Canadian pair sixth at Swiss Cup gymnastics competition.

Canadian Sport News/Nouvelles-sport canadien- ZURICH – World championship medallist Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs of Toronto and Nathan Gafuik of Calgary couldn’t repeat a second-round best score in the semifinals and finished sixth on Sunday at the Swiss Cup gymnastics competition.

At the Swiss Cup each country enters a pair (one male and one female gymnast).  Each gymnast executes one routine in each round.  After the first two rounds, the top-eight advance to the semifinals and then top-four from the semis to the final.

World championship medallist Steliana Nistor and Flavius Koczi of Romania emerged with the gold medal totalling 31.600 points in the final.  Oksana Tschusowitina and Eugen Spiridonow of Germany were second at 30.850 and Swetlana Kljukina and Sergei Korokordin of Russia were third at 30.350.  The brother-sister combo of Daniele and Diego Hypolito of Brazil was fourth.

The top-four were determined based on the total scores of the previous three rounds however those scores were scratched for the final.

Hopfner-Hibbs and Gafuik advanced to the final eight.  They had a great start to the competition posting the second best combined score in the first round at 29.650 and the top score in the second round at 30.900.  But in the semis, the Canadians were sixth at 27.650 and dropped to that position overall.

Coming off a gold medal performance on bars at a meet last week in nearby Morges, Hopfner-Hibbs tied Nistor for the best score of the day on uneven bars at 15.000.  She was also second to Nistor for the best balance beam score of the day at 15.100.  Those are the two events she is focusing on for the next year’s Olympic Games.  Hopfner-Hibbs won the bronze medal on beam at the world championships last year.

‘’Elyse has new parts to both routines and did them extremely well,’’ said Hopfner-Hibbs’ coach Carol-Angela Orchard.  ‘’It’s great to see her continue to push the top gymnasts from the top countries in the world.’’

Gafuik, who helped Canada qualify a full men’s team for next year’s Olympics, produced an exceptional performance on vault in the second round earning 15.800.

Hopfner-Hibbs competes at a World Cup competition in Glasgow, Scotland this Friday.

Stutz and team use latest technology to test aerodynamics of gear, tuck.

Banff Crag & Canyon - Ski racing can come down to a few hundredths of a second—and it usually does. That is what separates a gold-medal run from narrowly missing the podium, which is something Alpine Canada Alpin understands all too well.

That’s why Banff’s Paul Stutz, along with ACA teammates Gareth Sine of Calgary and Jeffrey Frisch of Mont-Tremblant, Que., travelled to the General Motors Aerodynamics Laboratory in Warren, Michigan on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27 to put their equipment and movement to the test.

Stutz and his teammates, dressed in full equipment, stepped into skies mounted to the floor of a giant wind tunnel, where a vehicle would normally be and faced a fan with a 25-foot blade. “It was definitely an unusual experience, because it’s a huge facility,” Stutz said. “It’s pretty windy. “Once you’re in there a few times it gets pretty comfortable.”

GM has been using the wind tunnel for aerodynamics testing for six years. The opportunity to undergo the unique testing happened because of the partnership between GM, ACA and Own the Podium 2010.

The skiers were connected to sensors that collect data about which equipment had the least amount of drag, and which tuck position worked the best for each skier. Each skier stepped into the wind tunnel for approximately 10, 30-second sets, and Stutz said each subtle movement impacted the data.

Basically each skier did runs of varying wind speeds, which were consistent with wind resistance while racing to test different pieces of equipment and different tuck positions. “There were a lot of different variables to find out what’s fast,” Stutz said. “You could see the data right off to see what was working and what wasn’t.”

GM had an aerodynamics expert working on the project to give the skiers feedback on what worked the best. “He was able to calculate the amount of drag on the body with how much drag you have on the course,” Stutz explained.

In terms of equipment, Stutz could tell what worked best. “I think Spyder is providing us with great downhill suits, and they’ve been consistently fast. “And everything seems to be working, so I think we’re looking good going into the season.”

Luge can be huge for Canadians; These guys are not that far off, says new coach from Germany.

The Vancouver Province - Canada’s national luge team has come a long way since the days a few years ago when it travelled the World Cup circuit on a shoestring budget, begging other countries to lend a technician or a physiotherapist.

This season the Canadian Luge Association has hired two Germans—Wolfgang Staudinger, a former Langley resident, and Steffen Skell—to help guide the program toward the 2010 Olympics.

