CANADA’S ZINA KOCHER LIVES DREAM WINNING BRONZE MEDAL AT BIATHLON WORLD CUP.

Ostersund, Sweden-For the past six years, Canada ’s Zina Kocher has dreamed about putting together the perfect race, and crossing the finish line knowing she would be standing on a World Cup podium wearing her country’s colours.

That dream came true on Wednesday for the Red Deer, Alta. native after winning a bronze medal in the season-opening women’s 15-kilometre individual Biathlon World Cup event in Ostersund, Sweden. Just one week shy of her 24th birthday, Kocher’s result makes her the first Canadian biathlete to step onto the World Cup podium since Olympic gold medallist Myriam Bédard did more than a decade ago.

“I’ve been dreaming about this moment every day for years, and everything happened exactly the way it was supposed too,” said an emotional Kocher, who has been celebrating with her teammates since crossing the finish line just 23 seconds behind the frontrunner. “I had the same nerves and anxiety that I always do today, but I just went to the race relaxed, and excited to be competing again this season. I crossed that line and started waving my poles in the air. It is unbelievable.”

After a relaxing morning that included a massage and yoga session, Kocher skied the race of her life, and only had one error on the shooting range, which was good enough to solidify third spot and the first podium finish of her career. Two other first-time World Cup medallists joined Kocher on the podium. Irina Malgina, of Russia, won the season-opener with a time of 50 minutes 41.2 seconds, while Norway’s Liv Kjersti Eikeland was second 3.6 seconds back.

“The smile on my face was so huge when I left the shooting range for the final time,” laughed Kocher who quickly broke down into tears. “When I stepped onto the podium, the medal and money meant nothing to me. “It reminded me of the dedication, hard work, focus and determination to get to this point and put our sport back in the public eye. I’ve been emotional all day. I haven’t been at this as long as my teammates, but this is just so surreal right now, and our team is ecstatic.”

A gifted and well-rounded athlete recruited from cross-country running, Kocher took her first strides in the sport of biathlon in 1998 and joined the national team in 2000. A will to succeed and dedication to achieving excellence has quickly propelled her up the international rankings. Her previous best result was a fifth-place finish in a World Cup sprint event last season.

“I just hope this reinforces to Canadians, and sport leaders in our country, that Canada’s biathletes are medal contenders too, and we are improving internationally. Maybe this will help gain some additional support for our program,” said Kocher.

Canada’s biathlon program has flown under the radar over the last several years, but significant strides have been made to put athletes like Kocher back onto the international podium. A new development system implemented nearly seven years ago was designed to build a strong talent pool of biathlon athletes to compete on the world stage. The program, which was created in 1999 following a significant decline in performance by Canada’s athletes, focuses on centralizing high-performance athletes at national training centres in an effort to enhance Canada’s biathlon performance against the world’s best. There are now two training centres for the sport in the country - the Canmore Nordic Centre in Alberta, the current home of the Canadian Biathlon Team, and the Myriam Bédard Training Centre in Quebec.

Two other Canadian women that have benefited from the new training centre model also suited up alongside Kocher on Wednesday. Marie-Pierre Parent, of St-Paul de Joliette, Que., was 69th, while Calgary’s Sandra Keith was 70th. Both athletes were just over seven minutes off the leading pace.

Kelly Vanderbeek races to the podium.
The Leader-Post (Regina)

LAKE LOUISE, Alta.—Standing on the World Cup podium for the first time in her career, Kelly VanderBeek was oblivious to the Austrian flag that flapped in the wind and kept hitting her in the face. Renate Goetschl, the race winner, apologized for her careless waving, but the Canadian ski racer didn’t care.“I told her, ‘That’s OK, nothing could bother me on this day,’ “ VanderBeek said on Sunday afternoon, shortly after finishing third at the Audi FIS World Cup super-G.

It was the first medal ever won by a Canadian woman at Lake Louise—a span that covered 42 races—and the highest placing by a Canadian woman this season. As the 23-year-old from Kitchener, Ont., stood at the finish area and learned of her final placing, she tried to explain her feelings. But in her drunken glee, sentences tailed off and thoughts disappeared before they were completed.

