Canadian swimmers win medals in Europe and U.S.
(Canadian Sport News)

LONG BEACH, Calif.- Keith Beavers of Waterloo, Ont., and Mike Mintenko and Scott Dickens, both of Vancouver, all won silver medals Sunday to conclude the Janet Evans International swimming competition.

In the men’s 200 individual medley, Eric Shanteau of the U.S., prevailed in a meet record with Beavers earning his third medal this weekend. Adam Lucas of Australia was third and Brian Johns of Vancouver fourth. Beavers also won gold in the 200 backstroke and 400 individual medley this weekend.

In the men’s 100 butterfly, Michael Cavic of the U.S., was first while Mintenko and Josh Ilika of Mexico tied for second . Mintenko, the Canadian record holder, wasn’t pleased with his showing. ‘’It’s not where I wanted to be,’’ said Mintenko, fifth in the event at the 2000 Olympics. ‘’My last three meets I’ve had some tough races and I’ll probably look at trying some different tactics. I’m fighting hard but I’m not getting the results I want.’’

In the men’s 100 breaststroke, Mark Gangloff of the U.S., clocked a meet record for the gold medal. Dickens led at the turn and finished second at the finish while Jim Piper of the U.S., was third. Matthew Huang of Vancouver was eighth.

In the women’s 100 backstroke, world record holder Nathalie Coughlin of the U.S., took the gold with countrywoman Haley Cope second and Erin Gammel of Calgary third. Lauren Van Oosten of Calgary was seventh in the women’s 100 breaststroke while Lisa Blackburn of Waterloo won the event’s B final with the fourth best time of the night.

Last Thursday in Barcelona, Joanne Malar of Calgary posted a bronze medal in the women’s 400-metre individual medley to conclude the third stop on the Mare Nostrum swimming circuit. Yana Klochkova, the Olympic champion and world record holder, continued to be unbeatable taking the gold. Klochkova has won all six IM races on the Tour so far. ‘’I’m exhausted,’’ said Malar, who’ll be vying for a fourth trip to the Olympics at the upcoming trials In Toronto July 6-10. ‘’But it was a nice way to end this series of meets. To do these times consistently not rested is just great. Once I get rested for the trials, I’ll be able to go a lot faster.’’

Malar, who ended her retirement last May in order to pursue an Olympic berth, says she couldn’t have asked for a better lead-up to the trials than racing on the European circuit. ‘’You can’t beat the experience of racing someone like Klochkova and Caslaru every day in heats and finals,’’ said Malar. ‘’Sure my times are nothing to jump up and down about but it’s racing and that’s the best form of training.’’

Beckie Scott to receive Olympic gold medal on June 25th.
(CBC SPORTS ONLINE)

It's taken more than two years, but Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott is finally going to be presented with an Olympic gold medal.

Scott will accept her medal at a June 25 ceremony at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Charmaine Crooks, a former Canadian track star and current International Olympic Committee member, will present Scott with her award.
The event caps a lengthy saga in which a doping scandal caused Scott to climb two podium spots more than a year after she competed at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

The 29-year-old Scott became the first North American to capture a cross-country skiing Olympic medal by finishing third in the women's five-kilometre pursuit at the 2002 Games.

Scott was lifted into the silver-medal position and eventually into top spot after winner Olga Danilova and silver medallist Larissa Lazutina were both disqualified for doping offences.

Scott, who hails from Vermilion, Altla., received the silver medal at a ceremony last October. The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland then ruled in December that Scott should be upgraded to gold due to Danilova's infraction.

Both Danilova and Lazutina tested positive for darbepoetin, which enhances endurance by stimulating the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells.

Athlete Profile: Blythe Hartley appears as comfortable in front of a camera as she is on the diving board.
(The Vancouver Sun)

Blythe Hartley managed to keep a low profile at the 2000 Summer Olympics, finishing 10th in the three-metre springboard and safely out of the international media spotlight.

The North Vancouver-native won't be as lucky at the Summer Games in Athens; not after she dived head first into the Canadian conscious with a gold medal on the one-metre springboard at the 2001 world championships in Japan. Hartley knows her success three years ago, combined with a No. 2 world ranking today and expectations of an Olympic medal this summer, means more media focus in the coming months. She's ready, in large part because of the fallout following her world championship in 2001.

"After the worlds, there was a lot of media hype. I was like 'whoa, what's going on here?' just seeing my name in the paper," Hartley said during a stop in Vancouver this week to promote Diving Canada's new partnership with Ombrelle sun care products. "I was a lot younger and never really spoke to the media."

