Canadian men’s gymnastics team wins Olympic berth.

STUTTGART – Canada’s six-man gymnastics team came through with a clutch performance at the world championships on Tuesday to capture a berth at the 2008 Olympics. With injured Kyle Shewfelt cheering from his wheelchair on the sidelines, Canada’s high-flying team showed it could still soar without the 2004 Olympic champion in the pilot’s seat.

Needing a top-12 finish at the worlds to qualify a full team for Beijing, the Canadian squad got off to a strong start on pommel horse, fought off a scare on the high bar, and were solid on all other four apparatus to place 11th in a field of 24 countries.

Defending world champion China placed first with 374.275 points followed by Japan at 370.725 and Germany at 364.350. The Canadians scored 357.700. “It’s really nice for me to sit back and know that this team can take care of business,” said Shewfelt, who suffered fractures to both knees while training last week and is out of action for at least six weeks.  “I never had any doubts about their ability to come top 12.  I’m always called the leader on the team but I think everyone leads in their own little way. They pulled it off.”

Also missing from the Canadian lineup was Adam Wong, the team’s top all around gymnast at the last world championships, who has not fully recovered from a torn Achilles tendon and was also on hand to show his suport in Stuttgart as the team reserve.

Veteran David Kikuchi of Halifax anchored the team, starting first on five of the six apparatus, including pommel horse, a troublesome event in the past for the Canadian squad. “Pommel horse is probably the most difficult and nerve wracking event and I was really happy to be able to hit that for the team in the first event of the competition,” said Kikuchi, who also qualified in 22nd spot for the men’s individual all around final later this week.

After strong showings on rings and parallel bars, the team ran into a snag on the high bar when Edmonton’s Brandon O’Neill missed a release move and crashed to the mat.  But both Nathan Gafuik of Calgary and Ken Ikeda of Abbotsford, B.C., stepped up to get the team back on track with spectacular routines on the same apparatus.

Ikeda, who crash landed while practicing a release move in his high bar routine during the warm up, said the mishap made him nervous but highly focused during the competition. “I hit my head and gave myself a bit of a headache and I was a little concerned that I would miss it again like that so I definitely please to get through the routine without any trouble.”

O’Neill bounced right back on the floor exercise with a top-notch routine that sealed the top-12 finish for the Canadians. Rounding out the Canadian squad with strong all around performances were Grant Golding of Calgary and Casey Sandy of Brampton, Ont., who also qualified in 23rd spot for the individual all around final.

Joshua Riker-Fox has Olympic-sized goals.

Airdrie Echo - Six years ago, Joshua Riker-Fox had a dream. He is now less than a year away from realizing that dream. Riker-Fox, who turns 24 next week, won a bronze medal in modern pentathlon at the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, last month, qualifying him for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. “It’s hard to sum it up in a couple words,” he said Monday while training in B.C. “It was obviously a very special moment. There were tears coming down my face and my family was there.”

Riker-Fox always knew he had a good shot at qualifying, but he decided to keep a quiet confidence. “It could have gone a couple different ways and fortunately it went my way,” he said of the Pan Am Games. “I never really discussed it openly or thought about it, but I knew there was a pretty reasonable chance that I could qualify. “I really just tried to focus on each event and each moment over the course of the day,” he added.

Modern pentathlon combines shooting, fencing, equestrian, a 200-metre freestyle swim and a 3,000-metre run. Riker-Fox’s final overall score was 5,328. The gold medal went to Eli Bremer with a score of 5,380.

While Riker-Fox feels most comfortable in the equestrian portion, since he comes from a riding background, he was able to gain confidence for the day in a different event. “The fence was a huge, huge success,” he said. “I had a 70 per cent success rate, which is huge and that was the turning point. After the fence I was first, so it kind of set a precedent for the rest of the day.”

While many Olympic athletes have one event on which to focus, Riker-Fox has five; in addition, he is in the process of completing a double degree at the University of Calgary in kinesiology and business. A regular day for the Delacour, Alta., native consists of a 5:30 a.m. workout, followed by a full day of classes, another 4:30 p.m. workout and then sport specific training until the sun goes down.