“It’s my first podium and it’s in Canada,” she hollered, as if waking herself from a dream. “Oh my God. I’m so excited. “The best possible first podium would have been at the Olympics and the next best thing is to win in Canada. I’m elated, absolutely elated.”

Prior to Sunday, VanderBeek’s claim to fame was a fourth-place finish at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy. She missed the podium by 4/100ths of a second and barely a day has passed since that someone hasn’t asked about the gut-wrenching result. A week later, she missed a medal by 1/100th of second at a World Cup in Norway. Her fourth-place finishes have become something of a legend.

But those familiar with the sport and with VanderBeek’s ascending career path knew Sunday’s breakthrough was inevitable.“I knew it was coming,” she said. “The last few weeks in training and last year, I’ve been so close.“I had a good run and I know when I have a run like that I have potential for a medal. It was just nice to put it down today and do it in front of a hometown crowd.”

In two downhill events earlier this weekend, VanderBeek finished sixth and 18th. In both races she was deadly up top, but gave away time at the bottom. On Sunday, coaches offered some advice on how to approach the hill. She listened, trusted their words and executed the race to near perfection. Prior to the race, VanderBeek also had a taste of home cooking that helped her to victory.

“There were 15 little kids at the start, all along the fence to my left,” she explained. “As soon as the girl went in front of me, they started cheering, ‘Go Kelly Go!’“I was just standing there all serious and I cracked a smile, looked back at the guys in the tunnel and said, ‘That’s awesome.’ I looked down, waved, gave them a big fist pump. They were so cute and they gave me so much spirit. That’s why I love to race in Canada.”

VanderBeek earned $14,300 for her third-place ski, while Goetschl received $28,700 and American Lindsey Kildow earned $19,100 for finishing second. Kildow also won Saturday’s downhill and finished second on Friday.

One after another, Canadian skiers took turns stealing the thunder on Sunday. First, Genevieve Simard put a charge into the Lake Louise crowd with a run that earned fifth place. Soon after she finished, Emily Brydon was hot on her tail, landing in eighth spot. Then, two skiers after Brydon, VanderBeek headed down the hill.

But that wasn’t all. As VanderBeek made her way to the chalet for doping tests, fellow Canadian Mike Janyk was winning silver at a World Cup slalom in Beaver Creek, Colo. “I’m happy to share the limelight,” VanderBeek said of Janyk and the Canadian contingent. “We’re hot. We’re ready to go and we’ve got a good team.“There are different expectations now. Our team is on the podium and people are expecting it. We’re going to have to continue to perform and I’m sure we’re capable of being there often.”

In the men’s speed events last weekend at Lake Louise, Manuel Osborne-Paradis earned silver in the downhill before John Kucera took gold in the super-G. Through two weekends, the Carving Canucks already have four medals towards their season goal of 12. Even more impressive, all four of those were won by skiers making their first trip to the podium.

“We’re in a building process, so this helps confidence,” said Ken Read, chief executive officer of Alpine Canada. “We need to keep building the momentum. There will be moments when things don’t work out. We’re still gaining experience, so it’s going to take some time before we can do it consistently right across the board.”

Lueders opens season with double bronze medals.

Edmonton’s Pierre Lueders reached his second podium of this week’s bobsleigh World Cup stop in Calgary on Saturday, but again had to watch his chief rival rise to the top.

Lueders, who finished in a tie for third in Friday’s two-man event, piloted his four-man sled to a bronze medal Saturday. Germany’s Andre Lange won the race with a two-run time of one minute, 47.92 seconds, completing a sweep of the men’s races after his victory Friday in the two-man. “I am satisfied with winning both races, but I had some problems in the four-man,” said Lange, who won gold in both events at the Torino Olympics. “We have work to do to win the next races.”
Russia pilot Evgeni Popov was second in 1:48.02. Lueders, Ken Kotyk of Rama, Sask., David Bissett of Edmonton and Lascelles Brown of Calgary were third in 1:48.37.

Lueders, who wasn’t pleased with his result Friday, said he was happy with Saturday’s showing, given that Bissett is new to the team.“It was really good,” said Lueders, who last season with Brown won the World Cup two-man title. “It’s always difficult when you have a crew for a couple of years and you bring in a new member.

