Canadian team heads home from Pan Am Games third in total medals won.
CP Wire Byline: BY LORI EWING

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CP) _ Canada heads home from the 15th Pan American Games with more medals than the team captured four years ago, and with several Beijing Olympic berths secured.

Just a year before the 2008 Summer Games, the Pan Ams were an Olympic dress rehearsal for some athletes, a chance to qualify for others, and an opportunity to gain some much-needed international experience for all. Sport Performance Weekly

Carol Huynh wins gold at PanAms.
Canadian Press

Setting sights on Beijing.
The Toronto Star Byline: Randy Starkman

The most important thing at stake during the Pan Ams were the Olympic berths for the 2008 Beijing Olympics available in some sports. Here’s a list of Canadians who took advantage of that opportunity. The equestrians still have to go through qualifying to cement those berths. Sport Performance Weekly

Hosts miss podium at the BMX worlds; Canadians struggle on the big stage in Victoria.
The Daily News (Nanaimo) Byline: Cleve Dheensaw

VICTORIA—Much like the FIFA 2007 Under-20 World Cup earlier this month, Canada proved a proficient host for the 2007 BMX world championships but a failure in the actual competition. Canada’s top medal hopeful, Samantha Cools of Airdrie, Alta., struggled in front of the Canadian crowd. Cools, the No. 5 female rider in the world coming in, was the focal point of attention but she did not respond well. “It was stressful and got the best of me,” admitted Cools, who could still contend for a medal at the Olympics next year. Sport Performance Weekly

$250m venues to be ‘competition ready’ two years before 2010 Olympics begin.
The Vancouver Province Byline: Damian Inwood

WHISTLER—Olympic venues costing more than $250 million will be “competition ready” by this winter, more than two years before the Games. “When you think back to Prague, when they were just lines on paper, it puts chills up your spine to see how much has been done,” said Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong yesterday. “This is where the rubber hits the road.” Sport Performance Weekly

Olympic park revamp approved; $276M plan to include two hockey arenas.
The Calgary Herald Byline: Colette Derworiz

An ambitious plan to expand Canada Olympic Park was approved Thursday by the city’s planning commission, clearing a key hurdle for a new ice complex to be finished in time to train athletes for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Sport Performance Weekly

Canadian Men’s Relay Teams Buoyed by Major Private Donation.

Calgary, AB - Pierre Lafontaine, CEO and National Coach of Swimming Canada, announced today that the Canadian Men’s 4x100 and 4x200 Olympic relay teams have received a major donation from W. Brett Wilson, a Calgary businessman and philanthropist. The $50,000 donation is the largest private donation ever received by Swimming Canada.   Sport Performance Weekly