I’m in the start gate I expect gold. If you’re not going have that mind set, if that’s not what you’re trying to do, then there’s no point being there. But today it was silver and we’re hoping to leave here with a medal in each event.”

Thomas Grandi (CP)

Grandi earns 2nd bronze in 2 days.
CBC.CA News

A few more performances like this and Canadian alpine skier Thomas Grandi may think twice about retiring after the World Cup season.

He won his second bronze medal in as many days, posting a time of one minute, 40.93 seconds in a men’s slalom event in Shiga Kogen, Japan, on Saturday. “It was a good race today,” said Grandi, who finished ninth in slalom at the recent Torino Olympics. “I had nothing to lose and just tried to ski aggressively. Any time you can get two podiums you have to be happy.”

The 33-year-old native of Canmore, Alta., finished third in Friday’s slalom. Grandi, the only Canadian man to win an alpine World Cup technical event, is contemplating retirement.

Finland’s Kalle Palander and Austrian Reinfried Herbst finished tied for first in Saturday’s event, both finishing in a time of 1:40.60 on the Mount Yakebitai course.
Austria’s Benjamin Raich finished fourth (1:40.95) and secured his first overall World Cup title. With four events remaining, Raich has 1,310 points, followed by Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal (810). “It was a perfect day,” said Raich. “Fourth place is good. The overall World Cup title is fixed and all the training and hard work has paid off.”
The final four men’s World Cup events will be held at Aare, Sweden.

Beckie Scott (CP)

BECKIE SCOTT MAKES IT FOUR MEDALS IN THREE DAYS FOR CANADIAN CROSS-COUNTRY SKI TEAM.
(CODA RElease)

Drammen, NOR - Beckie Scott continues to make the most of what will be the final hurrah of her storied career on the World Cup cross-country ski circuit, winning her second medal in two days on Thursday and bumping the Canadian national team’s tally to four medals in three days. “To do well here is such a great feeling,” said a beaming Scott, shortly after winning the silver medal in the classic sprint finals in Drammen, Norway. “They do such an incredible job with the course and the town, and we had over 30,000 spectators out today. It’s been quite a tough schedule lately with three races in three days, but I can really feel my pacing coming back. I feel like I’m getting better with every race.”

Such an assessment will hardly be music to the ears of her international rivals in light of the strong performance unleashed by the 31-year-old Vermilion, Alta. native on Thursday. “I was really happy with the result today and it really sewed up my position in second place,” said Scott, who has also collected two Olympic medals, a gold and silver, over the course of her highly successful career on the cross-country track. “To be able to finish your career either first or second in the world would be a pretty remarkable achievement,” she added.

Sudbury’s Devon Kershaw was one of two Canadian cross-country skiers to reach the World Cup podium with a bronze medal on Tuesday. Sara Renner also collected a bronze.

Kershaw’s career-best finish was the first time in more than 15 years the Canadian cross-country ski team had a male competitor reach the podium in World Cup action. In an amazing day for Canadian nordic skiers, Kershaw and Renner’s medals in their respective sprint events lead a group of four Canadians to top-10 finishes. “When I was a kid, it was dreaming of stuff like this that got me out the door most mornings. This feels absolutely amazing,” said Kershaw through a cross-country Canada release of Canada’s first male podium finisher in cross-country skiing since Pierre Harvey strung together three World Cup triumphs in the late 1980s. “It was great to win a medal on the same day as Sara and it was just a great day for our team.”

Although the 23-year-old battled the injury bug earlier this season, Kershaw served notice during his Olympic debut last month that he was developing into a force to be reckoned with. He skied to a first-place finish in the opening leg of the Olympic relay in Torino, Italy, a result that foreshadowed today’s stellar performance. “I think I did carry some momentum from the Olympics into the race tonight,” said Kershaw, who improved on an already impressive fourth-place result in the qualifying round en route to the bronze medal. “Hopefully, it will continue to carry on for the next two weeks.”

World Cup cross-country skiing action continued Wednesday with pursuit races in Falun, Sweden.

Melborne - Commonwealth City (CP)

Canada expected to do well in the pool at Commonwealth Games.
CP Wire

A look at the sports Canada will compete in at the March 15-30 Commonwealth Games (Canada is not entered in netball or basketball):

Gymnastics Outlook: Gymnastics is mostly dominated by non-Commonwealth countries so Canada will be among the favourites, along with England and Australia. Olympic gold medallist Kyle Shewfelt is competing in his first international event since the 2004 Athens Summer Games. He’s the defending Commonwealth champion in the floor and vault. The men also won silver in the team event in 2002. The Games competition is the first major event to use the revamped points system.
Medals won in 2002: 12 (4-2-6).

