Canada second in men’s competition at short rack speed skating team worlds.
(Canadian Sport News)

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia- Canada won the silver medal in men’s competition on Sunday while the women were fourth at the world team championships in short track speed skating.

In men’s competition, South Korea won the gold medal totalling 32 points with Canada, the defending champions second at 28. Italy was third at 18 and China fourth at 15.

The title came down to the relay final relay with Canada represented by Jonathan Guilmette of Montreal, Charles Hamelin of Ste-Julie, Que., Jean-François Monette of Pointe-aux-Trembles, Que., and Mathieu Turcotte of Sherbrooke, Que., finishing second.

In the individual events, Guilmette earned the most points for Canada placing first in his 1,000-metre heat and second in his 500 and 3,000 races. Hamelin won his 500 and was second in his 1,000, Turcotte was second in his 500 while Monette and Steve Robillard of Montreal were both second in their respective 1,000 races.

‘’Our objective was to win the gold medal,’’ said Robillard, a national team rookie. ‘’The guys had a very good relay race and it came down to the last
exchange. This is an interesting format because it’s not a long competition. We only do each race once and in couple of hours everything’s done. I think a lot of skaters used it as a preparation for the individual worlds (next week).’’

In the team event, there are heats in the 500, 1,000 and 3,000 metres and a relay. There is a skater from each country in each heat. The winner in each heat earns five points for his country, second place three, third place two and fourth place one. Points are doubled in the relay.

South Korea also won the women’s event with 47 points, China was second at 37, Italy third at 22 and Canada fourth at 15. It was the same order of finish as last year.

Amélie Goulet-Nadon of Laval, Que., was Canada’s top point getter with second in her 500, third in her 1,000 and fourth in her 3,000. Amanda Overland of Kitchener, Ont., was third in her 1,000 while Alana Kraus of Abbotsford, B.C., and Tania Vicent of Montreal both posted two fourth place finishes.

The Canadian relay was also fourth with Overland, Goulet-Nadon, Kraus and Anouk Leblanc-Boucher of Montreal.

Calgary’s Grant Golding best Canadian at Jurassic Classic gymnastics competition.

CALGARY- Grant Golding of Calgary and Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs of Sport Seneca in Toronto were the big winners this weekend at the 10th annual Jurassic Classic gymnastics competition.

Golding, a three-time world championship team member, won the men’s all around title and added victories on floor and rings. In addition he helped Canada defeat the U.S., for the first time in team competition at the event.

In the all around standings, Golding finished ahead of Brett McClure, a member of the U.S., team at the past two world championships, second, while David Kikuchi of Halifax was third.

On floor, Golding was first with McClure second and Casey Sandy of Burlington, Ont., third. On rings, Golding took first spot with Kikuchi second and David Durante of the U.S., third.

‘’Right now I’m just enjoying the competition and a medal is the icing on the cake,’’ said Golding, who won all around gold at an international meet last month in Portugal. ‘’I have a better perspective on things and I accentuate the positive. I feel that explains the recent success.’’

In the other men’s finals: on pommel horse, Ken Ikeda of Abbotsford, B.C., was first, his brother Richard Ikeda second and McClure third; on vault, Adam Wong of Calgary was first, Todd Thornton of the U.S., second and Ken Ikeda third; on parallel bars, McClure was first, Golding second and Durante third; and on high bar, Thornton was first, Jeltkov second and McClure third.

Wong, Kikuchi, Golding and Jeltkov scored 164.00 against McClure, Thornton and Durante with 162.775 to win the team event.

In other gymnastic news, Brandon O’Neill of Edmonton earned one of the most important international results of his career on Sunday as he won the bronze medal on men’s floor at a gymnastics World Cup competition in France.

O’Neil, 19, has been a rising star on the Canadian scene for several years. He won the junior all around national title in 2000 and joined the national team a year later when he won the Elite Canada competition. He was a member of Canada’s 2002 Commonwealth Games team and won gold on floor last year at the Pan Am Games. His goal this season is to compete at the Olympic Games in August.

