Canada's Sarah Charles wins gold at World Cup trampoline and tumbling competition.
(Canadian Sport News)

MOSCOW- World champion Sarah Charles of Kelowna, B.C., won the gold medal in women’s double mini trampoline on Saturday while Matt Eldridge of Toronto added a bronze in men’s comeptition at a World Cup trampoline and tumbling meet.

‘’It was definitely one of my best performances,’’ said Charles, 18. ‘’I added some difficulty to my routine since the worlds and that went very well. I certainly felt a little bit more pressure as world champion because before worlds no one knew who I was.’’

Julie Warnock of Calgary also reached the finals and placed eighth.

In men’s double mini trampoline, Evgeni Kolokolytsev led Russia to a 1-2 finish followed by Stanislav Pokroev. Eldridge, 18, made an impressive international debut at the senior level finishing third just ahead of Denis Vachon of Burlington, Ont., in fourth.

‘’I had some trouble in prelims but I was really happy with my final,’’ said Eldridge, a silver medallist last year at the world junior championships. ‘’I stuck my dismount perfectly and the whole presentation went well. I felt very comfortable in the competition even though I was facing the very best in the sport for the first time.’’

In tumbling, Vachon reached the men’s final placing fifth while Cole Roycroft of Calgary was 16th and David Cowen of Edmonton 18th. In women’s tumbling, Emily Smith of Burlington was seventh in the final and Neisha Davis of Toronto was 11th.

In trampoline, Jason Burnett of Toronto was 14th, Eldridge 38th and Charles Thibault of Quebec City 47th in men’s competition while Brenna Casey of Toronto was 23rd and Heather McManus of Ottawa 32nd for the women.
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In synchronized trampoline, Eldridge and Burnett were 15th.

A Hard Road to Athens: A top gymnast pays the price to achieve her dream.
(BRIAN BERGMAN - Macleans Magazine)

KYLIE STONE doesn't look like a giant. But in gymnastics, that's what the five-foot-three, 125-lb. Calgary native is shaping up to be. At last year's world championships in Anaheim, Calif., Kylie placed 14th all around, the highest-ever ranking by a female Canadian gymnast.

Now, Kylie, who turns 17 on May 16, is hoping to represent Canada this August at the Summer Games in Athens (the team will be named after trials in July). Performing at that level requires single-minded dedication, especially in a sport in which athletes reach their peak during their teens and one shot at Olympic glory is often all they get. For years, Kylie has juggled school while maintaining a gruelling training regimen, five hours a day, six days a week -- sacrificing many of the normal rhythms of adolescence.

At the same time, Kylie has been luckier than most. For the past two years, she's attended the Calgary-based National Sport School. Run jointly by the Calgary Olympic Development Association and the Calgary Board of Education, the year-round school gives 110 elite athletes from more than a dozen sports an opportunity to finish high school while meeting their training and competition commitments. Class sizes are small, homework deadlines are negotiable and tutorial and on-line services allow Kylie to keep up when she's on the road by e-mailing teachers and using Web-based learning materials.

While that flexibility helps, the challenges facing high-performance athletes remain daunting. Consider this day-in-the-life of someone on the cusp of Olympic stardom.

9 A.M. I join Kylie and her father, Jeff Stone, for breakfast at their home in northwest Calgary. Kylie's still wiping sleep from her eyes. Jeff cooks scrambled eggs, which she washes down with strawberry-kiwi juice. Her diet is hardly the stuff of teenage dreams. "You have to avoid the junk food," says Jeff. "She gets very little pop -- maybe once a week. And the odd chocolate bar as a treat, though never a full-sized one." Kylie is allowed one indulgence: ketchup on her scrambled eggs.

Jeff is a single dad (Kylie's his only child) whose work as a realtor gives him the flexibility to drive his daughter to and from school and the gym. As she eats her eggs, he explains how he enrolled her at age 5 in a recreational gymnastics program after watching her tumbling around the floor at home. A natural, Kylie was soon placed in a pre-competitive program and began competing at age 9 (the earliest age possible in Alberta).

After winning the junior nationals in Saint John in 2001, Kylie set her sights on the Olympics. Which meant, of course, stepping up her training another notch. Does she ever feel like she's giving up too much for her sport? "Not really," she says. "I don't see friends that often. But we have Sundays off and I try to get together with them then."

