News: e-Newsletter
Sport Performance WeeklyJuly 28th, 2008 |
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Canada’s Olympic team announced; Kayaker van Koeverden flag-bearer as 331 athletes make up contingent headed to Beijing.The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) - Three hundred and thirty-one athletes with one goal: To return Canada to Olympic prominence at the Summer Games in Beijing after a disappointing performance in Athens four years ago. On Wednesday, the Canadian Olympic Committee unveiled the 331 athletes Canadians will be cheering for Aug. 8 to 24. Leading the way is kayaker Adam van Koeverden of Oakville, Ont.—perhaps the country’s best hope to win a medal. He was named Wednesday as Canada’s flag-bearer for the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies. Once that pageantry ends, Canada will be trying to improve on its 12-medal performance at the Athens Games and in a change from previous policy is setting targets. “Everybody’s talking about the fact that there’s a different attitude in Canada,” said Chris Rudge, chief executive officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee. “It’s not that we were ever bad people, but we didn’t go in the past with the more focused attitude (winning medals) that we go with now—and I think that makes a huge difference. “The COC has been forced to reassess what we do and how we do things in the last four, five, six years. We’ve changed our role. We’re not just sending the team with uniforms.” COC president Michael Chambers agreed. “Following Athens, we did decide to create a goal,” he said. “And the goal we created for ourselves was to move up from the 19th position we finished in Athens and see if we couldn’t break into the top 16. “It’s a goal that’s going to be tough to make. But every one of the athletes is going to be in a tough event.” The 331-athlete contingent is the biggest Canada has sent to a Games since 1988, when 354 were sent to Seoul, South Korea. The largest Canadian Olympic team -- 436 athletes—was sent to Los Angeles in 1984, when a Soviet-led boycott kept 14 Eastern Bloc countries from competing. The Beijing team is 25 per cent larger than the 2004 team, which sent 265 athletes to Athens, boosted mainly by the addition of two teams, women’s soccer and men’s field hockey. Canadians will compete in 31 sports, including five team sports. Van Koeverden says: “It was a great surprise because there were so many great candidates; it was a huge honour to be on the list,” said van Koeverden, who won two medals, a gold and a bronze, at the 2004 Games in Athens and carried the Maple Leaf during the closing ceremonies in Greece. “I don’t really feel that I’m leading (Canada’s contingent), so much as I’m representing and, basically, just walking first. “Everybody’s going to be wearing the Maple Leaf. We’re all representing Canada. I just get to carry the flag.” Canadian Olympic Team information can be found at www.olympic.ca/Beijing2008/ |
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The Canadian Sport Centre Calgary congratulates 40 supported athletes headed to Bejing.The CSCC is proud to provide support services and programs to 40 members of Team Canada. The following athletes will be competing in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games: Name – Sport – Coach |
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Gymnast Kyle Shewfelt runs marathon of healing on road to Beijing.The Canadian Press - CALGARY - There are many moments of truth for Kyle Shewfelt these days. Like the kid playing street hockey thinking “Game 7, Stanley Cup final, this goal wins it,” Shewfelt often imagines himself in Beijing on the mat for the men’s Olympic gymnastics floor final. “In training, I have to simulate the competition, so I call my coach over and say to myself ‘this is the one. It counts. It matters,”” he said. “I can remember being a little boy in training on the double mini-trampoline and I would say ‘this one I have to stick because it’s the Olympics.’ When you do that and succeed, you learn to trust yourself that in the real situation, that you’ll be able to do it.” The reigning Olympic gold medallist in the floor routine, and Canada’s first Olympic medallist in the sport, will rely a lot on this mental simulation in Beijing. When gymnastics starts Aug. 9, he won’t have competed internationally for well over a year. The 26-year-old from Calgary broke both knees and suffered additional ligament damage Aug. 27 while preparing for the 2007 world championships in Stuttgart, Germany. He mistimed a difficult tumbling pass and hyper-extended his knees. Shewfelt had surgery in early September to insert a plate and screws and re-attach the ligament in his left knee, and also to insert a screw in his right knee. That he will be able to perform his full routines at Beijing’s National Indoor Stadium is remarkable.But Shewfelt has come too far to doubt himself now after endless rehabilitation, pain and, once he was healthy enough to train, exhaustion so deep he’d lie down for a nap in front of the fridge. Shewfelt is the picture of conviction when he says “In Beijing, I plan on being a contender.” He doesn’t sound like a man trying to convince himself. “I’m investing so much of myself into this right now,” Shewfelt continued. “I approach each day that I have to have a great day every day and if it’s not going to be a great day, I have to make it the best day I can be because I missed out on a lot of training time, a lot of competition time and a lot of time to be in a great mental state. “I’m getting this inner fire that I don’t think a lot of other people are getting because they didn’t have two broken legs and