Swimming star Alex Baumann to run Road to Excellence Olympic program.
CP Wire

TORONTO (CP) _ Alex Baumann knows a little something about aiming high, and achieving lofty goals.

That's a good thing, because Canada's swim hero faces maybe the stiffest test of his sports career. The Olympic gold medallist is returning home from over a decade spent in Australia to serve as executive director of the Road To Excellence program, which aims to put Canadians on the podium at the Summer Olympics.

``There's no doubt I'm under pressure,'' Baumann said at a news conference Wednesday at the University of Toronto. ``I don't have any illusions. I think it will be a difficult job and it will take time to implement a sustainable system that will produce long-term results.''

The program introduced last June is the summer equivalent of Own The Podium, which was developed after Vancouver was awarded the 2010 Olympics, its aim being a No. 1 finish for Canada in the medal standings in 2010. Own The Podium already showed results at the Turin Olympics, where Canada finished third in the medals.

The goals of the Road to Excellence are more modest _ a top-16 placing for Canada at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and a top-12 placing at the 2012 Games in London, and a top-five finish in both the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics. Canada was a disappointing 19th at the 2004 Athens Olympics with 12 medals.

The key to the program's success was leadership, said Roger Jackson, CEO of Own The Podium 2010 and author of the Road to Excellence business plan. Baumann, a hero in the pool and polished and well-spoken out of it, was the perfect fit.

``There are a couple of images. One is an absolutely world-class athlete coming back to Canada and being a representative of what new Canadian sport is about,'' said Jackson. ``He's young, he's highly experienced, and that image will invigorate sport and people who are really wanting a better future. ``The other image is of an absolutely world-class experienced technocrat, who has strong leadership capabilities.''

Baumann, whose term begins in January, once scoffed at the notion of returning to Canada. Looking tanned and fit and with a distinct Aussie accent, Baumann said what finally brought him home was an obvious attitude adjustment in Canada's sport system.

``In the last couple of years I've seen tremendous momentum, a change in culture, there's a change in leadership, people are willing to make hard decisions and I think that made my decision a lot easier,'' said Baumann.

He will be based in Ottawa and has purchased a house there with his wife Tracy. Their two kids, Ashton, 13 and Tabitha, 11, have only seen snow once.

Baumann, 42, won gold in the 200- and 400-metre individual medley events at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics _ both in world-record time. He was named Canada's male athlete of the year by The Canadian Press that year, and made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Baumann moved to Australia shortly after retiring from swimming and most recently was the executive director for the Queensland Academy of Sport where he oversaw some 650 athletes in 21 sports.

``People have been saying for a long time, why can't we get our best people to stay in this country and work here?'' said Chris Rudge, the COC's chief executive officer. ``(Baumann) brings to Canada an almost mythical cache from his accomplishments in the past and what he's done down in Australia. And we all know we like to see a native son come home and re-embrace Canada and bring that leadership back to Canada.''

While the program now has its man, it still needs more money. Rudge pledged a $5 million contribution from the COC to existing funding on Wednesday. ``It's a very good start, but the job's not done,'' said Baumann.

The program calls for an additional $58.8 million from the federal government and corporate sector, and an additional $29.6 million from the provinces.

Baumann is banking on the excitement created from the Vancouver Olympics. ``When Australia got awarded the Olympics in 1993 for the 2000 games, it united everybody,'' said Baumann. ``I'm hoping the (2010) Winter Games will unite the stakeholders for the summer sports as well.

``It will be a challenge for us, there's no doubt, because you don't have this end event that you can really focus on. But I think it can be done and I think it's already started now.''

Baumann won't hesitate to be tough to achieve his goals. The program calls for a streamlined approach to summer sports _ athletes and sports with the best chance at achieving Olympic success will receive the majority of support. Canoe/kayak, diving, and rowing top the list of targeted sports, followed by track and field, cycling, women's soccer, women's softball and women's water polo. ``There's no egalitarianism in high-performance sports,'' Baumann said bluntly.

