Sport Performance Weekly

April 17th, 2006

Beckie Scott (CBC)

Beckie Scott: trailblazer: Retired Vermilion skier will be recognized for athletic endeavours.
The Edmonton Journal

While Beckie Scott's athletic career will be remembered as much for her unwavering battle against drugs in sports as for her stunning victories on the trails, it is her legacy to cross-country skiing in Canada that may ultimately be her biggest achievement.

The 31-year-old from Vermilion blazed a unprecedented trail in her pursuit of a simple goal -- to be the best she could possibly be. The two-time Olympic medallist was the first North American woman to win an Olympic cross-country skiing medal -- a bronze in 2002 that was ultimately upgraded to gold. She put the stamp of excellence on her career with a brilliant final season that included 10 World Cup medals, four of them gold, and an Olympic silver medal.

Long before she won her first World Cup gold medal or stood on the Olympic podium, she had began influencing youngsters across Canada to take up the sport. Her infectious smile and always-positive attitude, her joy in speaking to school children and her ability to turn every disappointing result into a reason to laugh made her an ideal role model.

"Beckie has led with integrity and really paved a path for cross-country skiing in Canada," said longtime teammate Sara Renner, who shared the 2006 Olympic silver medal in team pursuit with Scott. "It was a long path but, because of her, it is a lot easier for young skiers to be strong and successful. That is a huge gift Beckie has given to the cross-country community."

There's been a steady growth in that community over the last few years as Scott emerged as one of the top female skiers in the world and Cross-Country Canada knows it will miss her presence. "A part of you will reside in the hearts and minds of our future Olympians," said executive director Al Maddox. "Some will be in Jackrabbit programs skiing with the same big Beckie smile that reminds us it has to be fun in order to be a real winner."

Scott officially announced her retirement in Calgary on Wednesday, ending her long, often painful, but always rewarding career that began when she could barely walk and included 11 years on the national team.

Her parents, Walter and Jan, had her on skis almost as soon as she learned to walk, developing in her a love of the outdoors and sports. By 12 she was winning medals at junior nationals, was a three-time Canadian overall junior champion and competed in four world junior championships. Her first World Cup event was 1994 in Thunder Bay, Ont., where she finished near the back of the pack. It was a bitter disappointment and her first lesson on how difficult the road to success would be.

"Her expectations were so high and when you have those it is very difficult when you don't meet them," offered her mother, Jan. "But the thing about Beckie is that she always came back. Where she got that fighting spirit from I don't know. It was just in her. She knew in her heart she was very capable of doing well and the confidence in herself was a big part of it."

It took every ounce of that confidence and heart for Scott to follow the winding trails to Olympic gold and international success and to become a leader in the battle against drugs in sports.

First she fought her own battles to have her 2002 Olympic bronze upgraded to gold after the two Russians in front of her tested positive. It was a 22-month fight that almost defeated her and at one point left her ready to quit. But she won that battle, took five months off from training and competing to replenish her spirit and came back to enjoy the most successful seasons of her career.

While she is one of the most respected voices in the fight against drugs in sports and it's a battle she will willingly continue as athlete representative to the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee, it wasn't her major war. "From a very young age, all I wanted was to be a great skier," she said. "That was a dream I've had for virtually my entire life. Getting involved in the anti-doping movement and going to the forefront of that fight is something that came to me a little unwittingly."

"While I took up that fight with great heart and passion, it was the fight on the ski trails for success and to represent Canada to the best of my ability that I felt the strongest about."

And as she heads home to Bend, Ore., to begin the next phase of her life, which will include moving back to Canada, Scott says she does so with absolutely no regrets. "I honestly feel I have accomplished everything I wanted to as an athlete. I have an Olympic gold medal. I have World Cup victories. I came within striking distance of the overall World Cup this year.

"I can look back over the last 11 years of my career and say I have no regrets. It's been the adventure of a lifetime and I have enjoyed every moment."

Pierre Lueders (CP)

Gregg, Lueders, Renner named Alberta Athletes of 2005: National champion Edmonton Huskies voted top team.
The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - Two local amateur athletes from the world stage, and a host of them who captured national glory, have been named 2005 Alberta Athletes of the Year.

Short-track speed skater Jessica Gregg won junior female athlete of the year, bobsledder Pierre Lueders took male athlete honours and junior football's Edmonton Huskies were voted top team. The athletes were chosen based on their performance last year and will be recognized at a ceremony in Calgary today.

"We're all flattered and honoured right now," said Mike McLean, the Huskies head coach. "The guys pulled through and the coaches pulled through and being recognized is pretty special."