they didn’t have to sit on their ass for five months. They didn’t have to go through what I went through.” He manages his injuries with an anti-inflammatory, ice, acupuncture, massage therapy three times a week and a couple of sessions a week with physiotherapist Susan Massitti. “I like to joke I’m in rehab more than Amy Winehouse,” Shewfelt said. The Canadian men’s gymnastics team finished a best-ever sixth at the 2006 world championship and hung on to qualify for Beijing by finishing 11th without injured Shewfelt in Stuttgart. Since Shewfelt’s gold in Athens, teammates Brandon O’Neill and Nathan Gafuik have won World Cup medals in floor and vault. Shewfelt’s importance in the team event in Beijing is two-fold. He can elevate Canada’s total score and his presence injects swagger into the Canadian squad. “It’s huge,” O’Neill said. “He can post big scores on his events. “If we want to make team finals and do well in team finals we need him at his best. If he is, we’re in great shape to do what we are going there to do.” Added Gymnastics Canada president Jean Paul Caron: “Even if he’s at 80 per cent, he’s still Kyle Shewfelt. “He’s our leader so it’s important to have him there for the team. Plus, if he’s back 100 per cent there’s a chance at a medal, so he’s key.” Shewfelt isn’t ready to say 2008 will be his last Olympic Games, but he’s put thought into the classic job-interview question “Where do you see yourself in five years?” “I want to get married and have some babies and be a dad,” he said. “I really want to be a dad. It would be the funnest job on the world.” |
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Justine Bouchard Win’s World University Wrestling Championships, Carol Huynh ready for Beijing.Justine Bouchard won her first World Championship at the University World Championships in Thessaloniki Greece. Bouchard powered her way to the championship with wins over Maria Diana of Italy, Alaina Berube of the USA, and in the finals defeated Veteran Oxana Shalikova of the Ukraine. For Bouchard, winning this World title capped a successful run of tournament victories at the 63kg weight class. “She has won her last four major tournaments leading into this and seems to be getting stronger and more confident with each match.” The Canadian Womens team placed second overall with 6 medals in 7 weight categories. Also reaching the podium was Vanessa Wilson of Calgary in the 72kg weight class where she defeated Marta Silwinska of Poland for the bronze medal. The Canadian Women’s Team lost narrowly to the USA for the top position, while placing ahead of Russia, Japan, Ukraine, and Poland in the top six teams. "This event is an important stepping stone to future international success. On the women’s side we have had three world champions at this tournament in the past. Carol Huynh, Martine DuGrenier, and Ohenewa Akuffo… all of whom are currently on our Beijing Olympic team. “ Bouchard will have one more chance to compete internationally this fall at the Senior World Championships in Tokyo Japan in October. Huynh feels ready heading into BeijingFour years ago Carol Huynh attended the Athens Olympic Games as a training partner for the Canadian Olympic Team. She had won the national championships all three years leading up to Athens Olympic Trials and even been in the gold medal match at the worlds in the time. She was defeated at the Olympic Trials by teammate Lyndsay Belisle. Carol was forced to experience the Athens Olympics as a part of the support team rather than an actual competitor. “Athens was an amazing experience but so tough as the runner up, you get to see how things work at an Olympics and how everyone is reacting and feeling. I think it was very valuable for me to be part of that. Now that it is my turn…and im so excited (and nervous). I feel like I have spent the last 6 years getting ready for this. I have lots of experience with the actual training and getting ready for major events. I guess this year there are a couple of changes, I have been focusing on taking care of my body a little better off the mat. We have also done a lot more video analysis. The field of competitors is narrower in Beijing so we have picked a number of the key people and broke down what we need to against them. I’ve also spent a lot more time with mental training, I know the competitors and have competed against most of them, I just want to be prepared for the Olympic setting mentally. I am looking forward to competing, but to be honest I want to enjoy it all. The CLOTHES, and wearing them around, the opening and all that emotion… It’s all so close now. Obviously I am nervous, but I am so excited to get there and see how things will turn out! I think I will be as ready as I can be to perform in Beijing. |
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Men’s water polo team heads to Beijing confident it can compete.The Edmonton Journal - CALGARY - While a free ticket is always welcomed, earning a trip to the big show is much sweeter. And the Beijing-bound boys of the national men’s water polo team have no doubts that they deserve to be in the pool with the best teams in the world. “It makes a whole bunch of difference,” said Canadian coach Dragan Jovanovic on Tuesday. “First of all, we believe we belong there. It does a lot. How the other teams, how the officials see us. “There’s not another team in the world that will get an easy game from us.” While Canada’s best were officially named Tuesday with the announcement of the 2008 Olympic team, the group has been pacing the pool deck since March, when they placed in the top four during the qualifying tournament in Romania. Canada surprised the host team 9-8 to earn a spot in