Lueders wins Canadian bobsleigh crown.
(CBC SPORTS ONLINE)

Defending world champion Pierre Lueders claimed the two-man Canadian bobsleigh title Saturday at the national championships in Calgary.

Lueders, 34, took first place with rookie brakeman Lascelles Brown in a two-run combined time of one minute 53.29 seconds. Lueders' regular brakeman, Guilio Zardo, was at home in Montreal this weekend and didn't compete. He'll rejoin Lueders next week in Lake Placid, N.Y., to resume training for the 2004-05 World Cup season. "I always enjoy the fight to get better and faster each race, and we did get better on our start in the second run today," said Lueders.

"It is always fun to compete in our national championship, and the competition is getting much stronger now than it has been in years with Jayson Krause and Serge Despres improving each year."

Krause, of Okotoks, Alta., and brakeman Florian Linder of Morrin, Alta., finished second in 1:53.55. Despres of Cocagne, N.B., and brakeman Trent Wiebe of Grande Prairie, Alta., were third with a time of 1:54.28. In the women's event, pilot Lesa Mayes-Stringer of North Battleford, Sask., and rookie brakeman Jamie Cruickshank of Saskatoon easily took top spot with a combined time of 1:57.76.

"This is really exciting, and I was extremely prepared to race today," said Mayes-Stringer. "Jamie and I set that push record on our first run together [in training earlier in the week] and we have clicked ever since. We are going to continue to work together, and improve, and will be definitely looking for a World Cup podium spot this year."

Helen Upperton, riding with fellow Calgary native Kaillie Simundson, raced to second in 1:58.22. Suzanne Gavine-Hlady of Windsor, Ont., and brakeman Suzanne Muldoon of Port Coquitlam, B.C., were third in 1:58.98.

Veteran Christina Smith took her final competitive run on Saturday with a special partner – Olympic wrestler Christine Nordhagen – who trained for two weeks to help out a friend in her last race. "This was so much fun to be out here today and have my good friend Christine with me in the sled," said Smith. "I am looking forward to the next stage of my life now, and will focus on speaking to children about the importance of sport and motivational speaking." Smith piloted Canada's first-ever women's sled at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

The women's World Cup begins Nov. 25 in Winterberg, Germany. The men take to the same track Nov. 27 to begin their international season.

Canada's men's and women's World Cup teams will be announced on Tuesday during a media conference in the Olympic Hall of Fame at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. Canada's bobsleigh athletes will then head to Europe for the season-opening World Cup race, November 22-25 in Winterberg, Germany. For more information on Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, please visit us at www.bobsleigh.ca on the Internet.

Kyle Shewfelt

Canada drops medal appeal: Shewfelt at peace with verdict.
(The Calgary Herald)

Kyle Shewfelt wasn't exactly shattered by Thursday's Gymnastics Canada announcement it was withdrawing its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The 22-year-old Calgary gymnast had faint hope the CAS would step in and reverse the results of the Olympic men's vault competition, when Romania's Marian Dragulescu earned the bronze -- one position ahead of Shewfelt -- in Athens despite botching the landing on his second vault.

But when the CAS refused last month to overturn the results of the men's all-around competition, allowing American Paul Hamm to keep his controversial gold, Shewfelt -- the floor exercise gold-medallist -- and Gymnastics Canada realized there wasn't much point in pursuing the appeal with the Lausanne, Switzerland-based tribunal. "The reason we went to the Court of Arbitration in the first place was that something happened and it wasn't right, and we wanted to push it to the highest level possible," said Shewfelt from his Calgary home. "But at this point, the Court of Arbitration has made it very clear that
they aren't going to reverse decisions that were made in the field of play unless you can prove corruption, and that's a pretty darn hard thing to do."

"We felt that trying to prove that (corruption) through cross-examination, chances are it's not going to happen and we're going to be spending a lot of money that we could invest somewhere else," added Gymnastics Canada CEO Jean-Paul Caron, noting a losing appeal could have cost up to $100,000.

While the CAS case has been dropped, Gymnastics Canada continues to push the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to investigate the incident in hopes of, at the very least, getting the international body to admit its judges screwed up in Athens.

And even if nothing else comes of it, said Shewfelt, he hopes the sport will be better off long-term after the investigation is completed. "For me, it was never about the medal, it really wasn't," he insisted. "I don't judge my performance on a medal, I judge my performance on how well I did, and at the Olympic Games, I did my best, I really did. "I care about my sport, I love gymnastics and I care about its credibility. I think nothing but positive changes can come out of this."