Gregg was selected the top junior female in the province after continuing to establish herself as a top prospect in her sport. She finished second overall at the Canadian juniors, then at the world juniors in Hungary, she added a bronze medal in the 500 metres and finished fifth overall.

Lueders took male athlete of the year after earning three golds and three silvers on the World Cup circuit last year, including his first four-man victory in Europe. His strong season continued into 2006 with a silver medal in the two-man bobsled at the Winter Olympics in Turin.

Other winners included cross-country skier Sara Renner as female athlete of the year and alpine skier Gareth Sine as top junior male. The only athlete to ever win both the top male and junior awards in their athletic careers is gymnast Kyle Shewfelt.

Alanna Kraus (CP)

Kraus comes home.
MetroValley Newspaper Group

The students at Bradner Elementary School oohed and aahed as they inspected Alanna Kraus's Olympic medals and her speed skating gear on Tuesday afternoon. But what may have been even more impressive to the kids was the fact that the 28-year-old Olympic hero that they'd watched on TV once sat in the desks at their school.

Val Duma, who teaches Grade 4 and 5 at the school, helped drive home that point by showing her students a green mark sheet from a science project that Kraus completed when she was their age. Duma, who has been teaching at Bradner for 20 years, found her former pupil's mark sheet in her files. "They thought that was pretty neat," Duma said with a smile. "It really shows them that she was just a normal kid."
The Abbotsford-born Kraus, who won her second Olympic medal in the 3000 metre short track speed skating relay at the Torino Games in February, stopped at her former elementary school to sign autographs and answer questions. "I love doing this," she said. "The kids are cute."

Kraus had planned to end her speed skating career after the World Championships last month, but decided to compete for one more year after realizing she just wasn't ready to quit. "At the Olympics, I started getting a panicky feeling," Kraus said. "That's not the right reaction."

Kyle Shewfelt (CP)

Shewfelt leads Canada to lofty levels.
By Toronto Sun Wire Staff

HONOLULU -- Olympic champion Kyle Shewfelt of Calgary won gold medals on floor and vault to highlight a productive weekend for Canadian gymnasts at the Pacific Alliance Championships.

The 28-member Canadian team left with 24 medals -- four gold, seven silver and 13 bronze.

On vault, it was a 1-2 finish for Canada with Shewfelt scoring 16.375 and Nathan Gafuik of Calgary getting 16.312. Shewfelt earned 15.600 points on floor for a second gold with Feng Jing of China and Yosuke Hoshi of Japan each taking silver at 15.025. Adam Wong of Calgary was fourth at 14.825.

Gafuik, also third in the individual all around standings, took the gold in the high bar final at 15.850 while Shewfelt was fifth.

In the women's event finals, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs of Toronto earned bronze medals on beam and floor and was also fifth on uneven bars. Alyssa Brown of Mississauga won bronze on vault.

Danielle Goyette and Mellisa Hollingsworth (CP)

GOLDEN GREETINGS; CALGARY ATHLETES GET OLYMPIC-SIZED HOMECOMING.
The Calgary Sun

A grey sky couldn't dampen the golden glow of Calgary's first public Olympic celebration in more than 18 years, with hundreds of people cheering the heroes of the 2006 Winter Games.

Nearly 1,500 people turned out for the noon-hour celebration at Olympic Plaza, which saw such athletes as Duff Gibson and Danielle Goyette waving their medals and thanking the crowd.

"A few people have suggested this should have been closer to the Olympics, but anytime we're talking about amateur sport -- even if it's the middle of the summer -- I think it's great," said Duff Gibson, the city firefighter who captured gold in skeleton.

Goyette spoke for the 26 athletes present, telling the crowd, "we don't have a better city in the world in which to train than Calgary."

Melissa Hollingsworth-Richards, a bronze medallist in skeleton, agreed. "We have great facilities here in Calgary so I hope this just reminds everyone in Calgary about our athletes and the potential that we have going into Vancouver," she said. "We don't want to be forgotten in the next four years."

City officials originally ruled out a celebration, saying it was too hard to get athletes together, but Ald. Craig Burrows organized the rally anyway.

They've waited for 100 years, but in 2008 it's ... CHINA'S TURN.
The Edmonton Journal

BEIJING, China - it sits, somewhat incongruously, inside the Forbidden City, not far from the Nine-Dragon Wall, just a short, ankle-torquing walk along the cobblestones from the Zhen Fei Well.

At first blush, a boutique selling "official" 2008 Beijing Olympic souvenirs seems tacky, wedged as it is amid the ornate buildings of the Imperial Palace, which date back to the Ming Dynasty in the 15th century. But the Olympic souvenir shop is also just a shot-put toss from a Starbucks stand, so you chalk it up as another sign of swiftly changing times in China.

