Calgary’s Earle Connor overcomes broken foot for 100-metre gold.
Canadian Sport News/Nouvelles-sport canadien

LEVERKUSEN, Germany – Earle Connor of Calgary broke the foot on his artificial leg with 15 metres to go but held on to win the gold medal in the men’s 100-metre dash for amputees on Saturday at the IWAS World Cup track and field competition.

Connor clocked 12.63 seconds to remain undefeated in his 10-year national team career in the event.  John McFall of Britain was second in 12.73 and Yashi Mashimoto of Japan third in 13.10.

‘’I was pretty worried when I heard that loud snap then cracking sounds,’’ said Connor, in his first international race this season.  ‘’I didn’t want my streak to end in that event.  I managed to make it through.  I’m satisfied with my race.’’

Connor says the leg is a write-off and he’ll either get a new prosthesis or use an old one for his next meet in two weeks.  He’s been invited to race in an amputee race at the IAAF Golden League stop in Paris, one of the biggest events of the year in international track and field.

‘’I certainly don’t want to miss that competition,’’ said Connor.  ‘’I have a couple of legs in my basement back home that I could use.  I’ll have to see whether there is enough time to get a new one.  It’s a bit sad for me because I was feeling very comfortable with the leg I had today.  But I’d had it since 2004 so I guess it was time for it to go.’’

Connor has enjoyed some of his biggest success on the Leverkusen track.  He won three gold medals in 2003 which included a world record 12.13 seconds in the 100, a record that still stands.  In 2004, he won gold in the 100 after being treated for an infection in hospital before and after the race.  He also won here last year.

Connor was the only Canadian entry at the meet.

Nattrass to bear Pan Am flag.
The Daily News (Halifax)

In 2004, Susan Nattrass was selected to be among the first Canadian athletes to enter the stadium during the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics.

The veteran trapshooter from Edmonton, a former athletic director at Saint Mary’s University, was delighted, because in past years she was always getting pushed out of the way by the “young pups.” She won’t have to worry about anyone getting in her way at next month’s Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Yesterday, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced that the 56-year-old Nattrass will carry the Canadian flag into Maracana Stadium during the opening ceremony. It will be the first time in her 38 years of competing that she’s carried the Maple Leaf at a multi-sport event.

After all these years, it was an unexpected honour. “I thought that was about as close as I’d ever get,” she said of that day in Athens. “That was an absolutely amazing experience.”

Nattrass got choked up during a conference call yesterday when she recounted getting the call from Tricia Smith, the chef de mission for Canada’s Pan Am team. “I was absolutely speechless,” said Nattrass. “I never thought I’d ever be chosen. It’s very emotional for me, as you can tell. It’s a dream come true.”

It’s one of the few things Nattrass hasn’t experienced during her career. She’s a seven-time world champion, a two-time Pan Am Games medallist, five-time Olympian, former world record-holder and a Canadian champion many times over, not to mention a pioneer in her sport.

She broke the gender barrier at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, where she competed with men. She then went on to lobby the International Olympic Committee and the International Shooting Federation to get women’s trap and skeet into the Summer Games.

Nattrass is motivated to excel at the July 13 to 29 Games. Not only will it likely be the last time she competes at the Pan Ams, but she is looking to make up for a disappointing performance in 2003. Nattrass won a bronze medal in double trap in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, but had technical problems with her gun during the women’s trap and failed to make the podium.“The last Pan American Games was probably one of my most frustrating Games in that my gun broke,” she said. “It not only broke once. In every round, it malfunctioned.”

She says that won’t happen again.“Believe me, I have since had them check it every time,” she said. “It’s working well.”

There will also be valuable points on the line. While the Canadian team has already secured a berth in women’s trapshooting at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the spot hasn’t been filled yet. It will go to the Canadian woman who has amassed the most points from major international competitions such as the Pan Am Games. Nattrass currently leads the race and hopes to make it to her sixth Olympics.

Albertan undergoes gruelling test on road to Pan Am Games; Riker-Fox leads Canadian men.
The Calgary Herald

Joshua Riker-Fox is used to blank stares and raised eyebrows as he explains the modern pentathlon to anyone with a pulse.

The five-discipline Olympic sport, in fact, hardly qualifies as modern. It was originally meant to test brute military strength—and dates back to 1912.“Today, it probably seems a little bit obscure to most people, especially in Canada,” explained the 23-year old product of Delacour. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a solid development program. We only basically have people at my level, so it’s not like triathlon or something like that.”