“It takes some races to get everybody familiar with getting into the sled because it’s not the easiest thing to get into and Dave’s not exactly a small man. Trying to stuff all these guys in there at speed when you are pushing isn’t always easy, but I’m very happy with the guys and how they performed.”

Canadian head coach Malcolm Lloyd also praised the team’s performance.“It’s a huge result for us,” Lloyd said. “Pierre is just as good a driver in the four-man, but he hasn’t had the accolades because he hasn’t had the equipment. His equipment is starting to get there.”

The world governing body of bobsled and skeleton, FIBT, introduced a new rule this year whereby all countries must buy steel for their runners from the FIBT’s supplier.“[In the past] everybody could go buy whatever steel they wanted and we had no idea what the composition of those steels were,” Lloyd explained. “Now we can put a spectrometer on it and if anybody tampers with the runners, the FIBT would be able to pick that up.”

Lueders and his teammates will be in Park City, Utah, next week for the second of eight World Cup stops.

More medals for Canada in short track speed skating.

Canada’s short-track speed skaters were all over the podium again Sunday in Saguenay, Que., winning four more medals — including two gold — to bring their total at this week’s World Cup stop to nine.

Kalyna Roberge of Saint-Étienne-de-Lauzon, Que., and Charles Hamelin of Lévis, Que., led Canada Sunday with gold medals in the women’s 1,000m and men’s 500m, respectively. “After my silver medal yesterday [in the 1,500], I was pretty confident today, which allowed me to skate well,” said Hamelin. “It seemed easy today.”

Jeffrey Scholten of Montreal joined Hamelin on the 500 podium with a third-place finish. Chinese skater Ze Hu managed to pass Scholten at the finish line, stealing the silver.

Roberge was the only Canadian skater in the women’s 1,000 final. Korea’s Sun-Yu Jin tripped right before the end of the race, dragging her teammate Eun-Ju Jung with her and leaving Roberge to cross the finish line first, just before another Korean, Chun-Sa Byun. “I’m particularly proud of my 1,000m result this weekend, because of the way I skated against the Koreans,” said Roberge, who won her first ever World Cup gold medal.“They were unable to keep me in the back for the whole race. I proved I was able to pass them. Not only did I skate well, but I also learned a lot this weekend.”

Canada’s fourth medal of the day was a bronze in the relay, with the team of Roberge, Montreal’s Amanda Overland, Annik Plamondon of Longueuil, Que., and Anne Maltais of Quebec City finishing behind China and Korea.

The Canadian short-track team is now off to Montreal’s Arena Maruice-Richard, where they’ll skate in the season’s fourth World Cup stop beginning Dec. 8.

Gold for Grand’Maison and Huot at world championships for swimmers with a disability.

DURBAN, South Africa- Benoit Huot and Valérie Grand’Maison, both of Montreal, won gold medals on Tuesday as Canada reached the 20-medal mark at the 50-country world championships for swimmers with a disability.

Brian Hill of Montreal and Stephanie Dixon of Victoria added silver medals to lift Canada’s total to eight gold, seven silver and five bronze after four days of competition.

In the men’s 200-metre individual medley in the S10 category, Huot earned his first gold and fourth medal overall at the competition clocking two minutes and 16.60, about a second off his world mark.  Rick Pendleton of Australia finished one second back for the silver and Andre Esteves of Brazil, who has dominated the S10 events so far, was third.

‘’It’s a big win for me,’’ said Huot, a five-time Paralympic champion in 2004.  ‘’I had two bronze and silver so far but for this race I really wanted the gold.  I developed my strategy with Esteves in mind.  I felt he would be the main challenger after winning the 100 freestyle and 100 butterfly.  He had a great start but couldn’t keep the pace.’’

With Tuesday’s victory, Huot has earned the 200 IM gold at the last two worlds and two Paralympic Games.

In the women’s S13 100 butterfly for the visually impaired, Grand’Maison collected her fourth gold and fifth medal of the competition clocking 1:08.37.  Chelsey Gotell of Hamilton was fourth in 1:10.15 and Rhea Schmidt of Winnipeg sixth in 1:14.94.