Alexandre Despatie completes golden sweep at Grand Prix diving competition.
(Canadian Sport News)

ELECTROSAL, Russia- Alexandre Despatie of Laval, Que., upstaged his Russian and Chinese rivals once again to win the men’s 10-metre tower Sunday and complete a golden sweep at the third stop on the Grand Prix diving circuit.

It was Despatie’s second gold medal of the competition. On Friday he won the men’s three-metre springboard. At his previous international event this year, the FINA World Cup in Athens last month, he won gold on three-metre and bronze on tower.

‘’I’m limiting my errors and my diving is very consistent,’’ said Despatie, 18, the reigning world champion on tower. ‘’That’s very promising because this is the list I plan to use at the Olympics. Every time I go out I just try to make every dive better.’’

Despatie’s coach Michel Larouche of Montreal’s CAMO Club says it’s important for his star pupil to compete often.

‘’We’re trying to put Alexandre in more intense situations in his Olympic preparation,’’ said Larouche. ‘’So that’s why he’s competing as often as he can. Training at home can get a little quiet sometimes. So I think he came here and showed the Russians, one of our mains rivals in the sport, that he’ll be a force at the Olympics.’’

Also on tower, Nicholas Leblanc of Montreal was eliminated in the semifinal and Christopher Kalec of Montreal eliminated in the preliminaries.

On Saturday, Blythe Hartley of North Vancouver, B.C., now based in Montreal, won silver on women’s three-metres.

March 25 – 28 will see Dive Calgary host the Canadian Senior Winter National Diving Championships at the Talisman Centre. Competitors will include World Champions Alex Despatie, Emilie Heymans and Blythe Hartley. Admission is $5 at the door. Visit www.divecalgary.ca for more information.

Olympic champ sprints to silver medal at World Cup Finals in Italy.
(CODA Release)

Pragelato, ITA-Canada's Beckie Scott added a sliver lining to her season, saving her best performance for last on Friday, finishing second in a cross-country ski sprint competition at the World Cup Finals in Pragelato, Italy, the race site for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.

The performance was the first podium result of the year for Scott, and bumped her into sixth-place in the overall World Cup sprint standings for the 2003-04 campaign, the highest she has ever finished in her career. "This is a great way to end the season, and I am happy it all came together today," said Scott, who has been making a steady climb to the podium over the past two months with consistent top-10 finishes and a fourth-place result last week. "I was determined to finish the season on a high note."

In the final, Scott had a rematch from last-weeks fourth-place result with overall World Cup leader Marit Bjoergen, of Norway. Bjoergen and Scott quickly separated themselves from the other two racers in the final with the Canadian speedster leading the first half in the race for gold, only to come up short by two-one-hundredths of a second in the end.

"It came down to the wire but I just didn't have enough to get the job done," said Scott. "Marit has been a clear winner all season long and nobody has challenged her. I'm glad that I was the person who stepped up and was able to give her a run today."

Joining Bjoergen and Scott on the podium was Elina Hietamaeki-Pienimaeki, of Finland, who won the dash for third over Claudia Kuenzel, of Germany. Canada's Sara Renner, of Canmore, Alta., and Milaine Theriault, of St. Quentin, N.B., both failed to qualify for the finals, finishing 21st and 39th respectively.

Christine Nordhagen continues to dominate world wrestling circuit.
(www.christinenordhagencom)

March 15th, 2004
Christine Wins Klippan Cup in Klippan Sweden.

For the second straight weekend Christine had 5 straight victories enroute to the Gold medal at this international tournament:

All three victories in her pool vs Sweden, Germany, and Czech Republic were by technical falls. (11-0, 10-0, 10-0) In the Semi Finals she faced Katie Downing of the USA and pinned her in the first round. In the final she faced Alena Starodubtseva of Russia. Christine controled the entire bout and won by a score of 7-1. The Russian team dominated the tournament placing 8 athletes in the finals. The team has a great amount of respect for Christine and gave her a round of appause following the match.