The mental aspect is the toughest part. “There was at least one moment that I was seriously, seriously pondering what I’m doing in this sport,” he said.

Riker-Fox has been able to get through the grind and there is now less than a year to go until the Olympics, which will be held from Aug. 8-24 in Beijing, China.
After training non-stop for the Pan Ams for the past year, he will head to the last world cup event of the season, which is also a test event for the Olympics with the same facilities and officials as next summer. “It’s a huge advantage for a guy like me who has already qualified to see the facilities and prepare a year in advance,” he said.

That event starts Sept. 15 in Beijing. After which, Riker-Fox will take a much-needed break. “I’m actually really fatigued right now, mostly mentally, so I’m looking forward to taking a couple weeks off after this,” he said. He currently sits 36th in the World Cup standings and 43rd overall in the world.

Once he gets his rest in, he will continue with the training regimen that got him to this point. “If you’ve had a little bit of success there’s no need to change,” he said. “I’ll be back training with the same coaches and going through the same regimen. “The only difference this year is that I won’t be competing as much. Now I can focus on getting more full training cycles instead of competing, which should be advantageous for me.

Reed all about it; Canada earns first-ever medal in the men’s 800 metres.

The Winnipeg Sun - A lunge at the finish may have cost Gary Reed gold. But the runner from Kamloops, B.C., was savouring silver after his historic race yesterday.

Reed captured silver in the men’s 800 metres in a sprint to the finish on the final day at the world championships. The medal was Canada’s second in Osaka, but its first ever in the men’s 800 at a world championships. “This is the greatest day of my life, this is beautiful,” said Reed, draped in a huge Canadian flag. “This is huge, this is bigger than big.”

There was a delay of several minutes for the photo finish to be read before Yego was announced as the winner. But Reed was delighted with the medal. “I knew I had medalled. I knew I got clipped at the line, but I didn’t know if I was second or third. To be honest with you, I didn’t really care,” Reed said. “My goal all year was to come in here and get a medal, and a silver medal at worlds going into Beijing (2008 Olympics) is just phenomenal for me.”

Reed’s medal was Canada’s first in the 800 at the world level since Bill Crothers captured silver in the 800 at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

The Canadian team wraps up the world championships with two medals, topping the lone medal the team won in 2005 in Helsinki—a bronze in the 400 metres by Tyler Christopher. Perdita Felicien of Pickering captured silver in the women’s 100-metre hurdles earlier in the week.

Yesterday’s race was a huge breakthrough for Reed, who had the fifth-fastest time in the world heading into Osaka, and won both his heat and semi-final en route to the final. While the 25-year-old has five national titles to his name, and broke the Canadian record three times in the summer of 2005, not much beats a world championship medal.

“Medals on this level is what really counts,” Reed said. “You can’t really compare anything to this, anything I’ve done in my career up to this point is miniscule to the feeling of this.

Canadian eight rows to gold at worlds.

CBC Sports - The men's eight added to Canada's medal haul at the world rowing championships by capturing gold Sunday in Munich.

The team of Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C., Adam Kreek of London, Ont., Victoria's Dominic Seiterle and Malcolm Howard, Saskatoon's Jake Wetzel, Toronto's Andrew Byrnes, Ben Rutledge of Cranbrook, B.C., Kevin Light of Sidney, B.C., and coxswain Brian Price of Belleville, Ont. won in five minutes, 34.92 seconds. Germany and Great Britain followed in 5:37.19 and 5:37.95 respectively.

The Canadian eight secured a spot at next year's Olympics just by making the 'A' final. By winning the race, the team brought Canada's medal count at the world championships to four — a gold and three bronze. "It's just great to be back," said Hamilton, a member of the squad when it won world titles in 2002 and 2003. "We've had a few off years. We wanted to go out there and not just win by a bowball, but to prove that we are the best in the world. "All the gold medals are special, but I appreciate this one just a bit more."

The women's eight didn't fare as well, finishing sixth overall and missing out on an Olympic berth with a time of 6:23.10.