‘’Valerie is a very talented athlete,’’ said Canadian national team coach Craig McCord of Vancouver.  ‘’And now her confidence has gone through the ceiling.  She just wants to go fast and she’s making everyone else go faster as well.  This classification group is one of the strongest at the competition.’’

Hill took second spot in the men’s S13 100 butterfly while Dixon stepped on the podium for the fifth time placing second in the S9 200 IM with Brittany Gray of Barrie, Ont., fourth.

Other Canadian finalists were: Anne Polinario of Montreal and Jessica Hodgins of Windsor, Ont., fifth and seventh respectively in the S10 200 IM, Katarina Roxon of Stephenville, N.L., fifth in the SB8 100 breaststroke, Laura Jensen of Fort St. John, B.C., sixth in the S7 400 freestyle and Jacqueline Rennebohm of Regina seventh in the SB12 100 breaststroke.

‘’We have 12 rookies on this team and they are getting an important experience here,’’ said McCord.  ‘’With a few more big international meets on their resume over the next couple of years we feel we could potentially field a seasoned team for the next Paralympics (in 2008).’

IOC adds ski cross, denies women's ski jumping.

The rough-and-tumble freestyle event of skicross is in for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Women’s ski jumping will have to wait to be considered for 2014.

The International Olympic Committee approved skicross _ similar to snowboard cross _ for the Vancouver Games but rejected women’s jumping and five other events during meetings Tuesday.

The IOC executive board also overhauled the process for selecting sports for future Summer Games, and partially lifted its freeze on payments to the international amateur boxing association to encourage reforms in judging and scoring.

Skicross involves groups of skiers racing each other to the bottom of a course with jumps, rollers, banks and other manmade and natural terrain features. The competition is part of the International Ski Federation’s World Cup freestyle circuit, which also includes the Olympic events of aerials and moguls. The IOC said skicross has a “strong appeal for the young generation.” Snowboard cross debuted at the Winter Games in Turin 10 months ago and drew big crowds and good ratings.

The Vancouver skicross events will feature 32 men and 16 women competing in the same format as the snowboard version. The two gold medals will bring the number of medal events in Vancouver to 86. It could be good news for Canada. Canadian athletes tend to be medal contenders in new sports and Canadian Freestyle Ski Association CEO Peter Judge says that is the case in skicross. “Absolutely. We’ll have to measure where we have strength and where to focus that,” Judge said Tuesday. “Probably at the outset, we’d have a much better run at the women’s side in terms of 2010 results.”

Aleisha Cline of Whistler, B.C., is a three-time winner of the skicross at the X Games. Anik Demers of Lac-Beauport, Que., won it in 2000. Another promising athlete in the sport is 21-year-old Ashleigh McIvor of Whistler, B.C. “A lot of these athletes have been working out there in relative obscurity and it’s great vindication for them,” Judge said.

Turned down by the IOC were women’s ski jumping, a team event in alpine skiing, mixed relay in biathlon, team competitions in bobsled and skeleton, a team luge competition and mixed doubles in curling.

Ski jumping, and nordic combined, are the only competitions in the Winter Olympics in which women don’t participate. While the IOC is eager to have gender equity in all sports, officials said women’s jumping hasn’t yet been fully established, noting that the first world championships in the event aren’t scheduled until 2009.“It’s still not ready,” IOC vice-president Gunilla Lindberg said. “In our analysis, there are not enough athletes and not enough countries. They have to work with the international ski federation and Nordic combined to be ready for 2014.”

However, the IOC stressed it would closely monitor the progress of women’s ski jumping “with a view of its inclusion in future Olympic Games.”“Yes, we would like to have women’s ski jumping one day, but we still have to evaluate it along with other sports,” Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli said.

Peter Van Loan appointed sport minister.
JAMES CHRISTIE
Globe and Mail Update

The revolving door on the federal government’s sport office spins like a roulette wheel, but this time the sport community doesn’t think the appointment of a new sport minister is a losing gamble.

Peter Van Loan was appointed yesterday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, becoming the sixth man in the sport portfolio in seven years. Van Loan was parachuted into the Cabinet void left by the resignation of Michael Chong, who could not agree with the Prime Minister’s motion to deem the Québécois as a nation within Canada.