Christine is enroute to Canada today, for a well deserved short break. While Todd Hinds, myself, Lyndsay Belisle, and Tonya Verbeek are leaving Sweden heading to the final olympic qualifier on Wednesday. The event is in Madrid Spain, which likely be a little more intense given the state of things there at the moment.

Thanks for checking out the website (www.christinenordhagen.com) and again for all the great support.

Wish us luck! The girls look ready!

Leigh Vierling - Head Coach

Ottawa biathlete Robin Clegg concludes best season of his career at World Cup.
(Canadian Sport News)

HOLMENKOLLEN, Norway-Robin Clegg of Ottawa ended the best season of his career on Saturday with a 22nd place finish in the men’s 12.5 kilometre pursuit at the biathlon World Cup final.

Clegg, a member of the 2002 Olympic team, once again showed his strength in the shooting range missing only two of 20 targets for 22nd spot 3:05.9 behind the winner. "I was totally bagged today,’’ said Clegg, 26, who is
based in Canmore, Alta. ‘’But I kept shooting well so I didn’t do too much damage.’’

On Thursday, Clegg, posted the best World Cup result of his career placing 19th in the 10 kilometre sprint. Last month he was 18th at the world championships in the 20 kilometre, his best result at a major international competition.

Those results are remarkable considering he missed two month of training in the fall due to a foot injury. ‘’I didn’t think I would make it all the way to the World Cup final,’’ said Clegg. ‘’The missed training can really affect the length of your season. I was pretty impressed with myself to make it this far and I’m definitely looking forward to next year.’’

It’s been an uplifting 2003-2004 season for the Canadian biathlon program.

In addition to Clegg’s breakthrough results, national team rookie Zina Kocher of Canmore, Alta., pocketed her first top-10 finish at a World Cup in December. And at the world junior championships last month, Jean-Philippe Le Guellec of Shannon, Que., won a gold and two silver in youth competition becoming Canada’s first ever male world champion in the sport.

‘’We’re a young team and every one is progressing very well,’’ said Clegg. ‘’It’s nice to be up there in the standings. Hopefully we can get a World Cup event in Canada soon and raise the profile of our sport and get more youngsters interested."

Canada's Jasey-Jay Anderson wins fourth straight overall world cup snowboarding title.
(CODA Release)

Bardonecchia, ITA-Canada's Jasey-Jay Anderson received the crystal globe on Sunday after winning his fourth consecutive overall World Cup snowboard title, while riding to an eighth-place finish in the parallel giant slalom event at World Cup Finals in Bardonecchia, Italy.

"This was a very difficult season, and I guess I deserve the award after working and travelling so much," said the Mont Tremblant, Que. native. "I started the season off perfectly with two podium results and managed to add four more medals along the way. This is a strong circuit and it means a lot considering the talent of the other riders."

The 28-year-old, who competed in all major alpine disciplines including snowboardcross, collected a total of six medals during the 2003-04 campaign. Anderson's list of podium results includes one gold in snowboardcross, two silver- and two gold medals in parallel giant slalom and one silver medal in parallel slalom.

Drew Neilson, of Vernon, B.C., finished third in the overall World Cup standings after adding a gold- and bronze-medal to his name during the final month of competition.

While Anderson did win the overall title, he had a difficult time on the 2006 Olympic track in Italy on Sunday, finishing eighth after being knocked out in the quarter-finals of the elimination round. Jérôme Sylvestre of Bromont, Que., was the only other Canadian male entered and finished 22nd.

Alexa Loo, of Richmond, B.C. led the charge for the Canadian women. Coming off her best result ever last week, Loo finished 23rd. Constance Boisvert, of Quebec City, also suited up for Canada and finished 29th.

