Sport Performance Weekly

June 12th , 2006

Canadian summer sport federations unveil plan to better results.
CP Wire

TORONTO (CP) _ Canada’s summer sport organizations are hoping to follow their winter counterparts to the podium. The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees plus the national summer sport federations introduced a new plan Thursday to improve the country’s medal chances at upcoming Games.

The Road to Excellence Business Plan is the summer sports’ equivalent to the Own the Podium 2010 program introduced for Canadian winter sports in 2005. It seeks to generate additional federal and corporate funding of $58.8 million per year for high-performance programs for Olympic and Paralympic targeted summer sports.

It also hopes for another $29.6 million annually from provincial sources to improve junior and senior national athlete development, with the overall goal of sustainable funding up to and beyond 2012.

Dr. Roger Jackson, CEO of Own the Podium 2010 and a gold medallist in rowing at the 1964 Olympic Games, authored the Road to Excellence plan, and said what’s needed now is the government’s stamp of approval. “That’s our next challenge,” Jackson said in a phone interview from Calgary. “The creation of Podium itself is simply a matter at this point of Sport Canada agreeing that this is the direction that we should go. All the other funding partners have agreed that this is appropriate. That can happen at any time, and the sooner the better for summer sports, because they’ve got Beijing coming.”

The plan targets a top 16 placing for Canada at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and a top 12 placing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. At the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games, the goal is for Canada to place in the top five. Canada tied for 19th with Bulgaria at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens with 12 medals (three gold, six silver, three bronze). Canada tied with Poland for 17th at the 2000 Sydney Games with 14 (three gold, three silver, eight bronze).

The COC launched the $110-million Own the Podium plan, a bold plan to see Canada win 35 medals at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and finish atop the medal standings. The plan already showed promise at the Turin Games, where Canadian athletes won 24 medals, smashing their previous record of 17.

Much like Own the Podium, the Road to Excellence plan will zero in on sports and athletes with the ability to achieve success at upcoming competitions and funnel additional resources to them _ similar to how sports are managed in countries like Australia, Germany and Norway, said Jackson. “In many sports, the difference between finishing first and fourth usually comes down to a few one-hundredths of a second,” said Anne Merklinger, director general of Canoe/Kayak Canada and member of the steering committee which guided the plan’s development. “The Road to Excellence Business Plan provides Canada’s summer sport federations with an overview on how we can close and eliminate this gap in order to help us achieve greater podium success over the next six years.”

Canadian and international sport experts all had input into the plan, which also hopes to better relationships with governments, sports and associated organizations. The development plan is the first time Canada’s summer sport organizations have come together to map out a comprehensive plan for podium success. “With the initial success of the Own The Podium 2010 initiative, I am confident in the sport community’s ability to develop and execute a similar initiative to help Canada’s summer athletes and coaches reach the podium,” said COC Chief Executive Officer Chris Rudge. “The Road to Excellence Business Plan provides a blueprint for how we can provide Canadian summer sport athletes with the essential tools and resources necessary to achieve success.”

Malindi Elmore (left) CP

Christopher leads Canadian charge in track win over Chinese.
CP Wire

BURNABY, B.C. (CP) _ It was a cold, wet night but Tyler Christopher kept his shades on.“Hey, I needed to keep the rain out of my eyes,” Christopher said Thursday after leading a Canadian 1-2 sweep of the men’s 400 metres at the Harry Jerome Track Classic.

Christopher, who struggled to a 45.97 clocking and sixth place at a meet in Oslo last weekend, won in 45.30 in downpour conditions. He led Adam Kunkel of Nanoose Bay, B.C., to the finish line in a result that broke open a dual meet with a 34-athlete contingent from China.

Canada easily beat the Chinese 96-75 after Christopher and Kunkel started a sweep of four of the next five events. “I’m glad to open the gap,” said Christopher, 22, of Edmonton, who won bronze at the 2005 world track championships and is considered one of Canada’s top medal hopes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “Any time we can come up with a win, that’s a bonus. “I was looking for (under 45 seconds) but I was making those plans (Wednesday) when it was 22 degrees and nice and hot and I was flying around the corners. ‘It’s kind of hard to go for a personal best but it is a dual meet, you still go for gold and that’s what I did. I came here to prove something to myself (after Oslo) and I did it.”

The win was worth $4,000 in prize money to Christopher, while Megan Metcalfe of Edmonton earned a similar amount capturing the women’s 1,500 metres, the meet’s other feature event. She ran a slow, but tactical race and out-sprinted teammate Malindi Elmore of Calgary, AB, to the finish.