But despite the turnover at the Cabinet table, Canada’s top sport administrators see business as usual, with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics as the catalyst. Chris Rudge, the chief executive officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee, says he is used to the drill of breaking in new ministers, and Chong’s operation of the portfolio as a full ministry makes this transition a little smoother. Chong was making inroads with fellow ministers on the value of sport to Canada in terms of overall health, countering youth obesity and national pride.

“This will be my fifth sports minister in four years. . . . This time it will be more efficient and less disruptive. Chong had gone down the road with his Cabinet colleagues about the need for sport [for Canada] and the needs of high-performance sport, in particular the needs of summer sports. There’s a broader knowledge about sport through the Cabinet,” Rudge said.

“We also have a better working relationship with Sport Canada than ever before. I’m cautiously optimistic. I think there’s a good chance of getting [the dollars] sport asks for in the next budget.”

President of Alpine Canada Ken Read is looking for more than status quo, if Canadian sport is to continue the advances it is making by using Vancouver 2010 as the engine to power the project. “What is needed is a strong voice and a leader for sport in Canada. Every major country has a highly visible minister of sport and a full Sport Ministry to back him or her. With Canada hosting in 2010, this only underscores the need for such leadership,” Read said, citing the political will and leadership that made Australia a sport leader.

“It’s good for nation building, for Canadian pride, and frankly also good politics. Can you imagine if a senior political figure had been in Lake Louise this weekend? What a gift! Don’t wait to step up to meet the athlete when they are already on the podium.”

Van Loan, who is also Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, will get his feet wet in the Sport Ministry in only a few days, when the feds make a trip to Halifax to lend their support — and that of the taxpayers — to the city’s bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Van Loan, 43, was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2006. In February, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Canadian company to supply metal for 2010 medals
The Evening News (New Glasgow)

Canadian medallists at the 2010 Winter Olympics will have more than just a piece of gold, silver or bronze hanging from their necks. They’ll also be wearing a little piece of home.

Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B), a Vancouver-based mining company, has been named the exclusive supplier of the metal for the medals at the next Winter Games, all of which will come from Canadian mines. “The more Canadian the better. To have an Olympic medal made by a Canadian and from a Canadian mine, that’s excellent,” Canadian skier Kelly VanderBeek said Friday after a World Cup ski event at Lake Louise, Alta.

The deal is somewhat unique as it’s not often that an Olympic host country has the natural resources to make the medals. Dave Parker, director corporate affairs and sustainability for Teck Cominco, said the materials for all 837 medals (543 Olympic, 294 Paralympic) would come from the company’s mines in B.C. and Ontario.

Canadian stripped of podium finish at women’s skeleton race.
Canadian Press

Calgary — Michelle Kelly’s World Cup skeleton season is off to a rough start. The native of Fort St. John, B.C., finished second in today’s season-opening race but was disqualified because her sled was 200 grams overweight. The weight limit for women’s sleds is 29 kilograms.

American Katie Uhlaender won gold while Olympic champion Maya Pedersen of Switzerland was bumped from third to second. American Noelle Pikus-Pace ended up with the bronze.

Calgary’s Lindsay Alcock improved to fourth following her teammate’s disqualification while Carla Pavan of Lethbridge, Alta., ended up fifth and Amy Gough of Abbotsford, B.C., was 20th in her World Cup debut.

Halifax 2014 announces the details of its international bid budget.

The budget of $14,310,200 covers the preparation of a detailed bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games over a 27-month period beginning in January 2006. “This is a serious budget for a serious bid,” said Fred MacGillivray, president and chair of Halifax 2014. “We recognize and accept our responsibility to manage it prudently in order to prepare a bid that creates a lasting legacy and sustainable benefits for Halifax, Nova Scotia and Canada.”

The international bid budget covers activities related to detailed planning and design of all Games venues and facilities including competition and non-competition venues and the athletes’ village; local, national and international sport legacy and development programs; and a bid team including local, national and international experts. It also covers promotion of the bid locally, nationally and internationally; a delegation to Sri Lanka for the final presentation and vote in November 2007; and, administration and operational costs.

Click here for the full article:

http://www.2014halifax.com/news/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?Id=107