Llewellyn pumped for Calgary worlds.

Calgary Herald - Jaret Llewellyn was nine years old when Canada last hosted a world water-skiing championship. So you can forgive the Innisfail native for postponing all talk of retirement now that Calgary has been chosen to host the 2009 worlds.

“It’s really, really big for me to come back to compete in Canada,” said the 37-year-old from Austria, where he was today trying to defend his world jump title. “I’m nearing the end of my career and everyone is wondering if I’m going to make it to Calgary,” added Llewellyn, who won the men’s overall gold and a silver medal in jump to conclude the world water-skiing championships Sunday. “But I’m going to change my whole training schedule just to peak for that. Hopefully, I can end up with the overall title in Canada.”

Llewellyn, who has won 102 water-skiing titles—including nine world championships—has lived and trained in West Palm Beach, Fla., since 1996. In that time, the Predator Bay Water-Ski Club 10 kilometres south of Calgary’s city limits has gone from being a field of dreams to the first Canadian site chosen to host a world water-skiing championship since Toronto in 1979.

The first lake, 640 metres long by 60 metres wide, was built 10 years ago by local businessman Rick Alsit on land owned by his family. He added a second lake four years ago, making it the only twin-lake site in Western Canada. “Rick was a water-skier as a kid and it was just something he dreamed of doing,” said Predator Bay president Dan Velcic. “He kept improving the first lake and then got a permit to build the second. We started as a small group of 15 to 17 skiers, but the club is now up to 70 skiers.”

Alsit, who runs a business selling recreational products, refuses media interviews and likes to keep a low profile. “He built his field of dreams,” said Dan Wolfenden, executive director of Water Ski and Wakeboard Canada. “He just wanted a place to be able to water-ski, but it’s grown into something far bigger.”

Predator Bay was the only Canadian venue considered for the world championships. “We handpicked Calgary,” said Wolfenden. “What Predator Bay offered was good skiing conditions on twin lakes. We also looked at the city of Calgary. There’s a real sense of pride there when events come to town and then there’s the economic climate. It’s a hot spot.”

The budget for the event is $2 million. Organizers admit it may be difficult to secure sponsorship dollars, particularly with the shadow of Vancouver 2010 looming large. “There will be a challenge to raise the revenue,” said Wolfenden. “We’re not the Olympics, but we’ve got some terrific athletes and great stories and we want to share them.”

Llewellyn is hoping the event will increase the sport’s profile and encourage more young people to get involved. “It’s an expensive sport and there’s not a lot of focus on it. Maybe this will create more opportunities,” he said. “For me, it’s always been my dream to come back to Canada. This might be the pinnacle of my career.”

Jaret Llewellyn of Innisfail, Alta., won the men’s overall gold and a silver medal in jump to conclude the world water-skiing championships Sunday. Llewellyn reclaimed the overall crown he won in 2001 for his performances in jump, tricks and slalom this week. Oleg Deviatovski of Belarus was second and Marco Riva of Italy third. “I skied really strong in every event,” said Llewellyn 37, in his 24th season on the national team. “I went over 70 metres in the jump, tricked over 11,000 points and had a great slalom run. To do those kinds of performances is pretty rare in one competition.”

Premier Stelmach delivers first phase of funding to push forward construction of CODA’s Centre of Sport Excellence.

CALGARY—Premier Ed Stelmach delivered details on the Alberta government’s $69 million commitment to the Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA) on Thursday, launching construction of the nation’s first Centre of Sport Excellence.  He also helped unveil the design of the centre’s core new facility – a landmark Athletic and Ice Complex at Canada Olympic Park.
 
“The Alberta government is committed to strengthening Alberta’s role as a sport leader within Canada and around the world,” said Premier Stelmach, surrounded by Olympic, World Cup and National Sport School athletes. “The 1988 Olympics in Calgary created a standard of excellence in winter sport that has been building towards the return of the games to our country.  Canada’s road to success in the 2010 Olympics travels through Alberta.”
 