Elmore was one of the favourites with a personal best 10 seconds faster than Metcalfe. “I was a little frustrated beating her but she’s a good friend and I respect her a lot,” Metcalfe said of her 10-metre win over Elmore. “It’s a different atmosphere and it was cool and rainy. The object wasn’t to run fast but to come in top three and hope for a win. “I love to race. I’m not very good at running a hard, fast time. The more races like this, the better.”

Also in the field was Olympic 10,000-metre champion Xing Huina, 22, the two-time Chinese champion over the shorter distance but could only manage a fourth-place finish.

The dual meet atmosphere changed Elmore’s approach to the event. “It puts a focus on being competitive,” she said. “You’re not going to run a personal best so you try doing other things, just get out there with a great field of girls and race hard.”

Seven-time Canadian champion Diane Cummins also adapted to the conditions as the veteran came off the pace on the final turn to defeat Lui Qing of China in the 800 metres. “Nobody likes to run in cold conditions,” said Cummins, of Vancouver, who finished fifth at the Commonwealth Games in March. “I was pretty confident it was going to be a slow race and that benefits me. I haven’t finished the last 50 metres with a strong burst for a while so this was a good confidence builder.”

Blythe Hartley (CP)

Third gold for Blythe Hartley at Summer Nationals and World Cup trials.
(CSN)

WINNIPEG- Blythe Hartley of Calgary earned her third gold medal in three days on Saturday with a victory on women’s three-metre springboard at the World Cup Trials and Summer Nationals diving competition.

The 22-year-old world champion and Olympic medallist tabulated 1,052.80 over the preliminaries, semifinals and finals for her 19th career Canadian title.  Emilie Heymans of St-Lambert, Que., was second at 956.35 while Meaghan Benfeito of Montreal was third at 936.80.

Hartley and Heymans also qualify for selection to the World Cup team on both three-metre and synchro three-metre, an event they won on Friday night.  The World Cup is scheduled for July 19-23 in Changshu, China and is third in importance in international diving after the Olympics and world championships. ‘’The nationals are an endurance test and I’m gald I got through it,’’ said Hartley, who opened the meet with a victory on one-metre Thursday.  ‘’I was most pleased with my second dive tonight which I had struggled with a bit in practice.  I’m glad to get the opportunity to go to China for the World Cup, especially with the Olympics being there in a couple of years.’’

On men’s 10-metre tower, Wegadesk Gorup-Paul of Victoria won the gold medal with 1,240.10 points with Kevin Geyson of Winnipeg was second at 1,139.85 and Eric Sehn of Victoria third at 1,128.60.  Earlier Saturday, Gorup-Paul and Sehn won gold on men’s 10-metre synchro and also qualify for selection to the World Cup team. ‘’It’s a big load off my shoulders to get on World Cup team,’’ said Gorup-Paul.  ‘’I didn’t do anything fancy tonight and except for one dive in the final everything was very strong.  But I certainly hope to increase the difficulty of my list for the World Cup.’’

Sehn’s victory in the 10-metre synchro event with Gorup-Paul was also his second gold of the competition.  On men’s one-metre, Sehn of posted strong scores on his last two dives in the six-round final to earn his first career national title with 391.70 points. He edged Ben Starchuk of Edmonton in second at 389.05 and Erik Petursson of Calgary in third at 366.05.

Nine divers were named to the Canadian team for the World Cup July 19-23 in Changshu, China.  For the women it’s Heymans ( 10-metre, three-metre and three-metre synchro), Marleau (10-metre), Blythe Hartley of Calgary (three-metre, three-metre synchro), Filion and Benfeito (10-metre synchro) and for the men Miranda (three-metre), Abate (three-metre), Sehn (10-metre synchro) and Wegadesk Gorup-Paul of Victoria (10-metre and 10-metre synchro).

Full results at http://www.integratedsports.net/diving/LiveResults37/index.htm

Audrey Lacroix (CP)

Canadians conclude strong week of swimming at Mare Nostrum series.
(Swimming Canada)

BARCELONA- Audrey Lacroix of Montreal is swimming with confidence these days and it shows.  The 22-year-old concluded the three-stop Mare Nostrum circuit Sunday with a fourth place finish in the women’s 100 butterfly and added a surprising seventh in the 100 freestyle.

In the 100 butterfly, Lisbeth Lenton of Australia took the gold medal in a pool record 58.11 seconds with Yuka Kato of Japan second in 59.97 and Galvez Felicity of Australia third in 1:00.15.  Lacroix, fresh from a golden performance in the 200 butterfly on Saturday, was fourth in 1:00.48,  a solid in-training time. Lacroix earned her first career victory Saturday taking the gold in the women’s 200-metre butterfly to open the third and final stop on the week-long tour.