Complete results at http://www.csf.ca

In the news: Women in Afghanistan return to sports, with eye on Olympic Games.
(CP Wire)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ At Afghanistan's national stadium, girls in black
outfits line the concrete running track, practising kung fu kicks. Nearby,
others play basketball in jeans and headscarfs.

After suffering through war and Taliban repression, young Afghan women and girls are returning to sports. This summer, at least one novice athlete will realize a dream that would have been scoffed at just four years ago:
competing at the Olympics. Robina Muqimyar, a 17-year-old high school student who runs the 100 metres, won't win a medal. Her best time is more than three seconds off the world record. But merely crouching in the starting blocks during the Aug. 13-29 Olympics will be a triumph for a country nursing the wounds of decades of conflict and where many religious conservatives still object to female athletes.

``If women take part in the Olympics, it shows this country is progressing,'' said Neema Soratgar, a women's sports activist who is expected to carry the Afghan flag at the opening ceremony in Athens. The Islamic country's gradual return to international competition was heralded at track and field's world championships in Paris last August, when Lima Azimi competed in the 100 metres. Wearing long, baggy pants and unsure how to use the starting blocks, Azimi finished last in 18.37 seconds, seven seconds behind the winner.

Soratgar, a volleyball and basketball player, used to run secret exercise classes for women during the Taliban era _ moving to the rhythm of music
that was also banned by the fundamentalist Islamic regime. She has been at the forefront of restarting women's sports clubs since the Taliban was ousted by U.S.-led forces in late 2001. Within weeks the Taliban's fall, Soratgar was running exercise sessions for housewives at a high school gym.

``Rejoining the Olympic movement is an important part of Afghanistan being a proper country again,'' added Stig Traavik, who competed for Norway in judo at the 1992 Games and now advises the Afghan National Olympic Committee.

Some families still frown on their daughters' playing sports, but track and
field, volleyball, basketball, gymnastics and martial arts are gaining in
popularity.

On a spring day at the stadium, where the soccer field is scarred by the
memory of public executions under Taliban rule, 18 girls do kung fu moves
under their trainer's watch. Green belt Rahima Hosseni, 14, who got interested in kung fu as a refugee in Iran, pirouettes and punches the air.
``It might seem strange to some men that I do kung fu, but I don't care,''
said Khadija Shuja-ee, 18. She's a trainee policewoman and said she took up kung fu four months ago to learn how to protect herself. ``The situation is a lot better now than it was under the Taliban,'' she said.

Still, there are those who object.
Abdul Matin Mutasem Bilal, a mullah at Kabul's Abu Bakar Sidiq Mosque, said
no Afghan women should go to the Olympics, arguing that the strict Islamic
dress code requires that all but a woman's hands, feet and face be covered. ``When I tell you that her neighbour shouldn't see all her face, how should thousands of foreigners, non-Muslims, in a big stadium, be allowed to see her body?'' he said.

Zia Dashti, the Afghan Olympic committee's vice-president, is sensitive to
such concerns. ``We don't care so much about the headscarf, but wearing a tracksuit is important. A woman athlete cannot show her legs,'' he said. ``If that happens, mullahs will complain that we are sending women to run without clothes.''

Afghanistan, which has never won an Olympic medal, was banned from the 2000 Sydney Olympics because the Taliban regime outlawed women from sports. The country participated in the 1996 Atlanta Games, but years of war robbed its athletes of most training facilities. Traavik said Afghanistan sports authorities don't have complete records, but it appears that no Afghan woman has appeared at the Olympics, although a generation ago, it was a relatively liberal society where women took part in sports. ``Twenty-five years ago, Afghanistan was not what it is now,'' said Aqala Shirzad, 46, a physical education teacher at a Kabul high school. ``We were able to compete freely.''

Greek premier-elect takes personal responsibility for Olympic readiness.
(CP Wire)

ATHENS (AP) _ Greece's new premier took personal control Tuesday of Athens' troubled Olympic preparations, appointing himself the government's point man on the games.