Road To Excellence will provide funding for things like coaching, travel to competition and training, and sports science. But Baumann said his message to athletes will be: there's no substitute for hard work.

``I think those support services like sports medicine or biomechanics can give you an edge, but you have to remember you have to put in hard work,'' said the former swimmer. ``That's the key thing I would tell athletes. `We're going to be here to help you as much as possible, but you're going to have to do it yourself, you're going to have to stand up on that podium or on that block for your event.'''

Olympic Gold Medallist follows dad's example
The Calgary Herald

The simple plaque in the basement wasn't something he'd ever heard his father brag about, but when Olympic gold medallist Duff Gibson visited his Ontario family recently, he noticed the certificate for the first time.

"I saw the plaque congratulating him for donating blood 100 times. And it just struck me -- wow, that's such an impressive accomplishment. That represents years and years -- decades -- of donating blood," he said.

Gibson's father lost his 11-year battle with cancer just before the Calgary firefighter won the singles skeleton event at the Turin Olympics in February.

"As a way of honouring my dad, and because it's a really easy way to have a positive impact on the community, I started donating blood, also," Gibson said at an event Tuesday aimed at encouraging first-time donors to sign up for Operation LifeBlood.

When they register online with the Canadian Blood Services program, participants commit to making their first contribution within 12 months. In the meantime, they receive newsletters, read donor and recipient stories and learn about the constant need for blood and blood products.

"That provides us an opportunity to open dialogue with those people," said Canadian Blood Services spokeswoman Doris Kaufmann. "Ultimately, what that leads to is them having an understanding of the importance of blood donation."

A greater demand for blood and the fact the donor base is aging makes it important to engage a new generation of people willing to donate, Kaufmann said. About 80,000 new donors are needed this year nationwide, she said. Simple things like fear of needles or apathy prevent people from donating. "We all have extremely busy lives, sometimes, we just can't find the time."

For Gibson, it was always about being "freaked out" by the needle, before his experience as an Olympian helped change his mind. "I've been sort of giving blood samples for four years now. I know from experience it doesn't hurt, so I thought, I'd better get in there," he said. "And, really, you're in and out in a relatively short period of time."

More information is available at www.lifeblood.ca.

With gold comes the attention: CHANDRA CRAWFORD: Olympic medal a defining moment.
The Vancouver Province

It is late August and hot and Olympic gold medalist Chandra Crawford has just finished a gruelling 40-kilometre hike with her Canadian teammates in the mountains near Jasper.

She's happy as a clam. This is Crawford's comfort zone. She has her life back on track after facing another kind of grind; the daunting task of dealing with the crush of people who suddenly want a piece of an athlete who comes out of nowhere and blasts their way to an Olympic gold medal."It's been a huge challenge," says Crawford, 22, of her life after Turin, where she shocked the world last February, winning the women's sprint.

"It was my most challenging spring ever. Normally, I just get started with the training routine and work my butt off for a few months but this year was so different. It took me a few months to catch up to the whirlwind of medal mania that was happening and settle into my old routine. It took a few months to get my life back to normal."

Television appearances. Speaking engagements. Public appearances. School visits. It was enough to make Crawford question who she was."I was exhausted from the [2005-06] season," says Crawford. "It [the attention] called into question my core values. Who am I? What do I want to do with this new-found attention? I ended up realizing that I just wanted to train, get back with my teammates, and work on being a good ski racer again."

Crawford turned to Canadian gold medalists who'd run a similar gauntlet -- freestyle skier Jennifer Heil, retired cross-country skier Beckie Scott, speed skater Catriona LeMay Doan and gymnast Kyle Shewfelt."I was pretty confused about what I should be doing," says Crawford. "There were a lot of shoulds. I should be out saving the world. I should be out doing something for all these causes that were calling me up wanting me to help their events.

"I just separated between what I should do and what I really wanted to do, which was get back to my normal life of training and struggle and fitness and working every day to be good."