Now 22, Hartley appears as comfortable in front of a camera as she is atop a diving board, talking in relaxed tones about everything from last weekend's win at the Olympic trials in Winnipeg, to last summer's decision to leave the University of Southern California and train with the CAMO Diving Club in Montreal.

That at-ease attitude is a good sign for Hartley, who knows from experience how overwhelming media can be at an Olympics. In a sport in which even the slightest wobble can make the difference between a podium finish and an early exit, the ability to block any outside distraction is crucial. "The Olympics are like no other meet you'll ever go to and I've attended a lot of meets," said Hartley, holder of 17 Canadian titles and a double-gold medallist at the 2003 Pan-Am Games. "The whole world has this one thing to focus on for two weeks."

In addition to extra attention, Hartley said the competition itself is set differently from what the athletes are accustomed to, with music between dives and replays on a large screen. "The first time I was a little shocked and even though I performed well, I was still distracted by everything," she said. "This time I'll be more prepared and hopefully I'll be able to just focus on my diving and not pay attention to everything else going on around me."

A similar need to shed outside distractions delivered Hartley to southern California on a diving scholarship, and brought her back to Canada again last year. "I stepped out of Canadian diving and out of the spotlight, which I needed to do just to get other things involved in my life."

Hartley, who won her first national title at 14, quickly earned four Pac-10 diving titles in two seasons with the USC Trojans. She plans to return in the fall to pursue both diving and a communications degree, but wanted to focus exclusively on the Olympics this year. "I decided this was going to be my last shot and I wanted to give it everything and try my best and not have any regrets," Hartley said of the move to Montreal, where five of the six Canadian divers that qualified for the 2004 Olympics are based.

"I wanted to be in a high intensity situation with the best divers in the world. I wanted to go to Athens and be able to say 'okay I did everything I could to perform at my best' and after that just move on. I don't want any second guessing."

Hartley has worked hard this year to ensure there won't be. She finished third in the one-metre springboard at last summer's world championships in Barcelona, Spain, and combined with Olympic and CAMO teammate Emilie Heymans to win bronze in the 10-metre Synchro at the World Cup in Athens this February.

Hartley heads into the Olympics with consecutive second-place finishes in the three-metre springboard at Grand Prix events in Madrid, Spain and Electrostal, Russia in March. "She's probably the world's strongest, most powerful female diver," said Tim Page, executive director of Diving Canada. "She's had a very strong year and she is seen as a medal contender."

Hartley would prefer to concentrate on the process, not the potential result.
"The thing with diving is anything can happen, especially at the Olympics when nerves are uncontrollable and there's so much pressure and expectations," she said. "All I want is to keep focused and be able to perform at the level I've been performing at the entire year."

If she does, the splash in the Athens pool will be minuscule compared with the one back home in the Canadian media. Hartley is finally comfortable with that.

Canadian water skier Jaret Llewellyn wins gold at Malibu Open.
(Canadian Sport News)

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- Jaret Llewellyn of Innisfail, Alta., savored gold at his fourth major competition this year on Sunday as he won the men’s jump event in dramatic fashion at the Malibu Open water skiing competition.

Llewellyn was tied at 223 feet after three rounds in the six-man final with Australia’s Curtis Sheers. Llewellyn won a jump-off for the title soaring 217
feet while Sheers’s best was 213. ‘’I don’t like jumping in tail winds but I was able to adjust my style and still win in the end,’’ said Llewellyn, 33, who receives $5,000 (U.S.) for the victory. ‘’Sheers did two big jumps in the jump-off but he left the door open. I knew that if I could get good speed off the ramp I had a chance. It’s nice to win because my competition didn’t end well here last year. I competed very smart this week.’’

Llewellyn is off to a blazing start in his 21st season on the national team. He won tricks at the season opener in Australia, took the overall and jump titles
at the Pan Am championships in April and won gold in jump last month at the Masters.

Ryan Dodd of Olds, Alta., also performed well in the final and was fourth at 214. ‘’I certainly didn’t have the best tournament of my life,’’ said Dodd, 19, second in jump at the under-21 worlds last year. ‘’But fourth is pretty good against this field. I had trouble setting up in the tail wind, hopefully I’ll get it figured out by the end of the season.’’

Canadian divers are "Cinderella Stories" - overcoming the impossible to reach their dreams.
(The Toronto Sun)

The tears this time were ones of joy.

As Myriam Boileau knifed through the water after nailing her final dive and at long last an Olympic berth, her mother burst into tears. It didn't take long for the diver herself and many others at the Pan-Am Pool to join her.

