Paralympic Athletic Update: Lisa Franks wins second gold medal at Paralympic Games.
(Canadian Sport News)

ATHENS- Lisa Franks of Saskatoon won her second gold medal on Sunday at the Paralympic Games with a decisive victory in the women’s 200-metre wheelchair race for paraplegics. Franks just missed her world record which was set in Saturday’s semifinal. Karen March of Prince Albert, Sask., was eighth.

"I knew that I just had to go out and be relaxed,’’ said Franks, 22. ‘’I was hoping for a world record, but the conditions didn't help. There was a headwind during the race and I felt pain in my arm, something that has bothered me the last few months. But I tried to put it in the back of my mind. It could have been faster, but I'm still happy with the gold medal."

Canada won two medals in Sunday’s marathon racing under hot and humid conditions. Kelly Smith of Kamloops, B.C., took the silver in the men’s wheelchair marathon for paraplegics in what was likely his Paralympic swan song. Alan Bergman of Cobble Hill, B.C., was 13th and Michel Filteau of St-Jean-Baptiste, Que., 23rd.

‘’It was so emotional for me when I entered the stadium and I realized I had achieved a goal I had worked so hard for,’’ said Smith, 39, who put hockey
tape on his racing gloves to protect them from his sweat and taped course notes on his chair. ‘’The marathon was my main focus all year and this was the race that meant the most to me.’’

Smith, who attained speeds in excess of 70 kilometres an hour on the downhills, plans to retire in two years after the world championships.

In the men’s wheelchair marathon for quadriplegics, Clayton Gerein of Pilot Butte, Sask., the defending champion, was third for his 14th career Paralympic medal in six Games. ‘’This was one of the toughest marathons I’ve ever been involved in,’’ said Gerein, 40, who is also coaching world record breaking wheelchair racer Lisa Franks at the Games. ‘’There were a lot of long, long hills. It was a grind, that’s for sure. I would have liked to win it again but the racers are getting faster and I’m getting older which doesn’t make it any easier for me.’’

With one day remaining in track and field Canada has eighth gold, four silver and nine bronze.

This year, CBC has increased the broadcasting coverage of the Paralympic Games for all Canadians. Below is the TV schedule:

Vancouver’s Paul Gauthier and women’s goalball team win gold at Paralympic Games. Full Sport Update:

ATHENS- Paul Gauthier of Vancouver beat the number-one player in the world on Sunday to win the gold medal in boccia while the women’s goalball team successfully defended its title at the 2004 Paralympic Games.

In boccia, a sport similar to lawn bowls, Gauthier defeated top-seed Santiago Pesquera of Spain 7-1 in the men’s singles final. In their previous three meetings, Pesquera had won all three matches. Gauthier was a bronze medallist in 2000 and seeded second here.

‘’This has been my goal the last four years,’’ said Gauthier, 33, who owns his own consulting company that helps people with disabilities make the transition to independent living arrangements. ‘’I’m not surprised at the outcome. This is definitely my biggest accomplishment and I can’t wait to bring the medal home to Vancouver for all the people who helped me.’’

Gauthier, who is afflicted with cerebral palsy, trains 20-30 hours a week and also praised his playing assistant Jessica Peters of Vancouver for helping him to victory. Gauthier started the day with a 3-1 semifinal win over Myung Hoon of South Korea.

Goalball

Canada dominated the Paralympic goalball final against the U.S. to win the the women’s gold medal. Nancy Morin of Longueuil, Que., scored twice to lead Canada to a 3-1 victory. Amy Alsop of Saskatoon notched the other goal for Canada which led 2-0 at the half. Goalball is a team sport for the visually impaired.

‘’We were solid defensively throughout the tournament and that was our strength,’’ said Morin, second in tournament scoring with 14 goals. The Canadian team allowed five goals in nine games. ‘’Our opponents tried different strategies and different kinds of shots but we were extremely well prepared.’’

In the men’s bronze medal game, Canada squandered a 4-1 first half lead and lost 5-4 to the U.S., to finish fourth, a huge improvement over the 10th place in Sydney four years ago. Mario Caron of St-Jean-Port-Joli, Que., scored all four Canadian goals. Caron was second in tournament scoring with 27 goals.

Wheelchair basketball

The Canadian men’s team advanced to the final with a 90-71 victory over the Netherlands before nearly 7,000 spectators at the Olympic Indoor Hall. Patrick Anderson of Fergus, Ont., totalled a whopping 35 points and 14 rebounds. Joey Johnson of Lorette, Man., added 18 and Chris Stoutenburg of Collingwood, Ont., 13. Canada led 51-31 at the half.