Staudinger, an assistant coach for the past 10 years with the powerhouse German national program, will be Canada’s national team head coach through 2004. Skell will also work with high-performance athletes. Walter Corey, the head coach since 2003, has been promoted to high-performance director.

“It’s a huge step for the direction of our program,” said 14-year national team veteran Regan Lauscher in a telephone interview from Calgary, where the team trains.

“We’ve been given a huge opportunity to have a coach come from the dominant country in our sport. He has a specific vision to help us get on that [Olympic] podium in Vancouver in 2010. If he didn’t see the potential I doubt he would have taken us on. It’s an exciting time.”

Staudinger is equally excited about coming to Canada. The question Tuesday was why? “Well, there’s a couple of reasons,” he said by phone from Calgary. “My wife is Canadian and I lived in Canada from 1989 to 1996, so my heart is half Canadian. I have special ties to Canada.

“When they [Canada] first started talking to me, I didn’t think about it too seriously,” said Staudinger, who got the job offer last February. “But I looked at it more closely and checked out the athletes—because what can you achieve if you don’t have the athletes? -- and I realized that there is some great potential. There is something to be done here. It wasn’t a fly-by-night decision.”

Staudinger said Tuesday that Canada does a lot of things well, but needs to do more training that’s luge-specific. “The start is the crucial thing to perform well at a high international standard and these luge-specific skills are necessary to be able to perform at that level,” he said. “They are not known over here, but they’ve been practised in Germany on a common basis.”

Staudinger joined Canada’s program in June. He thinks he can build consistent top-10 results this year with Lauscher, a World Cup silver medallist in 2004, Calgary’s Jeff Christie and the Calgary doubles team, Chris and Mike Moffat.

“The Canadian athletes are on a good path,” he said. “They are on their way, but you cannot expect that by me being here, overnight, they are going to start kicking ass. This year I just want to get some of the athletes consistently in the top 10. ... Within two years we should be consistently in the medal rankings. These guys are not that far off.”

Neither’s the season. It starts Nov. 11-17 at Lake Placid.

Renner back for the mother of all seasons.

CanWest News Service - Source: CanWest News Service. Sara Renner is ready to moonlight from her full-time job of being a mom to rejoin the World Cup cross-country ski circuit. The 31-year-old, who captured a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, took last season off, when she gave birth to her daughter, Aria. Renner, whose husband is former Canadian alpine men’s team member Thomas Grandi, gave birth Feb. 1.

But the competitive juices are still flowing for the Canmore, Alta., skier as she begins the long road to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. « I still have the fire in my belly to compete, to improving in all disciplines of our sport, and I look forward to the opportunity to lead our team along the way, » said Renner. « The young athletes in our program proved over the last couple of years they are ready to compete with the world’s best, and it is going to be a fun ride. I’m looking forward to getting back on the start line. »

Renner has been training with the national team, but won’t make her World Cup debut until Jan. 22-26 in Canmore. »We are delighted to have Sara continue to be there with us to deliver on her high standards and commitment to excellence over the next three years, » said Tom Holland, director of high-performance, Cross Country Canada.

« Sara is a world-class person both on and off the snow. Our team will continue to benefit from her leadership, and from having a proven international performer at their side as we work together to own the podium in 2010. »

Also leading the Canadian contingent this season is Chandra Crawford, also of Canmore. The 23-year-old, who was a bronze medallist in a World Cup race in Germany last season, was a surprise gold medallist at the Torino Games. Also on the women’s team is Amanda Ammar of Onoway, Alta., Dasha Gaiazova of Montreal, Perianne Jones of Almonte, Ont., and Brittany Webster of Caledon, Ont.

On the men’s side, the Canadians will be led by 24-year-old Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont. He was the first Canadian male in 15 years to earn a medal at a World Cup race, when he won a silver in Finland last November.

Joining Kershaw on the men’s team is David Nighbor of North Bay, Ont., Drew Goldsack of Red Deer, Alta., George Grey of Rossland, B.C., Phil Widmer of Banff, Alta., Sean Crooks of Thunder Bay, Ont., and Stefan Kuhn of Canmore.

« This is a unique group of athletes that has been making significant progress, and has demonstrated the ability to maintain Canada’s position on the podium in international cross-country skiing, » said head coach Dave Wood. « Our young team has had a taste of success over the last few years, and now knows what it takes to win. We are going to make positive strides together, with the goal of winning more medals for Canada.'