It was that kind of night at the Canadian Olympic diving trials, where Boileau and Philippe Comtois, two athletes never expected to dive again because of injuries, both booked their tickets to Athens. Boileau was a sentimental favourite, as evinced by the collective sigh of relief breathed when she secured the second Olympic berth behind world champion Emilie Heymans on the women's 10-metre tower.

The 26-year-old Montrealer returned this season after missing a full year because of two herniated discs. She'd only known heartbreak at the last two Olympic trials, missing a berth twice by one spot - including 1996 when she lost by a mere one point. "The worst television shot I've ever seen is her crumbling after the last dive," said Canadian head coach Mitch Geller. "I've never seen anybody so destroyed."

As Geller recalled that scene, Boileau strode up the pool deck, tears on her cheeks and a smile on her face. "Finally," said Boileau, who scored six perfect 10s. "I can't believe it. I've had so many obstacles in my life, especially in diving. It's just like a dream come true. It's incredible. I've been working so hard. I never gave up. Never, never, never. I kept fighting to come back and be better. And today it's like I've been paid back."

One of the first to give Boileau a heartfelt hug on the pool deck was Comtois, who also reaped the dividends of much sweat and toil. He missed the 2000 Sydney Games after breaking his left leg and tearing three of the four ligaments in his knee at a diving event in Sheffield, England, in March that year.

Like Boileau, he was written off as a diver in many quarters, including by the doctors who operated on him. "If I can walk, I can dive. In my head, it's clear," said Comtois. "Diving means so much to me. I think that helped me. Maybe someone else wouldn't be able to make it through. Diving is everything for me."

He dived with that kind of commitment yesterday. The 27-year-old Montrealer racked up a personal-best score to hold off Arturo Miranda, another Cinderella story candidate, to win the final berth in the men's three-metre springboard.

His gritty performance drew praise from star Alexandre Despatie, superb in winning with a personal-best score, while getting three perfect 10s for a reverse 31/2 somersault. "A comeback like Phil did is one of a kind," said Despatie, who trains out of the CAMO club in Montreal with Comtois. "You don't see many athletes who come back from such injuries, especially not to go to the Olympics. He came back to be elite, he came back to being better than he was before. It's a great mark of perseverance."

Miranda made the 1992 Olympic team in his native Cuba but was left behind because he was not a medal contender. He made the Canadian team for the 2000 Sydney Games, but Cuba blocked him from competing. The 33-year-old will likely never dive at an Olympics.

"People who are better than me went through their whole life without competing in the Olympics," said Miranda, red-eyed but putting on a brave face. "That's why you do sports. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."

Melody Davidson named head coach of Canada's national women's hocky team.

CALGARY, AB – Melody Davidson, a native of Oyen, Alberta, has been named the Head Coach of Canada's National Women's Team for the 2004-2005 season and the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy, Hockey Canada announced on Monday.

Davidson’s assistant coaches for the 2004-2005 season and the 2006 Winter Olympic Games will be named at a later date.

Davidson, a NCCP Level 4 coach, has a wealth of international experience with Canada’s National Women’s Hockey team, serving in various coaching, scouting, hockey development and coach mentorship capacities with the women’s program for the past 12 seasons.

Davidson was Canada’s National Women’s Team Head Coach during the 1999-2000 season, capturing a gold medal with the 2000 World Championship team, and was Head Coach of Canada’s Women’s Under-22 team in 1998-99. Davidson was an assistant coach with Canada’s 2002 gold medal winning Women’s Olympic Hockey Team in Salt Lake City, and served as an assistant coach during the 2000-01 and 1993-94 seasons winning World Championship gold medals both years as well as at the 2000 Four Nations Cup and the 1996 Pacific Rim.

During the 2004-2005 season, Davidson will be based at Cornell University and split her head coaching duties between Team Canada and her current position as Head Coach of Cornell University Women’s NCAA division l team where she has guided the team to two straight ECAC playoff appearances. Davidson’s duties with Team Canada for the 2004-2005 season include leading Canada as Head Coach for the 2005 IIHF World Women’s Championship in Sweden, and other events during the season.

"I am very excited to be a part of Canada's National Women's Team for the 2006 Winter Olympics and the 2005 World Championship," said Davidson. "The next two years will be very exciting as we prepare for the challenges ahead.

No room for youngsters: Felicien questions COC guidelines.
(The Toronto Sun - RANDY STARKMAN)

If she hadn't competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, world champion Perdita Felicien reckons she'd be like a "deer caught in the headlights" in Athens.