10:30 A.M. Jeff drops Kylie off at Ernest Manning High School, where the National Sport School occupies one wing. Her first class is on career and life management, something the Grade 11 student is thinking a lot about these days. American universities are lining up to offer her athletic scholarships; she is leaning toward UCLA or University of Utah. She's not sure yet what she wants to study -- maybe psychology. Once at university, she will have less opportunity to compete internationally, another reason Athens is such a singular opportunity for her. "It's hard to go on scholarship and then get back into Olympic mode," says Kylie. After all, she notes, training at the university level consists of "only" 22 hours a week.

11:30 A.M. Between classes, Kylie has a brief session with sports psychologist Clare Fewster. These talks are becoming more frequent as the Olympics approach. They discuss ways Kylie can maintain her confidence between performances -- in the overall event, she competes in four events: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor. This is particularly crucial if things aren't going well. Fewster tells her to remember great performances of the past, the support she has from coaches, friends and family -- anything to stay positive. Kylie admits she gets down on herself when she doesn't perform as well as she'd like. "But I'm getting better," she says. "I'm learning to focus on the next event rather than reliving the last one."

Fewster acknowledges there's really no way to prepare for the pressure. To help manage the stress, she urges athletes to imagine all possible outcomes. "We often start with the worst that could happen," says Fewster. "An injury? How would you feel about that? Or what about if everything goes perfectly? In Kylie's case, that could be a gold medal; it's not out of the question. It's important to have that golden carrot out there, but it can't be the sole focus."

12 P.M. Over the next two hours, Kylie attends physics and French classes. National Sport School principal Rick Pressé says that, even among her peers, Kylie faces unusual pressures. The school attracts mainly winter athletes (short track speed skater Alanna Kraus and freestyle skier Deidra Dionne, both Olympic bronze medalists, are among its alumni), and most don't compete internationally until their 20s. "It's different for Kylie," says Pressé. "Her time is now."

2 P.M. Jeff takes Kylie home for some downtime. She watches Trading Spaces on TV.

3:30 P.M. Kylie arrives at the Stampede City Gymnastics Club. Since she was 5, she's been coached by Romanian-born, husband-and-wife Horia and Stephania Iliesu. "From the beginning," says Horia, "she was physically strong, willing to try anything and always, always, working hard. That's the key. A hard worker will survive -- and succeed."

Over the next five hours, Kylie runs through her daily drill. Warm-up and conditioning followed by partial and full routines in all four gymnastic events. She's surrounded by up to two dozen girls, some as young as 6, all going through their own paces but keeping a watchful eye on the star in their midst. "Kylie's so good with the young ones," says Stephania. "I ask them, 'How far do you want to go?' And they reply, 'As far as Kylie!'"

Kylie's workout is strenuous and invigorating. She smiles more often now than she has for the rest of the day. Her talent is dazzling, whether it's a flurry of tumbles and flips on the mat or twists and somersaults on the bars. But toward the end, as she repeats again and again a kind of high-wire ballet on the beam, Kylie is upset with herself. Stephania explains that one of Kylie's ankles, wrapped in a bandage, is sore, so she's not landing as she'd like. "This is how she is," says Stephania. "I've seen her so frustrated, there will be tears in her eyes. But she always keeps trying."

9 P.M. Kylie arrives home for dinner -- a large mixed green salad with shaved cheese on top, and another strawberry-kiwi juice. Ahead is some homework and a bit of TV or computer chatting with friends. At 11 p.m., it's lights out, in the hopes of nine solid hours of sleep. Tomorrow, it all begins again.

COC standards not up to snuff: Canada's top athletes may fail to qualify for Athens Olympic team.
( Steve Buffery/CanSport News)

The Canadian Olympic Committee has a reputation for being insensitive, inflexible ... a sleeping elephant. But of enough of its good qualities.

In imposing its qualifying standards on Canadian athletes attempting to compete at this summer's Athens Games, the COC should consider this one point: If the current qualifying standards were in place four years ago, Simon Whitfield would not have competed for Canada at the Sydney Olympics. And can you imagine how dismal the Sydney Games would have been for the Canadian team if not for Whitfield's inspiring gold-medal performance in the triathlon?

Heading into Sydney, Whitfield was ranked 13th in the world. Fortunately, at that time, the COC's qualifying standards were based on being ranked in the top 16 in the world in order to qualify for Olympic Games. They've been tightened up now. In order to qualify for Athens, Canadian athletes have to be ranked in the top 12 in the world.

That is causing extreme anguish for a number of deserving Canadian athletes and Canadian sports federations.