Canada meets Australia in the final.‘’Our goal is to win every game by decisive scores and that’s what happened so far,’’ said Anderson who leads
the tournament in steals and blocked shots and is second in scoring. ‘’But we know any given day anybody can be beaten here. We expect Australia to come out and throw everything they’ve got at us.’’

Powerlifting

In the men’s 82.5 kilos division, Kenny Doyle of St. John’s Nfld., placed fourth with a Canadian record 197.5 kilos achieved on his third and final lift. His first two lifts didn’t count due to technical infractions.

‘’Missing that first lift really distracted me, the judging here was very technical,’’ said Doyle, 27, eighth four years ago in Sydney. ‘’On my last lift I put it all aside and used my determination. I actually came in here confident I could have lifted 200 kilos.’’

Equestrian

In the team dressage final , Canada placed ninth with double Paralympic bronze medallists Karen Brain of London, Ont., Dax Adam of Scarborough, Ont., and Lauren Barwick of Aldergrove, B.C.

Canada remains sixth in the medal standings with 24 gold, 18 silver and 21 bronze for 63 medals total. China leads with 120 medals. For complete results please visit www.paralympic.ca

How much does Premier Klein know about sport in Alberta? The answer may shock you.

On September 3rd, 2004, a young radio broadcaster named Josh Groberman took the oppourtunity to interview Ralph Klein, the premier of Alberta, on the state of sport in our province. The interview found at the link below is both shocking and disappointing - and worth the 10 minutes to listen to what Mr. Klein had to say. It is also very strong evidence that Albertans need to be providing more information to the Provincial Government on the importance of sport in our province.

http://joshonsports.com/klein/klein.wmv

Benoit Huot leads swimming medal deluge at Paralympic Games.
(Canadian Sport News)

ATHENS- Benoit Huot of Montreal broke his world record in the men’s 50-metre freestyle on Sunday to highlight an eight-medal performance for Canada in swimming action at the Paralympic Games.

Also on the podium were Chelsey Gotell of Antigonish, N.S., and Anne Polinario of Toronto with more gold, Walter Wu of Richmond, B.C., and Kirby Cote of Winnipeg with silver and Brian Hill of Duncan, B.C., Danielle Campo of Calgary and Stephanie Dixon of Victoria with bronze.

In the men’s 50 freestyle in the S10 category, Huot clocked 24.71 to better his world mark by a mere 0.01 seconds. The 20-year-old also won gold this week in the 100 and 400 freestyles, the 100 butterfly and the 200 individual medley. He’s also set three world records.

‘’My strength this week has been the end of my races,’’ said Huot, 20, who successfully defends his Games title in the event. ‘’Even today at 25 metres I wasn’t in first place so I had to pick it up. To get six medals here is beyond my expectations.’’

In the women’s 100 backstroke for the visually impaired, Gotell earned her first career Paralympic gold medal clocking 1:12.71, just 0.05 off her personal best. Kirby Cote of Winnipeg botched her turn and was second in 1:14.08 for her sixth medal of the Games- which includes four gold.

‘’All the other races were warm-ups to this one,’’ said Gotell, with her third medal this week. ‘’I was so excited and scared when I touched the wall. I knew I was going fast and I felt very strong at the turn. I feel so much better now that I have a gold.’’

‘’I have a lot of trouble with my turn in this event,’’ said Cote. ‘’Since I got here I’ve been practicing it like crazy. But in training and warm-up you can go a bit slower.’’

In the women’s 50 freestyle, Polinario notched her fourth medal and second gold of the Games clocking 28.75. ‘’I wanted the world record (28.44) but this is the first time I’ve gone under 29 seconds,’’ said the Cuban-born Polinario. ‘’I was pretty relaxed in the prelims but in the final I definitely went for it.’’

In the men’s 100 backstroke for the visually impaired, Charalampos Taiganidis of Greece brought the house down with spectacular gold medal win in 1:03.98. Wu, in the final race of his brilliant career, clocked second in 1:06.57 for his 14th Paralympic medal over four Games. Hill followed closely in 1:06.97.

‘’It was so loud that you could really feed off the energy,’’ said Wu, who has battled serious concussion problems this season. ‘’I was quite satisfied with how I did after a tough preliminaries. But I knew this was my last one and I really wanted to enjoy it. I’d like to continue another year but my health is a big issue right now.’’

‘’I expected more in the final,’’ added Hill, savoring his second medal. ‘’The race started well but I didn’t have what I needed in the last 15 metres.’’

In the women’s S7 50 freestyle, Danielle Campo of Calgary won the bronze medal in 35.17. Stephanie Dixon of Victoria also won bronze in the S9 50 freestyle clocking a Canadian record 30.66 for a team leading seventh medal.