But since he was 10, Riker-Fox has polished his pistol shooting skills, fencing abilities, equestrian riding and improved his swimming and cross-country running times—the five components of the modern pentathlon.

And, lately, he’s made quite the stamp in Canada’s record books. En route to Rome on Thursday, he’s set to compete in the last of six World Cup competitions leading up to next month’s Pan American Games in Brazil, for which he’s also qualified.

Just last month, Riker-Fox placed 17th globally at World Cup No. 4 in Budapest, Hungary, which was a record best finish for a male Canuck. A few weeks later at No. 5 in Drzonkow, Poland, Riker-Fox placed 23rd.

Merely another feather in his cap over his career, which includes accolades such as a No. 1 finish at the 2006 Canadian nationals and a No. 7 placing at the 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic. Next month’s Pan Am Games at Rio de Janeiro, with a total of 24 men and 16 women doing battle, represent modern pentathletes’ qualifiying tournament for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

“For me, this has been the hardest summer ever because I’m basically gone 75 per cent of the four months,” admitted the University of Calgary kinesiology and commerce student, who has one semester left until graduation. “That’s all been physical preparation, mental preparation and, obviously, it’s pretty hard emotionally to be away from the environment that you’re most familiar with.

“And really, though, in the grand scheme of things, it’s only a small part of my last five years which has been a grind every day.”

Including school, he’s been juggling five events, two or three practices a day, and has been reporting to five local clubs: U of C athletic club, the Gladiators Fencing Club, the Nose Creek Swim Association, the Delacour Pony Club and the Calgary Rifle and Pistol Club.

In competition, the modern pentathlon lasts over two days during which the athlete fires 20 shots at a target, duels through a round-robin fencing tournament, hits a show-jumping course on an unfamiliar horse, swims the 200-metre freestyle and runs the 3,000.

“The five sports each capture a totally different approach to sport that is very different from the other four,” added Riker-Fox. “Some are more time consuming, some are mentally more consuming, some are physically more fatiguing, but they’re all very much a challenge.”

Riker-Fox will headline the Canadian modern pentathlon team at the Pan Am Games along with Tik Maynard of Vancouver, Monica Pinette of Langley, B.C., Kara Grant of Stratford, P.E.I., and Elena Bales of Ottawa. After Rome, they’ll jaunt to Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and prepare with Swiss coach Philipp Waeffler, then fly to Rio to compete on July 23 and 24.

U of T to lift bar for elite athletes; Governing council expected to give nod today to $53 million Centre for High Performance Sport.
The Toronto Star

Being a top-ranked middle distance track star is a lonely pursuit - long solo runs, speed drills, strength training at the gym.

Megan Brown is two years into such a regimen, her sights fixed on lowering her time in the 1,500 metres in hopes of representing Canada at the 2012 Olympics in London. Now Brown, 22, and other athletes are poised to get more help to become faster, higher and stronger.

The University of Toronto governing council is today expected to give final approval to a $53 million Centre for High Performance Sport that will combine cutting-edge research and athlete testing with a sports medicine clinic, basketball and volleyball courts, and a weight training centre.

“It’s about fostering an environment for success and being surrounded by people with similar goals,” said Brown, a phys. ed. major who has won all seven Canadian university championships she’s entered and twice been named U of T’s top female athlete. “What’s missing for me is feeling I’m part of a community. It’s a motivating factor, when you’re feeling low, to know you’re going to wake up in the morning, put on your running shoes and head over to a place that feels like home. It’s huge.”

The 7,200-square-metre facility, to be built on Bloor St. W., one block west of the new Varsity Centre stadium, will serve as a fitness centre for all U of T students. It will also house a lab and teaching centre in disciplines from kinesiology and sports psychology to nutrition and medicine at Canada’s largest university.

“This will be a fabulous facility for all of U of T and beyond,” said Bruce Kidd, dean of phys. ed. and health and a former Olympic runner. “It will see people learning a new sport and forming health habits of a lifetime alongside those on their way to the Olympics.”

Students will pay fees to cover about 75 per cent of the estimated $2.8 million in annual operating costs. Fundraising will cover capital expenses. This month, the Goldings, a long-standing family of U of T benefactors, made an $11 million gift.

Expected to open in 2009, the new facility would incorporate the new Varsity Centre and specialize in track and field, soccer, field hockey, basketball and volleyball as well as offer cross-training facilities.