Her peers were helpful."They were great, especially Kyle," says Crawford. "He was at the physio clinic [at the University of Calgary] in the cubicle next to me. I didn't really know him but I just hit him right away with 'hey, Kyle, I feel like everything's going crazy on me. How do you do it? How do you handle this?"He said, 'don't change. You go talk to school kids and that's great but then you just go do your sport.'"

Dave Wood, head coach of the Canadian team, thinks Crawford is "doing her sport" just fine."When she gets in these events she has incredible focus," says Wood. "She's able to really prepare herself well from an activation and strategy perspective. She's able to not let that focus slide. She's agile and powerful but she's really able to raise her game when it counts. That's the real sign of a champion.

"Her life's changed now because a lot of people want a piece of her but she's still pretty much the same person," says Wood. "She has her same friends in Canmore. She's trying hard to keep herself grounded because her interest is to come back and produce in Vancouver [at the 2010 Olympics]."

So that's what Crawford was doing on that hike near Jasper. Getting fit and preparing for a season in which she'll be both a celebrity on the World Cup circuit and a leader on her own team.

Sara Renner, a silver medalist with Scott in the team sprint in Turin, is taking a competitive break this year and Scott's retired. So there'll be even more focus on Crawford.

She says she doesn't know how she will deal with the extra attention this season. "It'll be pretty interesting, defending the space you need to prepare as an athlete. But it's funny. You get put in a bigger pond but like a gold fish you grow into it pretty quick."

And speaking of growing ... Crawford is attending to some of those "shoulds." She's helping with a project called Fast and Female, a program that empowers young girls through sport. Volunteers like Crawford take girls skiing and discuss topics like values in sport.

"Kids are struggling with all these preventable diseases because of their lifestyle and we think we can make a big impact by introducing girls to cross-country skiing," says Crawford. "In a long-term vision, I see myself running this organization when I'm done skiing." Crawford's only 22. Those girls will have to wait a while.

Cassie suits up for two-way role on TV.
The Ottawa Sun

They've gone to war over Olympic, World Cup soccer and curling rights, and figure to spar again soon enough over the NHL and CFL. It's mighty clear, indeed, to those in the broadcast game that TSN and the CBC don't see eye to eye on a lot of things these days.

Well, here's one. Both networks see a budding broadcast talent in Cassie Campbell, the just-retired captain of the Canadian women's hockey team and a two-time Olympic gold medallist.

The CBC and TSN both announced yesterday they plan to put Campbell into some rather significant TV roles. She'll work as a rinkside reporter on at least 13 games for Hockey Night in Canada, making her debut during the Oilers-Flames game in Calgary on Oct. 7.

Later, on Jan. 13, she'll join Ron MacLean and Don Cherry on site in Nelson, B.C., for the CBC's annual Hockey Day in Canada celebration. ''I was just blown out of the water with this (opportunity). I couldn't believe it,'' the 32-year-old Campbell told The Canadian Press.

While Joel Darling, Hockey Night in Canada's executive producer, believed it was important to add a female component to the broadcast -- it's a role both Brenda Irving and Martine Gaillard have held in the past -- that's not why he's bringing Campbell on board.

''Cassie's credentials in the game are second to none,'' he said. ''We did an audition with her last week (during a pre-season game at the Air Canada Centre) ... We were really happy and surprised with what she could do.''

Campbell admits she doesn't want to be looked upon as ''the token woman'' on the show. ''I know how hard I'm going to have to work in order to prove myself ... I want to bring more to the show than that,'' she said. ''I'm capable of doing it. I just have a lot to learn (and) I'm learning from the best.''

TSN has had its eye on Campbell since 2002, when it first gave her a shot at some analyst work on both its channel and the NHL Network.

Now she's back on board to work on women's hockey telecasts, including the Four Nations Cup and world championship. It's a role the network hopes she'll continue through the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and beyond. ''She's very well spoken and she's one of the most recognizable female athletes in the country,'' said TSN president Phil King. ''She's a perfect fit for our women's hockey telecasts.''

It's also why both networks are content -- at least for now -- to share Campbell's talents. ''She's not doing NHL hockey (for TSN). She's doing women's hockey,'' said Darling. ''We support that ... it will add to her experience and make her a better broadcaster.'

