Canadian team heads home from Pan Am Games third in total medals won.
CP Wire Byline: BY LORI EWING

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CP) _ Canada heads home from the 15th Pan American Games with more medals than the team captured four years ago, and with several Beijing Olympic berths secured.

Just a year before the 2008 Summer Games, the Pan Ams were an Olympic dress rehearsal for some athletes, a chance to qualify for others, and an opportunity to gain some much-needed international experience for all.

But a theme of these Games was also about instilling a culture of winning _ and in that Canadian officials say they were a big success. “Winning is a skill and once you’ve done it once you get hungry. I’ve been to the dessert part of the buffet table and I want to go back,” said Alex Gardiner, the Canadian Olympic Committee’s senior director of Olympic programming. “The more times you can get on a podium, whether it’s here, the Commonwealth Games, world university games, a national championship, it’s a huge confidence builder and it tells you, ‘OK, now I can compete with the best.”

After 18 days of competition, in more than 40 sports, Canadians marched to the top of the podium 39 times in Rio and captured 137 medals (39 gold, 43 silver, 55 bronze). That topped the 129 medals Canada won at the 2003 Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Canada finished third overall in total medals at Rio, behind the U.S. and Brazil, and fourth in gold medals won. The United States led the way with 237 (97-88-52), Brazil had 161 (54-40-67), while Cuba totalled 135 (59-35-41).

Canada also locked up eight Olympics berths - the men’s team in field hockey, Avianno Chao of Toronto in women’s 10-metre air pistol, Giuseppe Di Salvatore of Surrey, B.C., in men’s trap, the equestrian squad in team eventing, team dressage and team jumping, and one men’s and one women’s quota position in modern pentathlon.

The women’s water polo team fell just short of an Olympic berth, losing 6-4 to the U.S. in the gold-medal game.

The swim team led the way with 18 medals - one gold, five silver and 12 bronze, five more than in 2003. Pierre Lafontaine, national coach and Swimming Canada’s CEO, brought a ‘B’ team to Rio to help expand the talent pool and the young squad exceeded his prediction of 12 medals. “For a young group of kids, it was a very good meet,” said Lafontaine. “To me, the greatest part was these kids want to win, they want to race, they’re not happy with fourth, they’re not happy with third and they’re sure not happy with second, which I’m not sure if we had seen that in a long time.”

The track and field team captured 12 medals _ six gold, four silver, two bronze _ topping the 10 won in 2003, and providing several highlights at these Games. Adam Kunkel of Paisley, Ont., shattered his Canadian record and defeated Olympic gold medallist Felix Sanchez en route to gold in the 400-metre hurdles.

Jessica Zelinka of London, Ont., suffered a serious foot injury midway through the 800 metres, the final event of the heptathlon, but gritted her teeth to finish and win the gold. The injury _ a ruptured plantar fascia, which runs along the bottom of the foot _ will keep her out of next month’s world championships.

The men’s field hockey team erased seven years of disappointment, beating Argentina in penalty strokes in a thrilling gold-medal match. The team is headed to the Olympics for the first time since 2000 in Sydney.

Rhythmic gymnast Alexandra Orlando of Toronto was Canada’s most decorated athlete, with three gold medals, while Mike Beres of Ottawa won two gold and a silver in badminton.

Orlando hoped to win five golds in Rio, but a mishap in the ribbon _ the ribbon detached from the wand leaving her with a score of zero points _ cost her probable gold in that event, plus a spot in the all-around final. She was honoured for her performance and her grace under pressure by carrying Canada’s flag in the closing ceremonies.

Canada’s equestrian team wrapped up the competition, collecting gold and bronze Sunday on the final day of the Games.

Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, Ont., rode Special Ed to gold in show jumping, while Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., took the bronze aboard Hickstead. Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa took the silver, while Ian Millar of Perth, Ont., making his eighth Pan Am appearance, finished fourth on In Style.

These Games weren’t without their disappointments. The women’s soccer team, which came to Rio to fine-tune two months before September’s World Cup in China, left with more questions than answers after settling for bronze.

At the track, 400-metre star Tyler Christopher had to settle for silver after what he believed was a false start cost him potential gold. The Edmonton sprinter didn’t hear the gun and jogged out of his blocks, but when the race wasn’t called back he had to play catchup. An enraged Christopher booted a lane marker after the race, and pushed through a pair of officials, apologizing later for his behaviour.

Canadian athletes got a taste of the overzealous Brazilian crowds early in the Games when 14-year-old gymnast Peng-Peng Lee of Richmond Hill, Ont., was jeered during the balance beam. Lee, who stands all of four feet six and 70 pounds, succumbed to the hostile crowd, falling off the beam three times during her routine to finish eighth out of eight in the final. “I’ve never ever experienced this as a gymnast and I find it a lot like a hockey game,” Lee said afterwards.