So far in 2006 Lacroix has been one of Canada’s brightest lights in the pool.  In March at the Commonwealth Games she broke the Canadian record three times en route to the silver medal in the 100 butterfly and was also fourth in the 200 fly in a personal best time.  This week in three competitions, she won a gold, silver and posted four more top-five finishes.

‘’It’s been a very good year for Audrey and she is looking for strong performances as well at the Pan Pacific Championships (this August in Victoria),’’ said Lacroix’s coach Claude St-Jean.  ‘’Today she had a very good 100 fly against some strong competition.   For the 100 freestyle she only had a 15 minutes rest after her butterfly race.  One of her goals at the Pan Pacs trials is to make the freestyle relay teams.’’

Other Canadian finalists Sunday were Mike Brown of Calgary eighth in the men’s 100 breaststroke and Chanelle Charron-Watson of Quebec City seventh in the women’s 400 freestyle.

In the men’s 200 freestyle, Colin Russell of Burlington, Ont.,  just missed earning a second medal this week placing fourth in 1:51.07.  Ross Davenort led Britain to a 1-2 finish clocking 1:49.79 with David Carry second in 1:50.03.  Jean Basson of South Africa was third in 1:50.99.

World championship medallist Mike Brown of Calgary was seventh in the men’s 200 breaststroke and Matthew Huang of Montreal was eighth in the men’s 50 breaststroke.

Sherrain Mackay (CP)

SHERRAINE SCHALM-MACKAY WINS VANCOUVER WORLD CUP!

VANCOUVER – World No.1 women’s epee fencer, Sherraine Schalm-MacKay, won the Peter Bakonyi International World Cup in Vancouver defeating Megumi Harada of Japan 15-12 in the final Saturday!

For Schalm-MacKay, the 2006 season has been all about firsts. Sherraine has finished first at five World Cups this year. She became the first Canadian women’s epee fencer to ranked No.1 in the world and also won Canadian National Championships for the first time in her illustrious career.

“Winning a world cup here on Canadian soil is extra special as it was a first in fencing!  It felt so great up there singing the National anthem with everybody singing along! It was a lot of fun!”, Schalm-Mackay shared.

Sherraine started off the day with victories over American fencers Phoebe Caldwell (15-9) and Lacey Burt (15-14) before defeating Beata Tereba of Poland 15-11 to move on to the medal round.  In her semifinal match, Sherraine toppled the 2001 World Champion Claudia Bokel from Germany 14-6. Defeating Harada in the final offered some redemption as it was just last weekend at the Sydney World cup team event that the Japanese fencer had little troubles with Schalm-MacKay in leading her team to victory over the Canadians.

”I was able to stick to the game plan coach Leslie Palmai and I laid out and it paid off.  After last week, I was glad to get a chance to fence her again.” The bronze medalists were Claudia Bokel and Sonja Tol from the Netherlands.

Montreal’s Julie Leprohon finished 10th, Magda Krol from Vancouver placed 11th while Toronto’s Ainsley Switzer was 12th. Schalm-MacKay currently leads the World Cup season race with one last World cup to go in Havana, Cuba before the 2006 Torino World Championships in September.

Bob Nicolay takes over as president and CEO of CODA.
(CP Wire)

CALGARY (CP) _ Bob Nicolay, a former business executive with lots of public sector experience, was named president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Olympic Development Agency on Tuesday.

Nicolay will lead the Calgary-based agency’s plans to expand and modernize the existing facilities built for 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. “The road to success for a significant number of Canada’s athletes at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games must come through Alberta,” Gene Durand, chair of CODA’s board of directors, said in a release. “Bob is an extraordinary talent whose business acumen and passion for sport, will add immense value to our organization as CODA delivers the resources Canadian athletes need to excel against the world’s best.”

Nicolay served as president and chief executive officer of the City of Calgary subsidiary ENMAX Corporation from 1999 to 2004. Prior to that he held several key positions at the City of Medicine Hat, including chief commissioner. He began his career working in accounting, finance and business planning with Amoco Canada Petroleum and Gulf Canada Resources.

“I am looking forward to this exciting opportunity to lead the renewal of the Olympic legacy in Calgary and to providing Canadian athletes access to the facilities and tools they need to be on top of the podium in 2010,” Nicolay said in a statement. “This is a critical stage for Canada, Alberta and CODA as we work together to level the playing field for our athletes through the creation of the nation’s first Canadian Centre of Sport Excellence."