CALGARY TO HOST INAUGURAL IIHF WORLD WOMEN’S UNDER-18 CHAMPIONSHIP.

CALGARY – Hockey Canada announced Friday that Calgary, AB has been chosen as the host city for the inaugural IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship, to be held January 7-12, 2008.

Both Father David Bauer Olympic Arena and Norma Bush Arena will host games during the championship, which is a big step in the development of women’s hockey around the world. “This is a major event for the women’s game, and we could not be more excited to play host,” said Melody Davidson, general manager of the National Women’s Program and head coach of Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team. “Any opportunity to grow our game is one that we welcome with open arms.”

Hockey Canada also announced that Lois Mitchell, international business consultant and a member of the Board of Directors of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, as well as a long-time supporter of women’s hockey throughout Canada, has been named chair of the host committee. “To be asked to provide assistance in organizing the very first IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship is an honour,” said Mitchell. “My goal will be to get the entire community involved in a celebration of women’s hockey and create lasting memories for the participants, volunteers and to encourage more females to get involved in the game.”

Mitchell, on behalf of the host committee, also announced that longtime National Women’s Team member and Calgary resident Hayley Wickenheiser will serve as the event’s honourary chair. Wickenheiser joined the National Women’s Team as a 15-year-old in 1994, and has won six world championship and two Olympic gold medals. Wickenheiser served as team captain for the 2007-08 season, leading Canada to a gold medal at the IIHF World Women’s Championship in Winnipeg, MB in April 2007.

The first-ever IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship will feature 20 games over six days, capped off with the gold medal game on Saturday, January 12th at 7:45 p.m. MT at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena. Eight teams – Canada, the USA, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Germany, Switzerland and the Czech Republic – are set to take part.

For more information on the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship and the National Women’s Program, visit www.hockeycanada.ca.

Athletes group is slipping into a grey territory.

The Toronto Sun- Canada’s highly respected athlete advocacy organization, AthletesCAN, announced this week that it has eliminated its CEO position and is down to a staff of three after Sport Canada slashed its funding by more than half.

Established in 1992, AthletesCAN represents athletes from all of Canada’s national teams, including Aboriginal, Paralympic, Pan American Games, Olympic and Commonwealth sports. It educates athletes about issues such as contracts, funding, use of their images and team selection.

But because most of its work is hard to quantify, and doesn’t directly lead to medals or other tangible outcomes, the organization flopped last year in a performance assessment by Sport Canada.

So, what kind of message is being communicated when the voice of Canadian athletes receives a huge funding cut? « Objectively, we didn’t rate well, but that indicates the evaluation tool is inadequate for assessing the impact, importance and reach of an organization like AthletesCAN, » said its president, Claire Carver-Dias, an Olympic synchronized swimmer. « This cut could damage the progress athletes have made in ensuring a more responsive and fair sport system. »

Starting this year, AthletesCAN’s yearly budget of approximately $650,000 will decrease every year and dip below $300,000 by 2010. The Sport Funding and Accountability Framework is the process used by Canadian Heritage to identify which organizations are eligible for Sport Canada contributions. AthletesCAN was compared to other multi-sport organizations such as those advocating for coaches or women in sport. All organizations are judged on how they fulfil the priority of the Canadian Sport Policy, which is to enhance participation and excellence in sport.

And according to Sport Canada, more is expected of AthletesCAN. « AthletesCAN is an organization that is still developing, » said Roger Ouellette, director of sport programs for Sport Canada. « I think it’s a matter of the number of things that they actually do. If they do more, then there is more that can be measured. The message is they are (still) being supported, because they are providing a valid role, and they should continue to work in that direction. »

AthletesCAN’s main project is its yearly Forum, a networking and educational weekend for athlete representatives, with Whitehorse, in the Yukon, playing host in September to the 2007 gathering. This year’s theme—Leaders for Life—celebrated contributions of athlete leaders past and present and looked at the varied and many roles of leadership. Those are fuzzy concepts to grade.

« How do you quantify the forum beyond the fact that we bring in 50 athlete representatives? » asked AthletesCAN senior leader Jasmine Northcott. « How do you quantify the discussion and work and feedback that they are doing on their end? We certainly don’t want our relevancy in the system to be questioned by Sport Canada. But the (assessment) tool hasn’t worked in our favour and we need to re-examine that tool. »

Nearly 3,500 Chinese named ‘Olympics,’ others share moniker with mascots.