Olympic signage is everywhere. "One world, one dream" is the key slogan, proclaimed on signs all over the city. "New Beijing, Great Olympics" is another. Twenty-eight months out from the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Summer Olympics, the visitor from another planet is swiftly and clearly informed that Beijing is getting ready to play host to the sporting world's ultimate party.

Already making a significant statement -- despite being unfinished -- are the eye-catching and complex 91,000-seat National Stadium (the so-called Bird's Nest); and the Water Cube, the adjacent National Aquatic Centre. Construction already is well-advanced on the two sports complexes that will dominate Beijing's Olympic Park. So advanced, in fact, that less than a year ago International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge suggested the Chinese hold their horses, or at least rein them in a tad, lest they be shackled with the cost of maintaining a full slate of facilities a year or so before the Games.

Designed by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the stadium's most noteworthy feature is a complex framework of hollow steel forms, interlaced in a fashion that many see as a stylized bird's nest.

At the National Aquatic Centre, a joint venture of Australian designers and the China State Construction engineering group, scaffolding shrouds the equally complex geometric framework of the building. The defining characteristic of the Water Cube will be the use of 100,000 square metres of an ultramodern, translucent film-like material known as ETFE. Stretched over the exterior of the swimming facility, the material will give the massive structure a perpetually, slightly surreal wet look and permit sufficient natural daylight to enter the building to be used as solar energy.

The signature structures are two of the 37 venues that will be used for the Games, 31 of which will be in Beijing. Work is underway on 20 of the venues, including 11 new ones. There will be 11 renovation projects and nine temporary facilities constructed for the Games. The details include completion of all venues by the end of 2007 at the latest. Some, including the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, are expected to be complete by September 2007, in time for pre-Olympic test events.

"The Olympic Games will provide a unique opportunity to see China, to develop a mutual understanding between China and the rest of the world," said Sun Weide, BOCOG's deputy director of communications. "That dialogue will be one of the most important legacies for the Beijing Olympics."

Sun, a career diplomat with postings in Tehran, Iran; Washington, D.C.; and Dublin, Ireland, notes that Beijing 2008 will be only the third Summer Games held in Asia, after Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul in 1988. Historically, the Olympic Games have been the coming-out party for many cities, but it is hard to imagine any city ever having a more comprehensive opportunity than Beijing's to refashion its world image.

It's also striking how open the Chinese are, freely acknowledging the extensive social preparations necessary before welcoming an expected 800,000 visitors in August 2008, including 20,000 accredited foreign journalists and another 20,000 non-accredited ones.

In March, the Beijing municipal government launched a campaign to upgrade public etiquette, a euphemism for a ban on public spitting, which, in truth, is a fairly natural response to the smoggy, dusty atmosphere. It's unlikely any Olympic host city ever had to develop a game plan for spitting, but then Beijing is unique in many ways.
As well, there is the obvious -- and substantial -- language barrier.

"By the end of last year, there are about 4.45 million residents of Beijing who could speak at least some basic English, which accounts for about 29 per cent of the people in Beijing. "That's obviously not enough, so we are trying to encourage people to learn as much foreign languages as possible. We expect that by August 2008, that figure will reach 35 per cent. So it means five million people in Beijing can speak at least some basic English."

Then there is the traffic, which moves at a seemingly endless crawl through Beijing's extensive road network. Little wonder. There are 2.6 million cars in Beijing, including 66,000 taxis. A unique feature of Beijing, part of its undeniable charm and identity, are the roughly six million bicycles being ridden to and from work, school or play at any given time. Throw in the millions of wary, head-on-a-swivel, smog-choked pedestrians and you have a recipe, literally, for mayhem in the streets.

In typical Chinese fashion, the government is not merely doing something about it, it is doing everything about it, including an announced plan to ban more than two million cars during the Games themselves. They're also going to double the reach of the subway system; construct more feeder routes to connect the city's six ring roads; build a third terminal at Beijing International that will enable the airport to process 63 million passengers a year instead of the current 36 million; and create special express lanes for Olympic athletes, officials and media.

Then there's the smoking, which is ubiquitious, out of step with the Green Olympics notion, and immediately noticeable to visitors. A North American, accustomed to smoke-free bars and restaurants even in large cities like New York, quickly begins to suspect that in China smoking is compulsory, certainly for the men, who almost unanimously light up before, after and, in some cases, during meals.