"There's no other event like the Olympics," said the Pickering hurdler. "People can get so overwhelmed by the pressure and all the hoopla. But for me going to Athens, now this is familiar, I've done it before, it's nothing but comfortable for me. I'm going to have fun, but on the other hand not let it take away all my energy."

But Felicien wouldn't have had that valuable Olympic experience if the new qualifying rules — whereby an athlete must demonstrate they can place in the top 12 — had been in place four years ago.

Her case illustrates the fundamental flaw in the Canadian Olympic Committee qualification guidelines: There's no provision for promising newcomers. Felicien believes the COC is being short-sighted. To give a talented young athlete the experience of competing at a Games when they're not a favourite to reach the podium is considered a key component in the development of a future medal winner.

Felicien, then just 19, had a series of credible runs leading up to the Sydney Olympics, four of them under the international track `B' standard, but it wouldn't have been enough. "She was promising, absolutely," said Athletics Canada head coach Alex Gardiner. "This is the kind of profile we like to see."

But Gardiner acknowledges Felicien would have been left off the team under today's tougher COC standards. It bothers him and he thinks the COC must find a way to deal with such situations, but that doesn't mean he opposes the stricter guidelines. He's actually a big fan of them. He says Athletics Canada has taken the same approach and fielded its strongest team ever at last year's worlds in Paris. "There were no tourists," said Gardiner.

It's really a no-win situation for the COC, which genuinely seems to be making the effort to do the right thing. Every Olympics has its share of athletes and sports crying foul over the process, and this one is no exception as the boxing, table tennis and shooting federations are fighting COC rulings.

Only one thing is clear — there's no such thing as a perfect formula when there are so many diverse sports and interests involved. Someone will always feel slighted.

But the Canadian approach to push for excellence would appear to be the right one, given the great hue and cry after the sub-par showing by Canada in Sydney. Some might see the real merit of taking part in the Olympics, but a few days without any athletes on the podium quickly reinforces what really counts for most people.

There are countries with harsher standards such as the Germans, who send only those with top-eight potential, while the Americans are bound by congressional law to send anyone who meets their international sports federation's standards.

The latter approach would save the COC a lot of grief, but no money, which is always in short supply at the amateur level, and a big part of the reason for the tougher standards. The idea is to get the most bang for the limited buck.

But the COC must be prepared as an organization to live up to its own high standards. Given that all the athletes representing Canada in Athens have worked their butts off to get there, they should be able to expect the same from the staff working for them in Greece.

Bev Smith to be inducted into basketball hall of fame.
(Basketball Canada)

(Toronto, ON) On Saturday, June 12, former Canadian National Team player and head coach, Bev Smith (Salmon Arm, BC), will be one of six inductees officially inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Arguably, the best female basketball player Canada has ever produced, Smith is being honoured for her years of basketball excellence, both on the national and international stage.

As a member of the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team from 1978-1988 and 1992-1996, Smith was an instrumental force in her squad’s success. During her National Team career, Smith helped lead Canada to a third place finish at the 1979 and 1989 Pan American Games, as well as the 1979 and 1986 World Championships. At the 1979 World Championships, Smith received one of the greatest individual honours bestowed upon a Canadian basketball player when she was named to the FIBA All-World Team.

A two-time Olympian, Smith made her first Olympic appearance as a member of the 1984 squad that finished fourth in Los Angeles. At the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, Smith made her final National Team appearance for Team Canada.

Professionally, Smith coached and played in the Italian league for 15 years. As a player, she played professionally for 12 seasons, captaining Vivo Vicenza, and winning the Italian National Championship and the European Cup during the 1992-1993 season. As a coach, Smith guided the Familia Schio Club team to second place finishes in Division I in 1998-1999 and 1999-2000. In 1996-1997, Smith led Vivo Vicenzo to a first place finish in Division II. Her first coaching stint came in 1985 as a player-coach for Ferrara in the Italian league.

After retiring from the National Team as a player in 1996, Smith returned to international basketball as the head coach of the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team from 1997-2001. During her tenure as coach, Smith guided the Senior Women to its best-ever international showing at the 1999 Pan American Games, capturing a sliver medal. One year later, Smith helped lead Canada to a 10th place finish at the Summer Olympics in Sydney.

In 2001, as a reward for her tremendous accomplishments as a player and a coach, Smith was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

That same year, Smith re-joined her alma mater as head coach, leading the Oregon Ducks to the WNIT Championship in her first season. Currently at Oregon, Smith recently finished her third NCAA season.

In 2003, Smith was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Committee Hall of Fame and the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.