The same day, veteran shooter Susan Nattrass was booed en route to her gold medal in trap shooting. “It was a difficult final because of all the yelling by the Brazilian fans,” said the Edmonton native. “It’s not part of our sport to cheer and especially to cheer when the shooters miss the target.”

Between the crowds, and concerns over the food, transportation, safety and scheduling, the Pan Ams were the perfect warmup for next year’s Olympics, said Gardiner. “Certainly Rio provided us with all kinds of ambiguity, transportation concerns, challenges about schedule changes,” said Gardiner. “And we don’t think we’ll see this in Beijing, but this has been a really, really good Games for preparing us.”

Carol Huynh wins gold at PanAms.
Canadian Press

Setting sights on Beijing.
The Toronto Star Byline: Randy Starkman

The most important thing at stake during the Pan Ams were the Olympic berths for the 2008 Beijing Olympics available in some sports. Here’s a list of Canadians who took advantage of that opportunity. The equestrians still have to go through qualifying to cement those berths.

Avianna Chao of Toronto, gold in the women’s 10-metre air pistol.

Canadian men’s field hockey team, 5-4 win over Argentina in gold-medal penalty shootout.

Monica Pinette of Langley, B.C., silver in modern pentathlon, a sport combining shooting, fencing, swimming, equestrian and running.

Joshua Riker-Fox of Delacour, Alta., bronze in men’s modern pentathlon.

Giuseppe Di Salvatore of Surrey, 17, bronze in men’s trapshooting.

Canada in equestrian show jumping, with a silver from Ian Millar of Perth, Ont., Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, Ont., Eric Lamaze of Schomberg and Mac Cone of King City.

Canada in equestrian team eventing with a silver from Mike Winter of Toronto, Kyle Carter and Sandra Donnelly, both of Calgary, and Waylon Roberts of Port Perry.

Canadian dressage team, silver medal won by Diane Creech of Caistor Centre, Ont., Tom Dvorak of Hillsburgh, Ont., and Andrea Bresee of Bjorkdale, Sask.

Hosts miss podium at the BMX worlds; Canadians struggle on the big stage in Victoria.
The Daily News (Nanaimo) Byline: Cleve Dheensaw

VICTORIA—Much like the FIFA 2007 Under-20 World Cup earlier this month, Canada proved a proficient host for the 2007 BMX world championships but a failure in the actual competition.

Canada’s top medal hopeful, Samantha Cools of Airdrie, Alta., struggled in front of the Canadian crowd. Cools, the No. 5 female rider in the world coming in, was the focal point of attention but she did not respond well. “It was stressful and got the best of me,” admitted Cools, who could still contend for a medal at the Olympics next year. “It was a lot of pressure and got to me in the (Olympic-class) races. I have to get past this now and move on. It was a learning experience.”

Cools lost in the semifinals of the women’s Olympic-class event Saturday before a capacity crowd of more than 6,000 at Juan de Fuca sports complex and placed fifth on Sunday in the non-Olympic cruiser class.

After failing to place a finalist in the Olympic-class men’s and women’s and junior races Saturday, Team Canada had a better day in the cruiser events Sunday. In addition to Cools making it into the women’s elite final, Kaila Sweeney of Calgary placed seventh-place in the junior women’s event, while James Brown of Airdrie was seventh in the junior men’s event.

The cruiser class uses bigger wheels. It is not taken as seriously as the Olympic class, although the same elite racers contest both disciplines.

With less at stake in the cruiser class, people were still buzzing about Saturday’s pulsating Olympic-class races in which the world’s greatest riders earned crucial Beijing qualifying points. “It was a fantastic week all around; but Saturday especially was just an outstanding day of racing,” noted Abe Schneider of Australia, president of the BMX Commission for the Union Cycliste Internationale.

Johan Lindstrom of Sweden, technical delegate for the UCI and the man responsible for overseeing the tracks at both the 2007 worlds at Juan de Fuca and the 2008 Olympics in the Laoshan district of Beijing, said: “From racing to organization, Victoria definitely rates as one of the best world championships we’ve had so far. It was a fantastic week.”

$250m venues to be ‘competition ready’ two years before 2010 Olympics begin.
The Vancouver Province Byline: Damian Inwood

WHISTLER—Olympic venues costing more than $250 million will be “competition ready” by this winter, more than two years before the Games. “When you think back to Prague, when they were just lines on paper, it puts chills up your spine to see how much has been done,” said Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong yesterday. “This is where the rubber hits the road.”

Furlong was referring to the International Olympic Committee vote in July 2003 in the Czech Republic, when Vancouver and Whistler won the right to host the 2010 Games. The 2010 boss led a media tour yesterday of three competition venues and the athletes village in the Whistler area.