Badminton Outlook: Mike Beres and Charmaine Reid will lead the Canadian team, that is without Denyse Julien, a veteran of five Commonwealth Games. Canada is in tough in a strong Commonwealth badminton field, led by powerhouses Malaysia and England.
Medals won in 2002: None.

Boxing Outlook: The boxing tournament at the Games is seen as a weak competition with no Americans, Cubans and few Europeans. That means Canada, along with England, Nigeria, Ireland and Scotland, will contend for medals. None of Canada’s seven medallists from 2002 are on the Canadian team this time around. Olympian Adam Trupish brings international experience to the squad.
Medals won in 2002: 7 (2-2-3).

Cycling Outlook: With a lack of dominant Europeans at the Games, Canada should once again do well in cycling. Olympic silver medallist Marie-Helene Premont is a favourite in the mountain bike event. The team also includes veteran road racers Gord Fraser of Ottawa and Susan Palmer-Komar of Hamilton as well mountain biker Seamus McGrath, a silver medallist in 2002. Lori-Ann Muenzer, an Olympic gold medallist in track cycling, is taking the year off.
Medals won in 2002: 9 (3-3-3).

Diving Outlook: With all its top athletes competing in Melbourne, and most of the world powers not there, Canada should have plenty of success. World champion Alexandre Despatie is the defending gold medallist in the one- and three-metre springboard events. In addition to Despatie and fellow Olympians Blythe Hartley and Emilie Heymans, the team also includes several youngsters such as 14-year-old Riley McCormick and 13-year-old Rachel Kemp.
Medals won in 2002: 7 (2-3-2).

Field Hockey Outlook: Canada will be in tough at the Games with highly ranked teams such as Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa in the field. The Canadian men were sixth in 2002 and are looking for the same placing in Melbourne. The women will try to improve on their seventh-place finish from four years ago.
Medals won in 2002: None.

Rowing Outlook: The Canadian men’s team, led by 21-year-old Ryan Bester, finished first overall in the Asia Pacific Championships late last year, beating world powers Australia and New Zealand. Competition will be tough in Melbourne, but they’re aiming for at least a medal. The women are a veteran group with two returning members of the silver-medal fours team from 2002. But they struggled at the Asia Pacific event.
Medals won in 2002: 2 (0-1-1).

Rhythmic Gymnastics Outlook: Alexandra Orlando hopes to follow in the footsteps of Erika Leigh-Stirton, who won five gold medals for Canada at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. But Orlando could go one better. Canada was upset by Malaysia in the team event in 1998. Canada is ranked No. 1 heading into Melbourne, and Orlando’s goal is six gold.
Medals won in 1998: 7 (5-1-1). Rhythmic gymnastics was dropped from the 2002 Manchester Games.

Outlook: The Canadian rugby squad is seeded seventh in the two-day, 16-team tournament. The Canadians are in a pool with Fiji, the world’s top-ranked team and silver medallists in 2002, as well as Niue and Scotland. Led by veteran Morgan Williams, the team aims to be first or second in its pool and achieve a top-eight finish. New Zealand is the defending champion.
Medals won in 2002: none

Shooting Outlook: Manchester gold medallists Kim Eagles (women’s air pistol pairs) and Cynthia Meyer (Olympic trap) are back to lead the Canadian team, which also features trap-shooter and trailblazer Susan Nattrass. The 55-year-old, a member of the Canadian team for nearly four decades was the first female to compete in a Games shotgun event at the 1990 Games. Look for Australia, India and England to be strong.
Medals won in 2002: 1 (1-0-0).

Squash Outlook: Defending champion Jonathon Power of Montreal has retired so Canada’s medal hopes now fall mostly on the shoulders of Graham Ryding of Toronto. He’s ranked 19th in the world but will have some tough competition as many of the sport’s top players are from the Commonwealth.

Swimming Outlook: Even with the world-class Aussies in the field, Canada has historically done well in the pool. But the team will be looking to win at least one gold this time around after failing to make the top of the podium in 2002. Keep an eye on world double medallist Brittany Reimer as well as Olympians Rick Say, Brent Hayden and Brian Johns and Paralympian Benoit Huot.
Medals won in 2002: 19 (0-8-11).