In at least two sports, Canadian athletes have met international federation standards and International Olympic Committee standards to compete in Athens. But because these athletes have not met Canadian Olympic Committee standards, they are being prevented from competing in Athens. Greg Mathieu, executive director of the Canadian Amateur Wrestling Association, has no stake in the current qualifying controversy between the COC and a group of Canadian athletes, such as boxers, attempting to compete in Athens. You could say that he's neutral in this debate.

Canadian wrestlers did well enough in Sydney to merit a slightly different set of qualifying standards for Athens. Mathieu said because his wrestling team did well in Sydney, Canadian wrestlers could qualify for Athens if they met international amateur wrestling federation standards.

But the results in Sydney were not as good for the boxing and table tennis and, as a result, Canadian athletes in those sports now have to prove to the COC that they are ranked in the top 12 in the world -- even if they have met the qualifying standards set by their international federation and the IOC.

The boxing team had only qualified two fighters for Athens prior to the final qualifying tournament in Rio de Janeiro two weeks ago. In Rio, three Canadian boxers finished first or second and, in doing so, met the International Amateur Boxing Association standard for Athens.

But guess what? The COC has said they won't be able to go because, prior to the Rio tournament, Canadian boxers, other than the two who had previously qualified, had proven to the COC that they are not ranked in the top 12 in the world. As of now, the COC does not recognize the Rio results. The COC and Canadian boxing federation are still in negotiations.

TOUGHER GO OF IT
This point should also be made. Sprinters and boxers and wrestlers have a much tougher go of it at international competitions, including Olympic qualifying tournaments, than swimmers, canoeists and yachtsmen because there are many more countries that compete in those sports at a high level. Poor countries will enter quality sprinters and boxers at an Olympic Games. Poor countries don't have a lot of swimmers or quality yachtsmen.

The COC should take that into consideration when setting up top 12 standards. It's tougher for a boxer to earn a top 12 world ranking than a yachtsman. Not to take anything away from the yachtsman, but that's just the way it is. Mathieu said that he understands why the COC would impose tough standards for Olympic Games, but he believes that any athlete who meets international standards should be able to compete at the Olympics.

"We're not talking about a lot of people here, a few boxers, shooters, some athletes from table tennis. Maybe 15-20 athletes," Mathieu said. "We're going through all of this debate and acrimony over 15-20 athletes? The bottom line is this. If a Canadian doesn't get to go to Athens, an athlete from another country will take his place."

Mathieu believes there is something fundamentally wrong with the COC locking horns with Canadian athletes and sport federations prior to every Olympics. "I don't think in this day and age, given how tough it is to qualify for Olympic Games, that the COC can make a strong argument for keeping Canadian athletes off the team -- athletes that have met international standards," Mathieu said.

You never know. There may be another Simon Whitfield out there, struggling to prove to the COC that they deserve to go to Athens.

IIHF looking at replay for future women's world championship hockey.
(The Leader-Post - Regina)

The International Ice Hockey Federation is considering implementing video replay at future women's world hockey championships after Canada's controversial 2-0 victory over the United States in the 2004 gold-medal game in Halifax.

There were rumblings after the game that the Americans had been ripped off when an apparent U.S. goal was not counted. And there was also debate over whether the whistle should have blown before one of Canada's goals. "We are pretty sure that after this incident, there will be discussion about upgrading all our world tournaments to the same level," IIHF spokesman Szymon Szemberg said Tuesday in Zurich. "We call it the video goal judge system."

The IIHF received fewer than 10 e-mail complaints -- all from Canadians -- but Szemberg said the IIHF is taking them seriously. The biggest controversy was over what looked like a sure goal from U.S. forward Natalie Darwitz. Television replays showed the puck entering the net and hitting the supports behind the crossbar, but -- with no replay at the Halifax Metro Centre -- play continued.

Canada's third-period goal by Delaney Collins was also open to debate. U.S. goaltender Pam Dreyer appeared to stop a shot and cover it with her glove, but Collins noticed the puck was loose and tapped it in to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

New book by Dick Pound sheds light on all-to-easy to believe Olympic scandals of the past.
The Gazette (Montreal)

Montrealers who remember the 1976 Olympic Games will feel a little sick at the news - all too easy to believe - that the perfect marks recorded by elfin Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci were rigged.

Dick Pound, long Canada's envoy to the global Olympics elite, reveals in a new book that the electrifying little 14-year-old was given the perfect marks on her gymnastic program as part of a corrupt bargain to mollify the Soviets. Comaneci was the best gymnast at the games, Pound recounts. The Soviets, who had a better team overall, worked out a deal by which all contestants' marks would be inflated; by the mathematics of the scoring, this assured Soviet hegemony at the team level; the by-product was a set of perfect marks for Comaneci.