Hayley Wickenheiser (CP)

ATHLETES PREACHING CLEAN, GREEN WORD; WOMEN’S HOCKEY HERO ‘PASSIONATE’ ABOUT ENVIRONMENT.
The Ottawa Sun

HAYLEY WICKENHEISER - national hockey hero, devoted mother. And environmentalist. The two-time Olympic gold medallist with the national women’s team is doing her part to stop pollution, lending a hand with the Clean Air Champions project.

Standing in the shadow of the Peace Tower yesterday, Wickenheiser spoke about changes in her lifestyle to become more green. She drives a hybrid vehicle, rides a bike to places she would normally drive, turns off the lights in rooms at home that don’t need to be lit, and hangs the laundry on a line instead of tossing the load into the dryer. “It’s little things like that that maybe people take for granted, and maybe we can think about it a little more to make a difference,” she said.

The Clean Air Champions initiative is aimed at young kids and their parents to make choices like Wickenheiser in their daily lives. Several current and former national-calibre athletes have signed on with the program to spread the word.

It’s the idea of David Chernushenko, who is attempting to become the leader of the federal Green Party. Wickenheiser became more aware of the problems of air pollution during last winter’s Olympics in Turin, when several Canadian athletes became sick after taking short outdoor runs near the athletes’ village. The team’s athletic therapists and doctors attributed the illnesses to polluted air.

MORE AWARE

“It just raised an awareness in me,” said Wickenheiser. “There’s two things that I’m passionate about—the environment and the health of our kids.”

The program also encourages parents to involve their kids in more active lifestyles.
Anna van der Kamp, a silver medallist in rowing at the Atlanta Games in 1996, said she received her pollution revelation four years ago after becoming short of breath following a bike ride in Ottawa.

Now she works closely on the project, hoping to change the way Canadians treat the air they breathe. “It would be great to have a whole generation of Canadians to have at the top of mind that each action they take every day is going to affect the environment and to change their day-to-day mentality,” she said.

Brian Williams (CP)

Canadians will continue to get their Olympic time checks from Brian Williams. The face of the Olympics at CBC for more than two decades, known by many for his persistent time updates during broadcasts, is leaving the public network to join CTV and TSN.

The private network, which outbid the CBC for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics, announced yesterday that Williams will host those two Games for them after signing a six-year contract. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the total value of Williams’ contract is around $2 million. “It makes a statement that we’re serious about really delivering a credible team and tremendous coverage,” said CTV president Rick Brace. “Brian is kind of the icon and the face of the Olympics in Canada.”

Williams admitted the decision was a difficult one, but has no doubts he made the right one. “I’ll be 60 this year and this opportunity won’t come along again,” he said. “This had nothing to do with being unhappy at CBC because I wasn’t. It was about a great opportunity.”

But Williams’ departure, which will take effect after the CFL season, has left some wondering about the future of CBC Sports. “A lot of people here wondered what they were going to do with Brian after Beijing,” one staffer, requesting anonymity, said in reference to the 2008 Games. “But still, you wonder who else is going to leave.”

The CTV-TSN-Rogers consortium that won the Olympic bid last year is expected to hire some production staff from CBC, at least on a contract basis. Williams becomes the second CBC face to land at TSN after announcer Chris Cuthbert was hired when the public network let him go during a labour dispute.

CTV aims to be a serious bidder for the next NHL contract, which expires after the 2007 season. Losing Hockey Night in Canada would be a death blow to CBC’s sports lineup. But CBC Sports head Nancy Lee says this is no indication that her department’s future is a dark one. “I think with 55 years tradition, our record stands for itself,” she said, adding that the CBC intends to make serious bids for the next NHL contract and the 2014 Olympics.

Lee said Williams told her about his decision to leave yesterday so she hasn’t had time to decide on a replacement for the 2008 Olympics. “The way I look at it is this is an opportunity for Brian and for the CBC,” she said. “We have such tremendous depth. For us, it’s an opportunity to come up with a fresh look.” The move likely means Ron MacLean will assume Williams’ role in prime time. Scott Russell would be a candidate to join Terry Leibel as daytime host.

Williams, whose role at CBC had been reduced as the network dropped baseball, auto racing and horse racing, said being forced to work out of a Toronto studio during the Turin Games was not a factor in his decision. “I thought we should have been (in Turin) but I understood the CBC’s thinking,” he said.

Williams said he didn’t think CBC Sports was doomed. “I’ve been hearing those stories since I started at CBC in 1974,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, they’ll continue to be in sports and continue to do a good job.”