Synchro Outlook: Having won every synchro title since the sport was introduced in the Games in 1986 and none of the world’s top countries in the field, Canada is heavily favoured once again. Defending champions Claire Carver-Dias and Fanny Letourneau have retired so it will be up to Montreal’s Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon (solo and duet) and Isabelle Rampling (duet) to continue the winning tradition.
Medals won in 2002: 2 (2-0-0).

Table Tennis Outlook: Veteran Chris Xu, who helped Canada to a bronze in the women’s team event, is the only medallist back from the Manchester Games. Zhang Mo, Canada’s top-ranked female player, will lead a mixed team of experience and youth.
Medals won in 2002: 2 (0-1-1).

Track and Field Outlook: Canada has nine of its 12 medallists from the 2002 Manchester Games, including gold medallists Mark Boswell (high jump) and Chantal Petitclerc (wheelchair 800 metres). The Games are the main focus for Canadian track and field this season, and a key meet in the preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The two notable absences: hurdler Perdita Felicien and 400-metre runner Tyler Christopher.
Medals won in 2002: 12 (2-5-5).

Triathlon Outlook: Simon Whitfield and Carol Montgomery swept the gold for Canada when triathlon made its Commonwealth Games debut in 2002. Whitfield and Samantha McGlone, Canada’s top-ranked male and female triathletes, are taking a pass on the Melbourne Games due to scheduling conflicts. Watch for Pan American Games gold medallist Jill Savege to lead the Canadian team.
Medals won in 2002: 2 (2-0-0).

Weightlifting Outlook: Maryse Turcotte and Akos Sandor are back to lead the weightlifting team. Turcotte won double gold (overall, clean and jerk), and silver in the snatch at the 2002 Games, where women’s weightlifting made its Commonwealth debut. Sandor, a triple gold medallist at the 1998 Games in Kuala Lumpur, won three silver medals in 2002 in Manchester.
Medals won in 2002: 16 (3-8-5).

Speed Skaters (U of C)

RALLY HONOURS OLYMPIANS; UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY BASKS IN SUCCESS OF ATHLETES WHO TRAIN AT SCHOOL’S OVAL.
(The Calgary Sun)

Some of Canada’s most talented athletes were given a warm reception yesterday in the University of Calgary’s victory rally for their Olympic athletes. The party was held in a crowded MacEwan Hall ballroom, which was filled with fans and family of the athletes.

A giant banner hung from above, with several hundred signatures and the words ‘Welcome Home Olympians, We’re Proud of You!’ emblazoned on it. The Olympians from Canada’s women’s hockey team and speed skating teams were each introduced, with Cindy Klassen, winner of five Olympic medals, receiving a standing ovation from an ecstatic audience.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier was on hand to congratulate the athletes. “What an amazing job you’ve done for your country, your province and your city,” Bronconnier said to the athletes. “You’ve made our country so proud,” he said.

Canada netted 24 medals at the Games, a national record, and many athletes on the team train in Calgary. University of Calgary chancellor Bill Warren also congratulated the athletes, saying the school had a not-so-subtle hand in the Olympians’ success. “They were absolutely invincible,” Warren said of the women’s ice hockey team. “There was no question that they would win the gold medal.”

University of Calgary’s student union president Bryan West also addressed the Olympians, noting how 11 of the 24 medals won by Canada came from athletes who trained at the school’s Olympic Oval. “It’s amazing that students get to work out beside (these) champions,” said West.

Double silver medal-winning Olympian Kristina Groves addressed the audience on behalf of the athletes. She said witnessing the spirit of the Games gave her strength, and the indomitable human spirit led her and her teammates to victory. “Ultimately, that’s what the Olympics is all about,” she said, recounting an e-mail she got from one of her coaches, describing how the coach’s daughter had begun speed-skating. “If there’s anything I’ve accomplished, getting another girl into speed skating is something special,” said Groves.

Charmaine Crooks (CP)

CANADA’S CHARMAINE CROOKS HONOURED BY IOC.
The Toronto Sun

Charmaine Crooks of North Vancouver, B.C., (pictured) was one of six women saluted by the International Olympic Committee yesterday for promoting the role of women in sport.

The five-time Olympian won a silver medal in track and field at the 1984 Games. In 1996, she was elected a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission and served as an IOC member until 2004.

The other women who received trophies from the IOC in a ceremony at the UN labour agency in Geneva:

South America: Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina
Africa: Albertine Barbosa Andrade, Senegal
Asia: Elisa Lee, S. Korea
Europe: Dominique Petit, France
Oceania: Lorraine Mar, Fiji

Rick Hansen (CP)

A 2010 legacy: A society inclusive of all.
Rick Hansen - The Vancouver Sun

More than two decades have passed since I wheeled on to the track and heard the cheers of the crowd in Los Angeles at the Olympic Games. It was 1984 and eight of us were participating in what was the first wheelchair sport demonstration.