Brains behind brawn share secrets: More than 160 experts from around world gather at Bear Mountain for sports summit.
Times Colonist (Victoria)

They are the behind-the-scenes architects of the never-ending quest to squeeze the last millimetre and last millisecond out of the human body -- the legal way.

It's brain aiding brawn, as more than 160 experts are at the Westin Bear Mountain for the Sport Innovation (SPIN) summit, a sport technology and sport performance conference that will feature presentations from around the world beginning today and running through Wednesday.

"Coaches, athletes, physiotherapists, bio-mechanics experts don't go to the same meetings, and this is a rare chance to bring everybody together to exchange information and do some much-needed cross-fertilization," said Gord Sleivert of Sooke, the Victoria PacificSport national training centre's resident sports scientist.

"We tend to operate in our own silos and exchange information in isolation. This is a chance for the sports sciences to come together under one roof and target strategies and see ways in which we can help one another."

Among the more intriguing presentations will be those by Tom McLellan, a scientist with Defence Research and Development Canada's Operational Medicine Centre, who will speak on "Optimizing Human Performance: Special Forces to the Olympics"; and Laval University kinesiology professor Dr. Normand Teasdale, speaking on how GPS can enhance training and performance.

They leave nothing to chance anymore -- terrestrial or otherwise. And only at a conference such as this would coffee, lunch and dinner be referred to as "regeneration breaks.""There is just a great range in the presentations," Sleivert said.

Sleivert's presentation will deal with how best to prepare for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and 2010 Vancouver Winter Games. And it's more than a matter of just saying Beijing will be hot and Whistler cold.

"Naturally, conditions are quite different between the Summer and Winter Olympics, and that affects how different athletes can recover to the best of their abilities in the differing conditions," noted Sleivert, a Dunsmuir High grad, who earned a PhD at UVic in sports physiology.

Sleivert garnered international headlines for his unique cooling vests that athletes wore at the 2004 Summer Olympics to combat the searing weather of Athens.

Obviously, that's the last thing Duff Gibson needed while hurtling head-first down the frigid skeleton run in winning gold for Canada at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. Gibson will be the featured speaker today during the lunch -- sorry, regeneration break.

As the vice-president of sport performance for PacificSport Victoria, Sleivert deals more with Canadian Summer Olympians training here on the Island. He and PacificSport technologist Thomas Zochowski were in the news again this year for their core temperature testing of Team Canada swimmers at Saanich Commonwealth Place.

The swimmers swam with hand-held coolers and ingested small radio transmitters the size of a cold tablet, enabling their body temperature to be measured. Sleivert told the TC during the experiments that reducing the core temperature by one degree will allow swimmers to train at maximum levels, leading to better shots at the podium. And that is what it's ultimately all about over the next few days -- discussing legal ways of pushing the potential of the human body to its very limits in sport.

"One one-hundredth of a second, or a fraction of an inch, could be the difference between first and sixth place at the Olympics or world championships," said Sleivert.

"Preparation is the key for any athlete and nothing will ever replace that. But if we can gave an athlete that extra inch or that fraction of a second, that could make the difference between the podium or sixth or seventh place."

That's how close it is between glory and also-ran status at the elite world-level of sport. And it's somewhat ironic that men and women who are probably anything but athletic are at Bear Mountain discussing ways athletes can reach that gold standard.

CODA LAUNCHES CONSTRUCTION ON FIVE NEW WORLD-LEADING FACILITIES AT CANADA OLYMPIC PARK.

Calgary-Thousands of Canada's snow-sport athletes will benefit from five new and totally modernized facilities for alpine and freestyle skiing, snowboarding and ski jumping that will open at Canada Olympic Park this winter in an effort to support their pursuit of podium performances towards 2010 and beyond, CODA announced on Friday on the eve of the 25th anniversary of Calgary being awarded the 1988 Olympic Winter Games.