Beijing wants to literally refashion its image as the world prepares to arrive for a sports festival Sun acknowledges the locals must study up on. The Chinese want to make lots of noise in 2008, if not owning the podium, as Canada is pledging to do in 2010 at the Winter Games in Vancouver, then they certainly want to occupy a major chunk of it. "Let's put it this way, the Chinese people expect that our teams will achieve the best results that we can get," said the CBA's Hu. "But every country wants the same thing from their teams, also. "As host country, China should be doing even better than the others."

It will be fascinating to observe the changes, even as the massive official countdown clock in front of the National Museum overlooking Tiananmen Square ticks down to August 2008. "They take their pageantry very seriously here," said Darren Moore, like Lavoie, a Canadian ex-pat businessman and longtime Beijing resident. "And they've been at it a long, long time, actually. "I'm sure the Chinese will put on a pretty good show in 2008."

Beckie Scott (CP)

Françoise Baylis and Beckie Scott to Join CCES Board of Directors.

(Ottawa, Ontario – April 12, 2006) – The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) announced today the appointment of two new members to its Board of Directors. Joining the team of eminent Canadians who guide the work of the organization are Dr. Françoise Baylis, one of Canada’s most respected authorities on bioethics, and Ms. Beckie Scott, an Olympic medallist in cross-country skiing.

Dr. Baylis currently holds the Canada Research Chair in Bioethics and Philosophy. She earned her PhD in Philosophy with a specialization in Bioethics from the University of Western Ontario in 1989, and has been a professor in the Departments of Bioethics and Philosophy at Dalhousie University since 1996. She sat on the Governing Council and Standing Committee on Ethics of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, as well as on the Science and Industry Advisory Committee of Genome Canada. Dr. Baylis said, "I’m looking forward to learning more about the work of the CCES and hope my expertise will help further its mission to foster ethical sport for all Canadians." She commences her three-year term in June 2006.

Ms. Scott is known to Canadians as the cross-country skier who won Olympic gold in 2002 after the two first-place finishers were disqualified for a positive drug test. The Alberta-born athlete is an outspoken proponent of doping-free sport and is a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Athlete Committee. Last month she was elected to the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission, a sign of the respect she has earned among her peers. Her dedication to excellence is matched by her performance, exemplified by her many World Cup medals and a silver medal in the Women’s Team Sprint during the Turin Olympic Games. Ms. Scott commented, "I have always believed in clean sport and pursued my own personal goals in sport in that way. It’s a welcome opportunity to be able to serve the Canadian sport community as a member of the CCES Board of Directors." Ms. Scott joins the Board in the fall of 2006 for a two-year term.

“The CCES is excited to welcome two new directors, both of whom will provide valuable insights and guidance to the Board and staff around what ethical sport really means,” said Dr. Roger Jackson, Chair of the CCES Board of Directors. “Dr. Baylis is on front lines of the debate on the ethics of genetic engineering, which the CCES recognizes as an emerging issue that will confront sport in the near future. And Beckie Scott symbolizes the personal choice that athletes can make to avoid doping, a choice that has led her to the podium many times. I and the other directors expect these women to make an impact on the future of ethical sport in Canada.”

The CCES is an independent, national, non-profit organization. Our mission, to promote ethical conduct in all aspects of sport in Canada, is carried out through research, promotion, education, detection and deterrence, as well as through programs and partnerships with other organizations.

Ontario athletes get first cheques.
RANDY STARKMAN
SPORTS REPORTER

For hundreds of amateur athletes across Ontario, the cheque is not only in the mail — in many cases, it's already arrived.

In the first payout to this province's athletes in nearly 15 years, more than 850 athletes in sports ranging from squash to hockey are receiving funding as a result of the Quest for Gold lottery launched in January.

Nearly $2 million of the $2.9 million in net proceeds from the lottery has been divided up among the athletes, while another $558,000 has been directed towards coaching through the Canadian Sport Centre Ontario, and $279,000 is being used to help out with training and competitions through the Sports Alliance of Ontario.

"These young people struggle a lot to make ends meet, working part-time jobs," said Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson. "This is not going to solve all their money problems, but at least we're showing that we're valuing the efforts they're putting into their sport."
In this first go-round, athletes who receive the top level of federal government funding ($1,500 a month) will be getting an additional $1,500 in a lump sum payment from the province with the possibility of regular payments if the lottery thrives. Athletes on a federal government development card ($900 a month) are getting $900.

Athletes who currently receive no federal funding but were nominated through their provincial sport or multi-sport organization will receive $2,650.

The cheques, sent out Monday, are the first to Ontario athletes since 1992 when the Wintario lottery was still in existence.

 

 

"Help others get ahead. You will always stand taller with someone else on your shoulders."

 

~Bob Moawad