My dream back then was that one day our athletes with a disability would have equal recognition. Today, as Canada’s best begin competing at the 9th Paralympic Winter Games that dream remains unfulfilled. My challenge to Canadians is to see our team and indeed all the participants recognized as athletes first.

The 33 athletes that make up Canada’s Paralympic Team in Turin represent the best in the world in alpine and Nordic skiing, sledge hockey and curling. Their personal sacrifice to get to Turin is no less onerous than elite athletes like Cindy Klassen who collected a fistful of precious medals just a few weeks ago.

In the Paralympic Games, athletes like Scott Patterson from Vancouver will be flying down the slopes at speeds close to 100 km/h in their pursuit of excellence. It takes years of commitment, thousands of hours of practice, and often the ability to endure great personal pain to get there.

At one time, people with spinal cord injury and related disabilities weren’t considered to be serious athletes. But after watching our sledge hockey team perform, everyone will agree that our athletes with a disability are world class.
In many ways, our acceptance of our athletes with a disability has broader socio-cultural implications, reflecting our acceptance of people with a disability in the offices, factories and boardrooms of our nation.

Certainly, more must be done before true equality is achieved. However, great strides have been made.

We will have an unprecedented opportunity to burst through these remaining barriers in 2010. The whole world will be watching Canada when we host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Let’s use the opportunity to create a model unique to Canada, one that bridges the Olympics and the Paralympics and reflects a society that is inclusive of all its citizens.

I would urge all Canadians that when our Paralympic athletes capture medals in Turin, their achievements are celebrated with the same kind of enthusiasm afforded to Cindy Klassen and others a few weeks ago.

The Rick Hansen Man In Motion Foundation, founded by Rick Hansen in 1988, is an international leader in the field of spinal cord injury.

Allison Forsyth (CP)

Forsyth back at home: Nanaimo skier on the road to recovery after ACL surgery.
The Daily News (Nanaimo)

Thirteen days after knee surgery Nanaimo alpine skier Allison Forsyth is home visiting her mom and taking her rehabilitation in stride.

Forsyth crashed Feb. 13 during a downhill training run for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left leg and ending her Olympic dream. Not one to focus on the negative, Forsyth is trucking ahead with her recovery and said her surgeon in Banff, Dr. Mark Heard, said she is right on track for a 100% recovery. “I’m pretty much ahead of schedule as far as my surgeon is concerned and obviously being in my position as an elite athlete I have a luxurious schedule. My whole job for the next six months is to rehabilitate the knee so I can get back to doing my work, which is my sport.”

Since Tuesday, the 27-year-old has been sweating out her daily two-hour rehab sessions at Northridge Fitness Centre, focusing on her range of motion and building strength in the knee by strictly following her physiotherapists program. “I’m notorious for doing too much and I already did once last week and I paid for it pretty dearly. Ironically, I had a meeting with my surgeon the day after and he read me the riot act in that respect,” said Forsyth. “I just pushed it too hard and the bottom line is you can do whatever you want, but you can’t fight the healing time of the body. So I’ve taken it down a notch.”

If she hadn’t been injured, Forsyth would be in Sweden right now, but she said she’s happy to have the opportunity to be home to see her family, especially her mom who is sick. She has been driving her mom, Marion, back and forth to Victoria for some cancer treatments, which she’s happy to be able to do. However the long car rides irritate her knee. Yesterday’s snowstorm didn’t help, stopping them dead in their tracks on the Malahat for five hours. “It takes a toll on the stiffness in my knee, just sitting in the car for hours. At home I’m used to the snow, but here people don’t know how to drive in it.”

Forsyth plans on doing a little tour of her own in the next two weeks to visit her dad on Denman Island and her sister in Whistler before flying home to Canmore on March 21.

Forsyth expects she’ll be back on the slopes as early as June if her recovery carries on the way it has been. Her medical staff might use her as a test project and try to put her back on snow within three to four months, instead of the usual four to six months. “They might bump me up a couple of months and see how it goes. I’m fine with that because I know that progression is necessary as far as protocol and with the advances in medicine I think it’s possible. A decade ago this would have ended my career,” she said. “As far as timing goes, I have enough time to recover in the off season to get back and be strong for the next season starting in October.