With one day left Canadian swimmers now have 14 gold, 13 silver and 10 bronze.

IOC eyes additions to 2012 program
(By JAMES CHRISTIE - The Globe and Mail)

The next 10 months will be an Olympic popularity contest for five sports bidding to be included in the 2012 Summer Games and nail-biting time for a
few facing the axe.

The world bodies for rugby, golf, squash, karate and roller sports were notified yesterday by the International Olympic Committee that they will be "studied further" in the IOC's review of the 2012 Games program. A new sport would need to bump one of the current events off the program. Those considered most vulnerable in IOC deliberations earlier this year were
modern pentathlon, softball and baseball.

As a group that could furnish highly competitive men's and women's teams if the IOC adopts the seven-a-side version of its sport for 2012, Rugby Canada will be watching the process keenly. "Canada's ranked ninth among the men's sevens at the moment and fourth in women's rugby," said Martin Gallagher, Rugby Canada's director of development.

Despite limited support from Sport Canada for men's rugby and no federal support whatsoever for the women's game, the sport is blossoming at the high school and grassroots levels. Canadian women are unrivalled at the university level, dominating the sevens tournament at the World University Games in Beijing this week, winning its four games with a cumulative score of 121-5. "We're well-positioned at the development level for 2012," Gallagher said. "There are about 18,000 high-school-level players in Ontario alone, and perhaps 30,000 across Canada. But if the game got into the Olympics, that would open up access to funding and it would grow so much more."

The IOC is assessing the 28 sports played at last month's Athens Olympics. The 2012 sports program -- and the host city -- will be determined in Singapore next July.

During the Athens Games, the IOC formalized the criteria for sports on its program. Key points are global participation, spectator attendance, media interest, anti-doping policies and whether the sport's best athletes could attend.

An Olympics in late summer would probably find most of the world's talented players available, which might give rugby an advantage over golf. The inclusion of rugby, played by men and women, could also give the IOC some wiggle room in the schedule if it dropped baseball, a team sport played only by men at the Olympics, and softball, played only by women.

Roller sports would likely have to whittle down its five disciplines: figure skating, downhill racing, roller hockey on traditional quad skates, inline hockey and speed events on a track. Karate would be a third martial art at the Games and squash would be a fourth racquet sport.

The IOC's consideration of the five sports is bad news for bowling, water skiing, billiards, ballroom dancing, chess, bridge and surfing. They remain "recognized" by the IOC, but on the outside looking in.

Dairy farmer bursaries do athletes' bodies good: Six Calgarians awarded $10,000 each
(By Trent Edwards - The Calgary Herald)

Six Calgary-based winter Olympic hopefuls each received $10,000 bursaries
from Canada's dairy farmers Tuesday.

Long-track speed skater Kristina Groves, bobsleigh driver Helen Upperton, luge athlete Eric Pothier, and skeleton athletes Michelle Kelly, Mellisa Hollingsworth and Jeff Pain all expressed relief and appreciation for their bursary at a ceremony in Vancouver.

They were among 20 Canadian athletes given the bursary from the Dairy Farmers of Canada's Pure Determination Fund to help cover training and equipment costs. The fund is a four-year initiative set up by the dairy farmers in 2002, in partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee, to help promising athletes in need of financial aid. "Since I've known I'm getting this money I've been able to focus more on my training and we had money to get new sleds built, so hopefully we can get on the podium (this season)," said Pothier, 25, an eight-year veteran of the national luge program.

Pain, a nine-year national team veteran who emceed the ceremony, considers the bursary an Olympic funding call to action from the farmers to other Canadian corporations. "We as athletes have a responsibility to lead kids into the sport. And I think it's equally important for companies to do the same for other companies in funding sport," said Pain, 33, who won the 2003 men's skeleton world championship.

Upperton, a 24-year-old in her second year on the national bobsled team, hasn't decided whether she'll put her bursary towards a new sled that could cost her up to $25,000, equipment, or a work-free summer of training in 2005. She just knows the bursary will help her prepare for the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy. "It makes such a huge impact over how much stress you have because of expenses while training and getting equipment," said Upperton. "Bobsleigh is so expensive . . . This at least gives me options."

Kelly, a nine-year national team veteran who won the women's skeleton world championship in 2003, applauded the dairy farmers for offering the bursary to less-established athletes like Pothier. "What's great about this is that it's geared towards athletes who are up and coming and aren't getting the support they would when they get to the top of their sport," says Kelly, 29. Kelly will use her money to buy a $7,000 sled and travel to see her coach, Andy Kupchyk, in Poland.