Williams will work primarily on the Olympics at CTV-TSN, but will also make regular contributions to Sportscentre and make appearances on other shows. “Don’t be surprised to see him on CTV’s Canada AM,” Brace said. “We hired him now because it’s important to change the brand of Brian and identify him as a CTV person. “You can’t do that in 18 months.”

2010 Olympic hockey will be on NHL-size ice: Deal with international federation ‘not an easy call,’ but it will save $10 million in renos.

Olympic hockey will be played on the smaller NHL-size ice surface during the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, which will save $10 million in renovation costs at GM Place.

Vanoc said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation to scrap plans to install the larger international-size ice surface, an announcement that overshadowed results of the International Olympic Committee’s inspection of the Vancouver Games’ preparations.

The change will also allow the sale of 35,000 additional tickets for men’s and women’s hockey during the 2010 Games. The extra four metres required for an international-size rink would have forced removal of roughly 800 existing seats at GM Place. The $10 million in savings will not reduce the financial contribution of taxpayers to the Games.

Vanoc president John Furlong said the money will go into a contingency fund to help ease costs elsewhere in the $580-million venue construction budget. But the decision is controversial. Rene Fasel, president of the IIHF, who is also chairman of the IOC’s Vancouver Coordination Commission, said some European teams are unhappy about the smaller ice surface. Rink size has been a long-standing argument between European and North American players. “It was not an easy call, I have to be honest. We Europeans are not used to the small ice, the NHL ice.”

But ultimately, he said, Vanoc’s request seemed sensible,and he was influenced by a discussion with hockey great Wayne Gretzky after the 2002 Salt Lake Games, in which the Team Canada general manager, said he supported going to a smaller ice surface.

Changing GM Place temporarily would require jack-hammering out three rows of seats and installing two metres of ice cooling lines on either side of the rink. “It would be stupid to spend so much money to make this construction,” Fasel said. “We’re going to see how it works.”

He said the IOC will return to international-sized rinks in future Winter Olympics. Fasel said recent NHL rule changes adopted by the IIHF on contact and enforcement by referees will give players more room, so a smaller ice surface won’t have a major impact on the game.

The announcement dominated a press conference held to discuss the visit of the IOC’s coordination commission. Fasel said the IOC gave Vanoc passing marks on its overall preparations. The 11-member team, accompanied by nine IOC staff, received briefings on everything from construction to marketing to athlete services. They also toured venue sites under construction in Whistler, Vancouver and Richmond.

Fasel said the IOC raised concerns about the level of accommodation in Whistler. He said the experience at the Turin 2006 Games showed there was not enough rooms in the surrounding area, and the IOC doesn’t want that to happen here.

Furlong acknowledged that Vanoc can’t find enough rooms fast enough. It has about 2,200 rooms in the Whistler area. But many condo units are owned by multiple owners, many of whom live outside Whistler, and Vanoc is having trouble locating each person to sign papers making the units available, he said.

The security issue was also raised during the inspection. However, Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s executive director, is not concerned that the terrorist raid in Ontario will drive up costs, saying Vanoc’s $175-million security budget is adequate.

China and United States Olympic Committees sign sports agreement.
CP Wire

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) _ China and the United States on Friday signed a groundbreaking document that will increase athlete and coaching exchanges and anti-doping cooperation between the nations in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Games.

The three-page agreement was signed by U.S. Olympic Committee Chair Peter Ueberroth and Liu Peng, president of the Chinese Olympic Committee, at the United States Olympic Committee’s international office about 30 miles southwest of Los Angeles. “We are honored today to have the minister here to sign with us an accord between two cities, our two Olympic teams and our athletes. There is nothing better to make friends between nations than their athletes,” Ueberroth said just before signing the documents.

Among other things, the agreement requires that each country receive at least one high-level sports delegation every two years and calls for greater cooperation in the fight against doping. The agreement could also mean that the U.S. Olympic Committee will help China with its marketing plan for the 2008 Games, both men said.

The document, written in both English and Chinese, also calls for an increase in coaching and media exchanges, more joint training opportunities and exchanges between local sports clubs and other professional leagues.

Liu said China could help U.S. Olympic teams train in pingpong, badminton and diving, while China could learn from the U.S. in aquatic sports. Ueberroth said the United States might also ask for China’s assistance in developing an Olympic shooting team. “Let’s go back to 1971, that’s when the pingpong diplomacy first started and that’s when we became friends. So our two greatest countries should keep cooperating and make our cooperation even stronger,” Liu said.

"Slight not what's near, while aiming at what's far."

 

~Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC), 'Rhesus'