The world-calibre training and competition venues, including a towering snowboard half-pipe which will replicate the Olympic facility to be constructed for the 2010 Games in Vancouver, are expected to be ready for the opening of the winter season. The facilities come in part due to the booming development in Calgary as local builders have voluntarily trucked in more than 100,000 cubic metres (9,000 truckloads and $1.5 million) of fill to raise and recontour the existing ski hill and nordic area.

"CODA is committed to giving Canadian athletes the facilities and resources required to foster excellence and be the world's best," said Bob Nicolay, president and chief executive officer, CODA, the legacy organization of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, which were awarded to Calgary by the International Olympic Committee on September 30, 1981. "Access to cost-effective, leading training facilities at home is what Canadian athletes must have if Canada is to attain its goal of becoming a world-leading winter sports nation by 2010."

The $3 million investment by CODA and its partners - including Own the Podium - allowed for creation of the following facilities at Canada Olympic Park this fall:

          *        the world's first 22-foot, 150-metre,  snowboard half-pipe, the Olympic standard for 2010, complete with the latest environmentally progressive snowmaking and enhanced lighting;

          *        rejuvenation of the east side of Canada Olympic Park's ski jumping bowl as part of the Alberta-government funded modernization of the ski jumping training facility announced last fall. With the funding, the landing bowls were rebuilt, safety improvements implemented, and summer training facilities enhanced;

          *        the ski jump bowl will be the first facility in the world to combine ski jumping, freestyle aerials and moguls, and alpine slalom, all built to international specifications, and includes seating for 15,000 people. The facility will be equipped with improved snowmaking, lighting, a small access lift and the latest video technology for training.

"Canada's athletes require premier training facilities to succeed against the world's best, and today CODA is again delivering what athletes need, and have asked for," said Nicolay, who added that the cross-country ski trails will also be expanded up to two kilometers due to the construction. "Canadians deserve equal treatment to athletes from world-leading sport countries. Construction of this complex, and others in our vision, will not only help level the playing field for our athletes, but will also have a positive impact in getting more young Canadians introduced to the various sports and living more active lives." 

The new facilities are core to CODA's plan to develop the nation's first Centre of Sport Excellence. The Park now provides a new home to the Canadian Snowboarding Team, early season training for national freestyle and alpine skiing athletes, a permanent training site for development athletes in the three disciplines, and allows Canada Olympic Park to host World Cup events in each of the sports.

Search on for 2010 Games mascots: Vanoc opens global competition, but artists must have vast knowledge of Canada.
The Vancouver Sun

What cuddly and imminently salable image will Canadians accept as the mascot for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics?

It likely won't be an ice cube and a snowball, which Italian organizers used for the 2006 Winter Games. Also likely out of the running are bears, coyotes and hares (Salt Lake 2002), owls and a weasel (Nagano 1988), Norwegian folk art (Lillehammer 1992), polar bears (Calgary 1988) and beaver (Montreal 1976).

But just about anything else is fair game as the Vancouver Organizing Committee begins the search for artists and designers who will develop one of the most lucrative aspects of any Olympic Games.

On Thursday, Vanoc issued a proposal call for "qualified professionals and/or companies specializing in illustration, animation, graphic design, fine arts or other related fields." It said the competition is open to artists from around the world, but they have to have a vast knowledge of Canada.

At the same time, it is asking the public for ideas on what the mascot should be or represent. Allie Gardiner, Vanoc's director of brand and creative services, said the public's suggestions would be given to the winning artist to help define the mascot. The suggestions are being taken at Vanoc's website, www.vancouver2010.com.

Olympic mascots are of huge value to organizers; like logos, they help brand the event with a specific image. But they also help spur millions of dollars in sales of everything from plush toys to pins and clothing that add richly to the organizing committee's bottom line.

But they can also bomb out. Vanoc's logo, a stylized inukshuk called Illanaaq, is sometimes derided by cartoonists and has been likened to a stick man carrying a bazooka. When it comes to mascots, the unidentifiable object aptly called Whatizit designed for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games went down in history as the least successful.

Gardiner said Olympic mascots are useful because "they are the more humorous and lighthearted side of the Games."