The Canadian Press - BEIJING _ The upcoming Beijing Olympics is more than just a point of pride for China _ it’s such an important part of the national consciousness that nearly 3,500 children have been named for the event.

Most of the 3,491 people with the name “Aoyun,” meaning Olympics, were born around the year 2000, as Beijing was bidding to host the 2008 Summer Games, the Beijing Daily reported, citing information from China’s national identity card database. The vast majority of people named Aoyun are male, the newspaper said.

Names related to the Olympics don’t just stop with “Olympics.” More than 4,000 Chinese share their names with the Beijing Games mascots, the “Five Friendlies.” The names are Bei Bei (880 people), Jing Jing (1,240), Huan Huan (1,063), Ying Ying (624) and Ni Ni (642). When put together, the phrase translates to “Beijing welcomes you!”

Chinese have increasingly turned to unique names as a way to express a child’s individuality. In a country with a population of 1.3 billion, 87 percent share the same 129 family names.

Aerialist Blais helps athletics pay; Come Fly With Me program gives money to grassroots Grande Prairie amateurs.

The Edmonton Journal - EDMONTON - Come fly with me, said Ryan Blais, and the people of his hometown of Grande Prairie and area have jumped on board.
The two-time World Cup gold-medal aerialist with the Canadian freestyle ski team founded the Come Fly With Me Foundation earlier this year with the goal of raising $200,000 by the 2010 Olympics for an endowment fund to support amateur athletes in Grande Prairie.

About $6,000 was raised at a sports memorabilia auction last week, pushing the total past the halfway mark. “When I launched the foundation, I set what I thought was a fairly big goal, trying to reach $200,000 by 2010,” said the 28-year-old, who’s been on the national team for seven years. “I didn’t know if it would be possible. To reach $100,000 in less than a year is fairly significant. I think it means we can definitely get to the $200,000 or above by 2010.” Blais, who missed most of the 2004-05 season with a knee injury and much of last year with a shoulder problem, launched the program with $10,000 out of his own bank account.

The local Canadian Tire store jumped on board with $50,000 over four years and Canada Post, the sponsor of the national team, kicked in $10,000. “I put in $10,000 because I wanted to have an immediate impact on local athletes,” he explained. “I went through that period where I couldn’t afford to pay the bills when I was on the provincial team, and before that. I was lucky enough that at an early age I went around to the community ... and learned a hard lesson, getting doors slammed in my face. But you learn how to make people feel good about supporting young athletes.

“Now I’m trying to turn that around, not to support myself, but for the young atletes. They’re still in the same situation I was. At the national level we’re supported pretty well ... but it hasn’t gone down to the grassroots development level.” He’s also collected more than $160,000 in service gifts being used to promote the program, local athletic events, the sponsors and the athletes who are being assisted.

He set 2010 as the date because that’s the Winter Olympics in Vancouver-Whistler and the profile of winter amateur sports will be much higher in the years leading to the Games. “I’ve committed on my part to really drive this foundation up to the 2010 Olympics. There’s a chance for me to use my profile to really put a spotlight on the foundation in those years. “Then, of course, after 2010 I’ll more than likely retire.”

The first five recipients are speed skaters Lucas McMahon and Ryan Schoorlemmer, squash player Patrick Bedore, swimmer Andrew Poznikoff and shooter Elizabeth Gustafson. Bedore and McMahon each received $1,000, Poznikoff $700, Gustafson $500 and Schoorlemmer $250.

The funds are administered by the Community Foundation of Greater Grande Prairie, which helped Blais figure out how to set up Come Fly With Me. Now he’s used that same template to help teammate Kristi Richards set up a similar program in her Penticton, B.C., hometown.

He hopes to fine-tune the template and make it available through the Community Foundations of Canada for other athletes looking for ways to help their local amateur athletes or charitable causes.

His foundation has also partnered with the Alberta Sports Development Centre to help pay the cost for young athletes to use the services of the four centres, and with the Grande Prairie volunteer bureau. “The second goal of the foundation is to get athletes involved in the community,” he said. “For them to recognize that the grants they are receiving come from the community.” More information on the foundation can be found on the website www.comeflywithme.ca.

When you have 5 minutes...

Bill Maher - Funny but true comments about “Health” care.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHXXTCc-IVg