“It certainly fits into the vision of what we’re trying to do in high performance sport,” said Debbie Low, president of the Canadian Sport Centre Ontario, which links elite athletes with coaches and researchers. “It’s exciting that it’s with U of T. There’s a lot of synergies with what they already have there.”

Low said the U of T centre would be a perfect companion to the proposed $250 million elite Canadian Sport Institute in Markham. Winter Olympic Games in Calgary in 1988 and Vancouver in 2010 mean there’s top-flight athletic infrastructure there, but many sports officials say there’s a need in the GTA for facilities catering to elite athletes and weekend warriors.

And Chris Rudge, chief executive of the Canadian Olympic Committee, said universities can bring together all components that go into peak athletic performance together on one campus.“Being able to create that focus and attract other people to it is exceedingly important,” Rudge said. “Excellence feeds off excellence.

Bell launches online portal connecting Canadians to our top athletes and the Olympic and Paralympic journey.
Canada News-Wire

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 22 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell today announced the nationwide launch of RealChampions.ca, an interactive online community where athletes tell personal stories of their Olympic and Paralympic journeys with self-published content like photos, videos, statistics and diaries from their travels around the world.

Canadian sport fans can take part in the journey too by posting messages to athletes, rating content and, in some cases, uploading content. In the coming weeks, weekly content highlights selected by site visitors will also be available on enabled Bell Mobility phones and Sympatico.MSN.ca.

“RealChampions.ca equips Canada’s athletes with the ability to tell their inspiring stories and stay connected with Canadians while training at home and abroad,” said Loring Phinney, Vice President, Corporate and Olympic Marketing for Bell. “As the exclusive Telecommunications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Bell is proud to bring our technological expertise to bear to create this exciting new online destination for athletes and their fans.”

More than 300 athletes have already created profiles on RealChampions.ca, including Steve Omischl, Freestyle Ski Olympian and Bell Champion.“With RealChampions.ca, Bell has taken the online social networking phenomenon to the next level, supporting amateur sport in Canada and making the Olympic and Paralympic journey accessible to every Canadian,” said Omischl. “Before RealChampions.ca, I had my own site that got little traffic, but now I am part of a highly visible and interactive community that allows me to stay closely connected to my fans and promote my sport.”

Bell’s creation of RealChampions.ca is a natural progression of the company’s commitment to support Canada’s athletes with communications technology. Bell, in partnership with Samsung Canada, will provide athletes with next generation handsets to enable them to upload videos and pictures to their profiles from the road. Through its partnership with AthletesCAN, Bell has provided senior national team members with mobile phone and Internet services for more than 10 years.

‘Ice meister’ hired for 2010 Olympics bobsled, luge tracks.
The Vancouver Sun

WHISTLER - Tracy Seitz, the man responsible for creating competition ice at two of the world’s fastest bobsled and luge tracks, has been hired as the “ice meister” for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics track.

Seitz, who ran the Calgary bobsled track built for the 1988 Winter Games, was also the track master for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

On Tuesday, Craig Lehto, the director of the Vancouver Organizing Committee’s Whistler Sliding Centre, said Seitz will join the organization full time on July 9. Seitz fills out what has become an all-Canadian list of highly-experienced ice meisters recruited by Vanoc to make ice in the soon-to-be-finished competition venues.

On Monday, the World Curling Federation confirmed Vanoc had recruited Hans Wuthrich, of Gimli, Man., as the head ice technician for the new Hillcrest curling venue, as well as Dave Merklinger of Vernon as his assistant. Wuthrich is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on the difficult art of making curling ice.

He was responsible for ice at the 2007 European Championships and the World Women’s Championships in Aomori, Japan. He and Merklinger will also make ice for the 2009 World Junior Curling Championships in Vancouver, which will be the official test event for the Hillcrest facility.

Lehto said Seitz has a similar reputation in the art of building sliding ice, which in many ways is more complicated because it involves a long curved surface.“With only 15 sliding facilities in the world, the experienced staff available to do this is a very small field,” Lehto said.“For me it boils down to quality of ice and being able to create the most fair playing field for our sports.”

Canadian Olympic Committee Celebrates Great Canadian Olympic Moments
Canada News-Wire.

TORONTO, June 20 /CNW/ - The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced today the launch of a new online campaign which invites Canadians across the country to show their Olympic colours and support the Canadian Olympic team on its quest to Own the Podium in Vancouver (2010), and conquer the Road to Excellence in Beijing (2008), London (2012) and beyond.