First up was the $120-million Nordic Centre, home to cross-country skiing, biathlon and ski-jumping. John Aalberg, 2010 director of nordic sports, said it is the first time in Olympic history that all three venues have been put in one cluster, set in a square kilometre of pristine forest. Three stadiums will each seat 12,000 fans. “We’ll be hosting three national championships this winter,” said Aalberg, who has designed 15 km of Olympic trails.

He said cross-country skiers doing five 10-km laps for the 50-km race will climb a total of 1,700 metres or the equivalent of skiing up the Dave Murray downhill course twice over. U.S. nordic-combined skier Bill Demong said that arriving at the Callaghan Valley venue was “like driving into Lord of the Rings.”

At the ski jump, the first curved steel trusses are already in place. Up at the Whistler Timing Flats, the finish line for the alpine ski events, organizers are two weeks away from diverting 250 m of Boyd Creek to relocate endangered coastal tailed frogs. “We did a count last week and found seven adult frogs and nine tadpoles,” said Rod MacLeod, project manager. “We hire wildlife biologists who put them in a bucket and put them in a cool, shady area while we move the creek and then put them back in it.”

At the $105-million bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track, Furlong said he plans to take a run down the track after it opens to sleds this winter.“This is the fastest thing I know that clears your sinuses completely,” said Furlong, who rode a bobsleigh in Salt Lake City. “When you go down the first curve, you think, ‘This isn’t so tough’ and when you go down the second curve you think, ‘I can cope with this,’ and that’s the last rational thought you have until you get to the end.”

Canadian Olympic bobsleigh medallist Pierre Lueders said the 16-turn track is unique and has an aggressive design. “You’ll see a lot of action and a lot of speed,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to sneak in a few runs in December or January.”

Olympic park revamp approved; $276M plan to include two hockey arenas.
The Calgary Herald Byline: Colette Derworiz

An ambitious plan to expand Canada Olympic Park was approved Thursday by the city’s planning commission, clearing a key hurdle for a new ice complex to be finished in time to train athletes for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Calgary Olympic Development Association applied Thursday to change the land use for nearly 15 hectares in the park, located on the western entranceway to the city. It received unanimous support from members of the commission.

“It’s important, particularly for the plans that CODA has for Canada Olympic Park,” said Ald. Gord Lowe, who sits on the commission. “They are kind of reinventing themselves out there now. “To do that, they need to build some new facilities, different facilities and get into step with what’s needed. They are actually competing now for these kind of training facilities, so for their continued viability, it’s pretty important.”

The application, which still has to go to city council for a public hearing on Sept. 10, is to build additional facilities, including a national ice complex, athletic development centre and offices. “This was absolutely critical,” said Susan Veres, vice-president of marketing and communications for CODA. “Our intention is to be able to stage Hockey Canada in preparation for 2010 and it’s our understanding that they would need to be staged by summer 2009, early fall. “So this effectively means we’re on the path to do that,” she said.

The ice complex will include two hockey arenas—one of which will provide seating for 2,800 fans and another for 300. It will also house figure skating and, potentially, curling.

An athletic training facility will be built for high performance athletes training at the park and an office building will be used as the headquarters for Hockey Canada, currently crammed into the Father Bauer Arena Building, and CODA.

Veres said the plan has been in the works for a long time. “Our master plan has always been to build a centre for sports excellence,” she said. “So, it’s taken a lot of expertise to get here today. “To have it accepted and widely endorsed is a signal that we’re moving in the right direction and it would be the first in Canada.”

The expansion, which will cost $276 million, has already received $69 million from the provincial government. CODA is still waiting to hear from the federal government and corporate Canada on whether they, too, will provide some funding. “There are many positive indications that that is forthcoming,” Veres said. “We were there, in Ottawa, in May to restate our position and everything is very positive.”

Canadian Men’s Relay Teams Buoyed by Major Private Donation.

Calgary, AB - Pierre Lafontaine, CEO and National Coach of Swimming Canada, announced today that the Canadian Men’s 4x100 and 4x200 Olympic relay teams have received a major donation from W. Brett Wilson, a Calgary businessman and philanthropist. The $50,000 donation is the largest private donation ever received by Swimming Canada.  

“With the 2008 Olympics just one year away, this donation is a huge boost to our men’s relay teams,” said Lafontaine. “These two teams already had a great shot at a medal in Beijing, and their chances just got better.”

Mr. Wilson, himself a one-time competitive relay swimmer, said he was inspired by the stories he heard about the teams’ incredible potential for success in 2008. “This donation is designed to help get eight guys on the podium in Beijing,” Wilson said, adding that he hopes others will follow his lead.

The donation will be used for enhanced training opportunities including bringing potential relay members and coaches together for special training camps.