Obviously, the process hasn't soured Shewfelt on his future in the sport. After being non-committal in Athens, Shewfelt confirmed Thursday he's returned to training with coach Tony Smith in between his whirlwind tour of the country. "My body's pretty sore right now," he said with a chuckle. "I'm doing tons of appearances right now, tons of public speaking, tons of volunteer work. I'm trying to do as much as I possibly can -- I really want to share my gold medal with as many people as I possibly can.

"My goal was always to win Olympic gold, and it happened. So I had to take some time to re-evaluate my goals, and now I'm looking forward to the world championships in 2005 and the Commonwealth Games in 2006 (both in Melbourne, Australia). I would love to be a three-time Olympian, I would love to compete at Beijing -- I'm just going to take it year by year, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself."

Gold Medal Plates raises $290,000 for Canada's athletes.
(Calgary Herald)

Canada's most prominent Olympic athletes, both aspiring and retired, teamed up with the nation's finest chefs for an Olympic-style culinary and wine competition at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel on October 27th.

More than 600 guests participated in the Gold Medal Plates gala, sampling each chef's creation, which were inspired by their celebrity partners. Guests cast ballots for their favourite dishes and the gold medal winning chef, Banff's Michael Lyon of the Maple Leaf Grill, will participate in a grande finale Gold Medal Celebration in Whistler, B.C. His celebrity partner former Crazy Canuck skiing great Ken Read. Their dish was a lobster cappuccino with a lemon-tarragon biscotti sprinkled with black truffle or citrus-spiked sea salt. Truly an award-winning combination in every way.

Gold Medal Plates is a nation-wide project created to raise money for the Canadian Olympic Excellence Fund. The gala in Calgary helped bank $290,000 making Cowtown the top money-making city across the nation for excellence fund.

Beckie Scott

Beckie Scott will lead Team Canada's skiiers to the 2006 Olympics.

Beckie Scott has declared she will lead the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy, the governing body for cross-country skiing announced on Monday.

With a focus on competing at the 2005 World Championships in Obertsdorf, Germany, Scott will ski a reduced schedule on the 2004-05 World Cup circuit. The Olympic gold medallist will remain training full-time at home, and participate in a series of North American events before joining her teammates on the World Cup circuit in January. "It has been an incredibly busy year for me, and I needed some time at home in a normal environment to find my desire and motivation again to win," said Scott, who will join the team and compete at the season-opening Haywood Canada Cup event at Sovereign Lake, B.C., November 25-28.

"I am extremely excited for the next couple of years. We have one of the most talented groups of athletes on our team that I have seen since I joined the national program. Moreover, our team is going to be able to compete in World Cup events at home in 2005, in Canmore and Vernon, where major course upgrading projects are already taking place."

While the Vermilion, Alta. native will remain at home for the first part of the season, her long-standing Canadian comrade on the World Cup circuit, Sara Renner of Canmore, Alta., will head to Europe for the season-opening World Cup in Ostersund, Sweden, November 20-21. The 28-year-old Olympian is gunning for her first World Cup podium this year after capturing four top-8 finishes on the 2004 campaign.

Renner will be heading to Europe with 25-year-old George Grey, the leader of a talented quartet of men's skiers keen to burst the maple leaf back onto the men's World Cup cross-country ski scene. Grey, who competed on the World Cup full time after the holiday season last year, will experience his first full season at the elite level this winter.
"Spending the final three months on the World Cup season last year was an eye opening experience, and a whole new level of competition," said Grey, who is from Rossland, B.C.

"Competing full time against the world's best, and feeding off the knowledge and international experience of Sara, will be another major step forward in preparing myself for my first Olympic experience in 2006. I am determined to learn and improve each time I step on the snow, and to being mentally and physically focused on winning."

Grey, and teammate, Chris Jeffries, 26, of Chelsea, Que, charged to a ninth-place finish in a World Cup team sprint last season. The senior men's team also includes Drew Goldsack, 22, of Red Deer, Alta., a gold medallist in the sprint event at the Under-23 World Championships last season; and Devon Kershaw, 21, of Sudbury, Ont., who was a double gold medallist at the 2004 Canadian Championships.

A mixture of experience and fresh talent round's out the women's side of the senior team, including: Chandra Crawford, 21, of Canmore, Alta.; Daria Gaiazova, 21, of Montreal; and two-time Olympian, Milaine Theriault, 31, of St. Quentin, N.B., who continues her journey down the comeback trail after having a baby last year. "We have been making some significant progress over the last three years with both our men's and women's squads," said Dave Wood, head coach, Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team, who added that Canada will field a full lineup of 10 athletes at the World Championships in February.

"With Beckie and Sara continuing to steer the ship towards Torino, our young team will significantly benefit from having two of the top skiers in the world at their side. This is an exciting time for our entire organization as we continue to make strides towards putting Canada back on top of the podium."