To make sure Vanoc's designers are on the right track, various ideas will be tested before audiences of children.

Qualified artists and designers are being asked to send portfolios of their work but not any potential ideas on what the Olympic mascot might look like.

Vanoc is being careful to protect itself against future claims of piracy by those who are not selected. It stated in the bid documents that any proposal containing Olympic mascot designs, names, themes or concepts will not be considered and would be "sealed in perpetuity, without review, and maintained in files that will not be accessible to any person involved in the mascots' development."

The request for proposals ends Nov. 1. Vanoc will issue a short list later in the month. The mascot or mascots will be unveiled next year.

Sport ministers call for $10-billion. Feds need to invest in country's athletic infrastructure, provincial politicians say.
JAMES CHRISTIE From Friday's Globe and Mail

TORONTO — The battle of the bulge has become a battle for billions of dollars, as provincial and territorial ministers for sport and recreation called on the federal government yesterday to invest $10-billion to replace and refurbish crumbling infrastructures over the next decade to get Canadians active and healthier.

"There has been a 300-per-cent increase in obesity rates over the past 25 years," Ontario Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson said. "Part of the solution is increased physical activity, but you can't encourage that without facilities."

Federal ministers, including Health Minister Tony Clement and Sport Minister Michael Chong, were invited to the Toronto meeting, but did not attend.

Chong said in an interview he had met with his provincial and territorial counterparts in June, and that the federal government is aware of their priority. He underlined that Ottawa is interested in partnerships with provinces and municipalities on infrastructure spending. "We need municipalities and provinces to identify priority projects and bring them forward," he said.

"The federal government is spending a record $16.5-billion on infrastructure this year, and $240-million, since April 1, of that is for sports infrastructure."We put $27-million into the Toronto soccer stadium [under construction at Exhibition Place], while the city of Toronto put in $9-million and the province [Ontario] $8-million, so clearly we're showing leadership here. We've come forward with the most significant federal investment in infrastructure in recent memory."

He said Transport, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Lawrence Cannon had consulted with provincial counterparts over the summer and will come forward with a long-term infrastructure framework this fall.

The provincial and territorial ministers called the need for fresh infrastructure "a shared mandate" for all levels of government.

They issued a statement noting that not since the 1967 centennial infrastructure program has there been a comprehensive national program dedicated to sport construction. They picked 2017, Canada's 150th anniversary, as the target date for Canadians to have modern complexes in place.

"Thirty to 50 per cent of the facilities in Ontario are at or near the end of their life," Watson said at a news conference at the 53-year-old John Innes Community Centre in Toronto.

The entire capital deficit was pegged at $15-billion nationally, with one-third of that needed in Ontario alone. Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia have enjoyed some benefits of upgraded sport infrastructures with the Olympic Games as a catalyst.

"We are building new swimming pools in Montreal at the Olympic Stadium, but the federal government is not there," said Jean-Marc Fournier, Quebec's Sport Minister. The Montreal Olympics were 30 years ago."We decided we cannot wait any more. Fifteen-billion dollars is a lot of money, too much some say, but we have to start somewhere."

He pointed to an image entitled The Shape of Things to Come, which depicted man's evolution from knuckle-walker to modern man to an obese slob sucking on a super-sized soft drink."We have to reverse the tendency of that image," Fournier said.

Chong said Quebec has set aside $24-million a year for infrastructure and had indicated it was interested in partnering with the federal government based on that. "But we have not heard the same thing from Ontario."

The provinces need to move to identify priority infrastructure and some funding before Ottawa would get into matching dollars, he said. "The federal government does not decide where highways go, where bridges go or arenas or soccer pitches," he said. "The ownership of that is municipal and provincial. We are not the triggers for that decision. That comes from them."

Bruce Kidd, the dean of the faculty of physical education and health at the University of Toronto and a former Olympic athlete, told the meeting that after two decades of building sport structures in the 1960s and 1970s, there had been little spending "and nothing to accommodate the population growth. . . . What has not increased is the capacity and we have to address the facility deficit."