Premier Stelmach went on to say that $40 million will be provided in year one of the Alberta government’s three-year commitment to renew the legacy of facilities from the 1988 Olympic Winter Games for future generations.  The remaining $29 million will be paid over the next two years.
 
The complex, part of CODA’s $276 million plan to provide athletes with access to the world-leading facilities and resources they need to win at international competitions, will also become the new permanent home of Hockey Canada, a partner in the facility.
 
CODA’s plan for development of the Athletic and Ice Complex will go before Calgary City Council September 10 to seek planning approval in order to begin construction this fall.
 
“The first-in funding provided by the Alberta government strengthens our ability to impact the medal count in 2010, but also delivers the facilities and programs athletes need to be the best in the world for future generations,” said Bob Nicolay, president and chief executive officer, CODA. “Developing a competitive culture of excellence where athletes at all levels can come together for both short and long periods is key to Canada’s future success. We have assembled an extraordinary team of experts to build the facility that will deliver excellence for Alberta and Canada.”
 
The $69 million committed by the Alberta government represents 25 per cent of the total project cost.
 
”CODA’s Centre of Sport Excellence will give a tremendous boost to sport development in Canada and tourism in Calgary and Alberta,” said Cindy Ady, Associate Minister of Tourism Promotion, with responsibility for leading the Alberta government’s 2010 Olympic programs. “Attracting and keeping talented and passionate athletes in Calgary provides incredible role models and mentors for our younger generation in sport and in life.”
 
When complete, the Athletics and Ice Complex will contain ice surfaces, gymnasiums, physical training facilities, and all of the technical, human and research services needed for athletes to become world leaders. It has been designed to be built in stages as funding becomes available.
 
“To have a new permanent home where we can train as a team is fantastic and is another competitive advantage,” said Cassie Campbell, former captain of Canada’s Olympic gold medal-winning women’s hockey team. “The pursuit of excellence and medal performances at all levels is a common goal in sport. This project will create more winners for Canada and facilities that allow us to be more competitive internationally.”
 
Developed by CODA in association with Canadian athletes, coaches, and national sport governing bodies, the Centre of Sport Excellence, with Canada Olympic Park serving as the hub facility, was designed to create a culture of excellence by centralizing resources, providing access to world-leading technology as well as offering education and enhanced nutritional opportunities. The project models what other world-leading nations including the Australians, Americans and Europeans are already doing to enhance athlete performance.
 
The Alberta government has already shown its support to renewing the legacy of facilities from the 1988 Olympic Winter Games by providing $25.6 million to renew the Canmore Nordic Centre and $600,000 to upgrade the ski jumping training centre at Canada Olympic Park.

Proposed channel would focus on amateurs.

The Globe and Mail - The Canadian Olympic Committee is looking into the feasibility of launching a channel dedicated to amateur sport.

Montreal lawyer Richard Pound, the senior International Olympic Committee member from Canada, negotiated television agreements for the IOC for 20 years. He said yesterday the COC could apply for a broadcasting licence in the next few months. “I hope we can get an application together some time this fall,” he said. “But we won’t do it unless we can present a compelling case [to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission].”

Meetings with TV consultants convinced Pound and the COC that a new channel would work. “We sat down with some folks who know the business,” Pound said. “We have been getting increasing vibes that this is something people believe is necessary and useful.”

There isn’t much amateur sport on television. What’s more, watching elite Canadian athletes compete would encourage children to participate, Pound said.
“I’m somebody who believes very strongly that Canadian athletes ought to have a chance to be seen and have their achievements recognized at home,” he said. “You would hope it would have a beneficial impact on getting kids, who might otherwise turn into couch potatoes, out there doing some sports.”

Pound is reasonably confident the CRTC would approve the channel, but says support from cable and satellite distributors would be critical. “I can’t see any reason the CRTC wouldn’t like the idea,” Pound said. “The important question is, if we don’t have an agreement from one or more of the cable operators to carry this, whether the CRTC would be willing to step up to the plate and prepare to make it mandatory.”

A channel designated as a must-carry by the CRTC is assured a significant amount of revenue because it receives carriage on all cable and satellite systems.