Sara Renner and George Grey will depart for Europe on November 10, while the rest of the Canadian Cross-Country Ski Team, including Beckie Scott, will gear up to compete in the season-opening Haywood Canada Cup event in Sovereign Lake, B.C., November 25-28. Selection for the 2005 World Championships will take place at the Haywood NorAm races at Quebec City, December 11-19.

MEDIA: Canada's Cross-Country Ski Team will be available for media interviews today, Monday, November 8, at 11 a.m. at Canada Olympic Park on the second floor of the main daylodge. Interview requests for Beckie Scott can be arranged by calling Chris Dornan at 403-247-5423.

Dale Henwood

The Big Picture with Dale Henwood: The Culture of Analysis.

In Canada we have an unusual opportunity to succeed in 2010 at the Olympics and to construct a sport system that will be productive for years to come. We have a huge responsibility to the youth of Canada to do it, to do it right and to do it right now! This is a five year opportunity, not a 17 day event.

Time is of the essence. To inspire the nation to be better, we must act now. We have considerable data and research to develop a better sport system in our country. What is missing is a systematic, objective and comprehensive analysis of our past performances. Too quickly we change our focus from past performances to the next event. Our assessments, if conducted, are ad hoc, lack consistency and are often a ‘pat on the back exercise’ before we go on to the next major task at hand.

What lessons could be learned if we borrowed some of the best demonstrated practices from others, such as Shell International, NASA and the US military? For these organizations, a strong culture of analysis exists; debriefing is an integral part of their daily operations. They systematically review every major event or mission and develop lessons learned that can be transmitted instantaneously within their organizations.

For this type of systematic analysis to take place in sport in Canada, each athlete and coach needs to individually and seriously evaluate his or her own performance at the event. At an organizational level, we need to gather the pertinent people at the end of a major event (i.e., Olympic Games) for immediate feedback so that we can truly learn from the experiences. Similar review is required at a systemic level.

o What did we set out to do? What was the intent?
o What was accomplished? What did we actually do?
o Why was there a difference?
o What did we learn? What was done successfully and needs to be sustained?
o What was weak and needs to be improved?
o Who are we going to share this information with?

We need to drill deep asking why, why, why. These debriefings must be conducted with integrity and candor. People need to feel free to express failures and be free to criticize the performance of themselves and of others including superiors. Dissemination of these critical learnings, horizontally and vertically, must be immediate, so that we can act on the recommendations to improve the current situation and performance. No project is complete until it has been systematically reviewed and the lessons learned, lessons that are critical for future success, are acted upon.

It seems like common sense, but it is not common practice in many businesses and certainly not in Canadian sport. We need to stretch, to grow, to get better. We can do better and, because we can, we must do better. We do not need to talk about doing it cheaper, but doing it better. Only better is better.

How well could we do it if we did everything right?

Dale Henwood
President
CSCC

Tickets for 2006 Turin Winter Olympics to go on sale Thursday.
(CP Wire)

MILAN, Italy (AP) _ More than 500,000 tickets for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics go on sale Thursday.

Of a total of one million tickets, 65 per cent will be available to the public. The other 35 per cent are reserved for national Olympic Committees, sponsors, international sports federations and broadcasters. More than half the tickets to the Feb. 10-26, 2006 Games are between 20 euros ($31 Cdn) and 50 euros ($77 Cdn), Valentino Castellani, head of the organizing committee, said Wednesday.

The cheapest tickets are for biathlon, cross country, curling, freestyle and preliminary women's hockey. Prices for men's hockey begin at 40 euros ($62 Cdn) for the cheapest preliminary-round games and go as high as 350 euros ($542 Cdn) for the gold-medal game.

Ticket sales are expected to raise more than 75 million euros ($116 million Cdn), the third-largest source of income after TV rights and sponsorships. In Europe, there will be two phases of sales. The first will begin Thursday and end Dec. 15, allowing officials to gauge the demand for each sport. The second phase, beginning Feb. 10, could include a lottery for certain sports, depending on demand. Outside Europe, national Olympic committees will control ticket sales.

Ticketing director Giorgio Lauretta said prime events could sell out in the first phase. He added that early projections found high interest for ski jumping, short-track speed skating, freestyle skiing and curling.

November 22, 2004 Alberta Election Candidate Questions

Here are questions that you could direct to any of the candidates at an Election Forum in your riding in the coming weeks. These questions are designed to speak to the issue of increased investment and support for physical activity and sport/recreation in Alberta. Participation and excellence are mutually reinforcing – a single pursuit, not an either/or investment.