The COC is launching the online campaign this month in recognition of International Olympic Day, which occurs annually on June 23 to commemorate June 23, 1894, the founding date of both the International Olympic Committee and the modern Olympic Movement. Through the campaign’s email creative and interactive site at www.olympic.ca/EN/olympic_day07, the COC encourages Canadians to contribute to the winter Own the Podium 2010 and summer Road to Excellence initiatives in support of current Canadian Olympic Games hopefuls in their quest for gold. Through the campaign, Canadians will also have the opportunity to remember and celebrate the country’s past Olympians and the great Olympic moments they have brought home to Canada over the years.

“For more than 100 years, Canadian athletes have been inspiring us with moments of anticipation, excitement and glory as they strive for excellence at the Olympic Games,” said David Bedford, Executive Director, Marketing and Communications at the Canadian Olympic Committee. “This campaign provides Canadians with the opportunity to not only recognize some of those past moments, but to financially support our Canadian athletes in creating many more memorable moments at each and every Olympic Games in the future.”

“It was with such pride and honour that I watched the flag being raised in Torino where winning gold for Canada transformed a lifelong objective from dream to reality,” said Jennifer Heil, 2006 Olympic Champion in freestyle mogul skiing. “This just goes to show that with hard work, discipline and the unwavering support of coaches, family, friends and fellow Canadians, dreams do come true.”

The COC, in collaboration with its national partners, supporters and suppliers—including RBC, Hbc, General Motors, Petro-Canada, RONA, VISA, Jet Set Sports, Weston Bakeries, and Dow Chemical—will reach out to more than five million Canadians with this year’s Olympic Day campaign. In addition, General Motors and Petro-Canada have committed to matching the contributions made by their customers.

In promotion of Olympic Day in Canada, Premier National Partner Hbc will be executing its annual Run for Canada in 13 communities across Canada on July 1st. Olympians and Olympic hopefuls, including many of the 200 athletes Hbc financially supports, will participate in this event that benefits Own the Podium 2010, Road to Excellence, as well as numerous other Hbc sport partnerships.

Visit www.olympic.ca/EN/olympic_day07 to give online to the Own the Podium 2010 and Road to Excellence initiatives; view a video montage of great Canadian Olympic moments; and vote on your favourite Olympic moment today. It only takes a minute to make a difference, and just one click will help create the next great Canadian Olympic moment.

Newspapers unite for Olympics; Seven publishing firms will band together for ads and coverage.
Times Colonist (Victoria)

OTTAWA—Seven publishing companies, representing 49 daily newspapers in Canada, have taken the unprecedented step of forming a coalition to package and present Olympic news and advertising, beginning with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

The group includes CanWest Media Works, Torstar Corp., Gesca, Metro International SA, FP Canadian Newspapers LP, Transcontinental Media and Brunswick News Inc.

“This consortium is a first for the Canadian daily newspaper business in Canada,” Dennis Skulsky, president of CanWest Media Works, said in a statement. “We’re excited by the concept and by the opportunity to develop some strong and enduring partnerships with national advertisers and agencies with this unique endeavour.”

CanWest publishes dailies across Canada—including the National Post, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province and the Times Colonist. “This enriched coverage of Olympic news and information leading up to Vancouver 2010 and beyond will be welcomed by Canadians from coast to coast,” said Jagoda Pike, publisher of the Toronto Star, property of Torstar. “Daily newspapers are the perfect medium to provide the in-depth and ongoing coverage of the people, places and events involved in the many facets of the Games.”

Advertising sales for the newspaper group will be handled by the Sport Media Marketing Group. Principals in this firm have “extensive experience in Olympic television sales and production,”the newspaper consortium said. “This innovative initiative by 49 of Canada’s leading daily newspapers will deliver a circulation of 3.5 million and an estimated reach of 35 per cent of Canada’s adult population, while their online sites add an additional 17-per-cent reach,” said Jim Byrd, chair of SMMG. “This combination provides greater reach than any television network and offers advertisers a superb tie-in to ongoing interest in the Olympics between now and London 2012.”

The consortium will produce two special publications this summer. A Celebration of Canada’s Olympic Athletes will be published on July 1, Canada Day. On Aug. 8, it will publish One Year to Beijing, in reference to the 2008 Summer Olympics.