The '76 Games were something of a shambles - we're still paying the construction bills - but Comaneci's perfection is one golden moment which has shone in our memories, cutting through all the waste and controversy. Now we learn now that the judging which led to little Nadia's magic was as tainted as the 2002 figure-skating scam which robbed Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of gold.

Pound writes that such perversions of sporting justice are close to convincing the world that "the Olympics are crooked." Doping scandals don't help, either. Can the Olympics be saved? Are Olympic ideals so dishonoured and hollow that only the gullible can share them? We would hate to think that: the Olympics, uniquely global, offer a vision of the future.

Pound and other Olympic whistleblowers have done the right thing in bringing forward this and other scandals. The games' central command needs to persevere in monitoring judging and drug use. Serious sanctions might help get the attention of governments which sponsor recidivist Olympic Committees. It is too early to despair.

Fund and Games: Are We Willing to Pay for Success? A Word About our Sponsors...
(The Toronto Sun - Jason Paul)
Series: Part 2 of 3

With the Athens Olympics just four months away, the debate over funding for amateur sports in Canada will intensify. In this three-part series, The Sun's Jason Paul looks at Canada's commitment to gold:
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With the Athens Olympics just four months away, the debate over funding for amateur sports in Canada will intensify.

World champion hurdler Perdita Felicien spent many hours pondering what her future would hold upon graduating from the University of Illinois this spring.

How would she support herself? How would she be able to have access to training facilities? How would she be able to afford to travel to top-level international meets?

That all changed after winning at the world track and field championships last August. Not only did she go on to be selected Canadian female athlete of the year but, most importantly, she attracted enough sponsorship to concentrate her time exclusively on training.

"I began to think about it, how I would handle (making ends meet). You hear the stories like not having enough to eat or finding places to stay and I was lucky not to have to worry about that," she said. "To become the best in the world is not the norm and doesn't happen to everyone, so I know I'm privileged."

Felicien, who hired former American hurdler and NFLer Renaldo Nehemiah as her agent, has secured two major sponsorship deals -- with Cheerios and Nike Canada -- and is financially secure through the 2008 Olympics.

"She hasn't been hard to sell at all," Nehemiah said. "She has benefited because she's not an American. We have a long history of great sprinters and hurdlers, so because she's the first Canadian (female) to win is a big deal and makes her a hot commodity."

Brampton high jumper Mark Boswell, who won a bronze at the worlds, has been Canada's top track and field performer for several years. He has not received the same financial windfall as Felicien, his sole sponsor being Nike Canada.

"I don't really worry about it, I just go out and jump,"said Boswell, who feels track and field may have scared off some companies because of past drug scandals. "It just seems like it's time to come out of the dark age and remove the dark cloud on track and field."

Boswell doesn't have a world championship to put on his resume to attract sponsors. Even an Olympic gold medal, though, doesn't necessarily equal big money.

Cross-country skier Beckie Scott, who won a bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics and subsequently had it upgraded to a gold when the first- and second-place finishers were stripped of their medals because of drug use, hasn't done as well as many expected. She has a deal with Haywood Securities, an investment company, for $30,000 annually, and another with Madshus, a ski equipment company, for $25,000 annually. That may sound like a lot for an athlete from a low-profile sport, but both companies already had a history of supporting cross-country and no other major corporations have come on board.

"You would have expected a lineup but we haven't see that," Cross Country Canada executive director Bruce Jeffries said. "Beckie Scott is one of the dominant female figures in amateur sport in Canada and if she's not getting a whole lot of business, who is? It's so tough in Canada that it seems like you have to do well in two successive Olympics before the private sector is willing to reward you."

Both Scott and Boswell hired Mississauga-based Landmark Sport Group, a marketing agency that handles about 15 amateur athletes. Despite being two of Canada's top athletes, neither has been an easy sell.

"It's definitely an uphill challenge and you hear more noes than yeses," said Adrian Sciarra, Landmark's director of corporate services. "A lot of it has to do with timing and how visible the sport is and what kind of value and opportunities a company can get back. Beckie has a unique story because she had to wait two years (for her gold medal) so there was an opportunity loss, but I think it will get better for her."

Former cycling Olympic-medal winner Curt Harnett, who is now promoting sport as the director of marketing and development for Sports Alliance of Ontario, might be more famous as a Pert Plus shampoo spokesman in 1992-93, a deal that was worth $30,000 over 18 months.