These messages are tied to the Key Sport Messages that Sport Alberta has developed. Please plan to attend a Provincial Election Candidate Forum and ask one or more of these questions! Also, please note the answer given and communicate that to the group. We need a record of the response so future action/accountability can be taken.

1. The government commissioned the development of A Sport Plan for Alberta which was completed in the spring of 2002 and then generated responses from over 11,000 Albertans who provided feedback on the Plan in the fall of 2003. Can you provide us with where your party stands on the implementation (i.e. the action strategies and resources) of this Plan?

2. It is estimated that a 10% increase in physical activity would decrease direct health care costs by $150 million per year in Canada. (www.centre4activeliving.ca). What priority does your party place on promoting healthy Albertans through sport and recreation? How does this fit into your Plan for Health care reform?

3. With Canada set to host the Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver does your party have any plans to support Alberta’s developing athletes and coaches who will represent this province and Canada in Vancouver?

4. The Alberta government has promised the implementation of compulsory physical education in schools by September, 2005. What is your party plan to ensure that enough teachers are properly trained to implement this important initiative by 2005?

5. In a June 2002 Executive Summary of a Community Recreation Infrastructure Report several statements were made reflecting the high state of need our facilities are in. It is estimated that by 2005, over 75% of all major recreation facilities in the Alberta will be in the last half of their functional life expectancy, and many are nearing the end of their functional life. What would your party plan to do to ensure that all of our communities have viable facilities for recreation and sport in the coming years?

6. More than 80% of Canadians between 10 and 24 years of age who are physically active have never smoked (www.cd.gov.ab.ca). How is your party planning to ensure active and healthy Albertans through promotion of recreation and sport in Alberta?

7. Alberta has more than 83,000 volunteer sport coaches, 64,000 volunteer referees and umpires, 250,000 volunteer helpers for sport in Alberta. (www.cd.gov.ab.ca) What does your Party plan to do to ensure that our Provincial Sport Infrastructure has the resources it needs to support this significant and valuable volunteer contribution to the quality of life for all Albertans?

“We are for all Sport, We are for all Albertans”

Our “4 A” Focus

Alignment – We believe in the Sport Plan for Alberta, its outcomes, actions and priorities. We are ready to assist government, private and public sector agencies identify with the Sport Plan for Alberta in a meaningful way. It is also our goal to bring sport together to align with the goals of the Sport Plan for Alberta and better utilize its resources to activate on the outcomes identified.

Advocacy – Our area of activism is sport. We will be accountable to our members and we believe that our role is to hold accountable government, corporate Alberta and the general public to the ideals and opportunities outlined in the Sport Plan for Alberta. We need all partners to make a stronger commitment and increase their investment to sport through our local communities, regional delivery groups and provincial sport organizations for the benefit of all Albertans including our youth and future leaders of Alberta.

Advancement – We believe in a proactive approach to moving sport to a higher level of consciousness within the minds of all Albertans. The quality of life, the future of our health and the future of our communities depend on it. We will do this by holding accountable sport agencies and sport leaders for their performance in building a better sport community in Alberta. We will focus our work on a common direction for sport and on ensuring the values and benefits of sport are heard and acted upon.

Alliances – We believe in a common approach for sport in Alberta. In order to do this we need to support the common vision and direction that the Sport Plan for Alberta provides us. We have spent the time deciding our direction, we spent the time outlining our priorities, now its time to act on those priorities and hold each other accountable for the results.

The Objectives of Sport Alberta are:
To promote amateur sport in the Province of Alberta.
To act as a forum for the exchange of the member's views.
To act as a liaison with government agencies and to bring before the
Provincial Government such recommendations as are approved by the Society.
To coordinate the efforts of all amateur sport governing bodies in Alberta
in stimulating interest in amateur sport.

Job Oppourtunity with Freestyle Skiing:

Book Keeper

The Alberta Freestyle Skiing Association (AFSA) is the provincial organizing body for the sport of Freestyle Skiing in Alberta. AFSA is accepting applications for the position of bookkeeper to start immediately.

Job Description:
Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
· Responsible for payables and receivables
· Preparing financial reports for monthly board meetings
· Work under the direction of the Executive Director

Position term: Approximately 1 day a week from Nov. 15 to May 31, 2005

Desired Skills and Qualifications:
· Computer skills
· Familiar with Simply Accounting and Microsoft Excel
· Strong Organization Skills
· Friendly and personable personality

Remuneration to be determined upon hiring.
Please forward your applications to the AFSA office by November 10th.

Julie Steggall
Alberta Freestyle Skiing Association
88 Canada Olympic Road SW
Calgary, AB T3B 5R5
Phone: (403) 297-2718
Fax: (403) 202-2522
Email: afsa@telus.net
Check out our website at www.abfreestyle.com for more information