Announcing his new cabinet, Costas Caramanlis said he would lead the culture ministry, which is in charge of building and renovating numerous venues for the games, including a much-delayed project to build a roof over the Olympic Stadium.

His decision reflected the urgency about completing work before the Aug.
13-29 games. But it also posed a risk: any further delays will taint the
first conservative premier in 11 years. Authorities have struggled to overcome years of delays and other problems in preparations. Athens organizers would not comment on the move.

A major Olympic security drill led by Greek and U.S. forces was scheduled
for Wednesday, including ``catastrophic scenarios'' such as radiation from a
so-called ``dirty bomb,'' police said. The two-week exercise will be the new government's first real taste of the enormous planning that has gone into Olympic security, which has a record budget of more than $800 million. The exercise, which will include about 400 U.S. troops, will gauge Greece's ability to safeguard the Olympics and respond to crises such as hijackings
or mass casualties. It also aims to test political readiness and the new
premier may be called in to participate.

An International Olympic Committee delegation led by IOC president Jacques
Rogge was expected in Athens on Saturday. The committee had long urged the Socialists, ousted in elections Sunday, to streamline decision-making to
keep pace with tight deadlines. There were reports that Caramanlis considered Athens Organizing Committee chief Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki for the culture ministry post, or creating a special Olympics ministry.

Caramanlis, who leads the New Democracy party, reneged on a pledge that his government would be significantly smaller than the Socialist cabinet of 19 ministries and 50 officials. His cabinet, which will be sworn in Wednesday, includes 19 ministries and 46 officials. It also includes just two women: Fani Palli-Petralia in the post of deputy culture minister and Marietta Giannakou as education minister.

Caramanlis had promised to forge a government mostly made up of people from "my generation.'' But some of the key posts were given to party veterans.

Ed Whalen’s Drive for KidSport!

For the entire month of April, KidSport Calgary calls out to Calgarians to clean out their garages and pockets for Calgary and area kids! When you give to KidSport - you’re helping to keep kids in need busy, active and healthy.

KidSport helps overcome the financial obstacles that prevent some young people from participating in sport programs and provides funding for registration fees and sport equipment for approved applicants.

Before his passing, local sport icon, Ed Whalen was an enormous force behind the annual Drive for KidSport. KidSport now asks the people of Calgary and surrounding areas to get involved and carry on Ed’s legacy in supporting all kids’ access to active and healthy lifestyles through sports.

“The KidSport program is an excellent resource for hundreds of families in our city. In a time of rising costs of living, and reports of increasing health issues among Canada’s kids, many local families are facing a crisis situation. KidSport is here to help keep children active and provides an essential service, while the families we help get back on their feet.” says KidSport Calgary’s Chair Ken Newans.

KidSport Calgary has experienced a 40% rate of growth in the number of kids who accessed their program in last five years. Though all of the help given by the community last year was greatly appreciated, KidSport needs a great deal of quality equipment and monetary donations to ensure the assistance for kids continues to be available.

To date, KidSport Calgary has helped more than 7100 local kids and distributed over $1,121,000.00 across Calgary and area. KidSport funding is for children from low-income families and residents of Calgary, Airdrie, Chestermere, Turner Valley, High River, Strathmore and Okotoks or within a 50 km radius from Calgary are eligible to apply.

KidSport would like to thank Sport Swap and Global Television for helping to make this Drive possible every year. Sport Swap’s three locations in the city accept any new and used sport equipment on behalf of KidSport Calgary year round. So throughout April’s Drive, just bring your gear to a location near you. Sport Swap is located at Southland and Elbow Drive, in the Northeast just South of Sunridge Mall, and downtown on the corner of 6th Street and 11th Avenue.

As well, watch Global Television for information on Ed Whalen’s Drive for KidSport! Together we can make a difference in hundreds of kids’ lives!

For more information or to donate, call 202-0251 or visit www.kidsport.ca.