"I approached my career as a small business using a four-year plan for the Olympics to make sure my revenues would exceed my expenses," he said. "You've got a window of about six months before the Olympics and a month afterward to get some coverage."

An Olympic gold medal can be worth from $500,000 to $1 million depending on the sport, Sciarra said. It's not uncommon to have big-name amateur athletes cut six-figure sponsorship deals, about 10% the amount an American athlete might expect. Public-speaking engagements also have become another source of income with appearance fees ranging from $500 to $10,000.

The lack of sponsorship, though, for many high-performance athletes has forced some to look for opportunities elsewhere.

Long-distance runner Courtney Babcock of Chatham, who holds the Canadian records in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres, had her athletic career saved when a former NCAA coach in Missoula, Montana asked her to join the Mountain West Track Club, a non-profit athletes group. It has a stipend program that ranges from $6,000 to $14,000 US based on performance levels while supplying race gear, coaching, all-expenses-paid travel, medical support and accommodations. "I'm surprised more people don't inquire about these types of clubs," said Babcock, who finished eighth at the worlds in the 5,000 metres.

The former all-American tried to balance a full-time marketing job with training after graduating from the University of Michigan, but her career sputtered until moving to Montana. "If I hadn't gone to Missoula I don't know if I would still be running," Babcock, 31, said. "It's really hard to just live off of (government) carding."

The carding -- the Athlete Assistance Program -- is hardly chump change. The federal government contributed $15,108,514 Cdn to the AAP in the fiscal year of 2002-03.

High-performance athletes at the international level are eligible for funding of $1,100 a month tax-free. Potential "podium-bound international athletes" are eligible for development cards of $500 a month tax-free as well as tuition compensation of up to $10,000 a year.

Last year, 1,411 athletes (including Paralympic athletes) received federal funding under the AAP -- 830 had full funding and 581 had development cards. Of the 47 non-Paralympic sports on the list, the most recipients were in athletics (76), followed closely by rowing (69) and swimming (59). Some of the smallest recipients were snowboarding (five), triathlon (four), women's boxing (two) and weightlifting (one).

The number of cards awarded to each sport is based on past performances at world championships, Olympic Games and other international competitions. Each sport has its own eligibility selection process. There are also several other funds available:

- Canadian Olympic Committee Excellence Fund: Athletes ranked in the top five in the world receive an annual amount of $5,000.

- Team Investors Group Amateur Athletes Fund: Twenty bursaries of $5,000 are awarded each year (athletes with income greater than $50,000 are ineligible unless financial need is demonstrated).

- See You in Athens Fund: Individual athletes who apply receive $5,000, pairs $7,000 and teams $10,000.

- Dairy Farmers of Canada Pure Determination Fund: Twenty awards each year of $10,000 are handed out. Athletes are eligible if ranked sixth to 15th in the world, or sixth to 12th as a team member. Gross income cannot exceed $75,000.

National team athletes also are entitled to free cellphones from Bell Mobility, and in Ontario and Quebec they are offered free Internet access from Bell Sympatico.

Some athletes getting government assistance are able to make money in their circuits or leagues in sports such as men's basketball, curling, figure skating and track. This has raised the question why athletes get assistance if they make too much money.

Felicien, after winning at the worlds, gave her $5,000 cheque from the See You in Athens Fund to the next athlete on the list -- paddler James Cartwright-Garland of Ottawa. "I would like to find a role for myself so I can give back and make a difference," Felicien said. "With the infrastructure we have now it seems like athletes are left to defend themselves a lot. When you're out fundraising with bingos or bake sales, you just can't cover the costs."

The most recent high-performance athlete survey taken of those receiving carding, in 1996 and sponsored by Sport Canada, is pretty outdated but still telling. Respondents reported gross personal income of $19,710 and that they would require income of $49,000 before they would no longer require AAP support.

Advocacy group Athletes CAN is preparing a new study that will be completed in May.

Canadian Sport Centre Calgary launches Athens Olympics Website.

This section of our website has been developed in order to provide the sporting community with up to date and behind the scenes information on the 2004 Athens Summer Games as well as the athletes that will make up Team Canada.

The Athens section will feature everything you need to know including:
*Who has qualified so far
*Calgary contenders and profiles
*Team Canada coaches
*Review of what Canada did in Sydney
*An inside look at the competition venues
*Latest news updates on Athens

This summer the Olympic Games are returning to the place of their birth in Athens. Visit the Athens Web Section to find out more about Team Canada and the latest news on the 2004 Summer Olympics.