Beijing. Having made three previous appearances at the Olympics before—once in ‘72 as a replacement, as the hosts in ‘76, and in ‘84 because of the boycott—it was the first time Canada earned their way to the Games. Now, weeks away from their opening match against Spain on Aug. 10, any Olympic intimidation will be left outside Beijing’s Ying Tung pool. “I’m expecting, when we get in the water and start playing, absolutely no difference (from regular competition),” said Canadian captain Thomas Marks of Vancouver. “But a lot of distractions outside the water. “That’s what were going to have to adjust to as soon as possible. And I think we’re ready for it.” Marks, 26, who has been toiling for Canada since 2001, is veteran of four world championships. But like the rest of the group, he has never been to the Olympics. Meanwhile, the others have their own share of international experience. Six Canucks play professional overseas during the season, including Montreal’s Nathaniel Miller, who has played the most games of anyone on the team. “We’re working really, really hard right now,” said Marks. “We’re training about 36 hours a week with some dry land so we’re going hard . . . we’re underdogs in almost every game that we’re going into in the Olympics.” Sure, they’re plunging into deep competition but this time around, they likely won’t be in over their heads.In the ensuing eight days after their opener, they’ll take on the rest of their Group A opponents, including Australia, Greece, the defending Olympic champion Hungarians, and a freshly crowned European champion Montenegro squad. “I guarantee you,” noted Jovanovic. “Any of those five teams could win a medal . . . but any of those teams could be 11th as well. “It’s really, really tough. It’s not going to depend on one game.” |
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Canada’s top BMX racer not worried her brother coaches her rival.The Canadian Press - It might be interesting to hear the conversation around the family dinner table after the Olympics if BMX racer Sam Cools is edged out of a spot on the podium by rival Sarah Walker of New Zealand. Cools, a native of Airdrie, Alta., will be the lone woman wearing the Maple Leaf when the jump-and-pedal sport of BMX bicycle racing makes its Olympic debut at the Beijing Summer Games. Her brother Ken coaches the New Zealand team, with Walker as its star. No biggie, says Cools. She’s happy for her brother. She’ll be happier if she can beat Walker. “It doesn’t affect me at all,” Cools said during a recent conference call from Aigle, Switzerland, where she trains with her coach Herve Krebs. “Me and Sarah are two completely different athletes. “The most important thing is to have confidence in what you can do and not worry about other people. I think Sarah is a very lucky girl to be training with my brother. She should take that opportunity and knowledge from him and put it towards her Olympic dream. I just believe in my coach (Krebs) and that together we can do what it takes to be on top of that podium.” Cools, 22, heads into the Olympics as the top North American and is ranked seventh in the world by the International Cycling Union. Walker is the overall women’s leader. Cools has been battling a neck injury all season but finished fifth at the recent BMX world championships in Taiyaun, China. “I’m training like I don’t have any injury,” she said. “I just need to keep that in mind and keep on pushing through it. “Now I just have to concentrate on that one race and to perform on those two days. My training has stepped up so much more, mainly because of the motivation and just wanting to see the end of the road. Just being able to go and grab it.” |
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Pain gambles on Olympic gain; Calgarian endures personal strain to pursue gold in Vancouver.The Calgary Herald - Full-time business owner, full-time dad and full-time athlete do not mix very well, so Jeff Pain had to decide which one would take the hit. He closed his landscaping business last year and has since committed himself to his goal of the 2010 Winter Olympics and, of course, his family. “It was difficult to balance the three things,” says Pain. “I’m sure all of them suffered a little bit.” Pain, 37, got involved with the sport of skeleton in the winter of 1994. Since then, he has had some impressive finishes at World Cup competitions, as well as a sixth-place finish at the 2002 Olympics and a second-place one in 2006. He is currently ranked 12th in the world, but over the past six years, has moved from 27th to second, to first. Pain is one of thousands of athletes who have sacrificed careers and financial comfort in order to chase a dream. This dream is the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. “The commitment to go to Vancouver and give it everything I have comes with a price and that price is mostly financial,” says Pain. “At the end of this year, we’ll be in a negative cash flow situation, but it’s a once in a lifetime to have an Olympics in Canada, and I have to do this. Before he “fired himself” from DesignScapes, his arrival home each night was much later and the focus on his business was not what it needed to be. “I reached the point where being a full-time business owner and a full-time athlete reached the peak of potential. I needed to make a choice, so I decided to focus on my training.” This year is Pain’s first of full-time training and he has seen a drastic improvement. “I’m just better all around in every aspect of sliding,” he says. “The physical aspect, the mental aspect, the flexibility aspect and the preparation of my equipment. . . . I’m focusing on the details because anybody can do the basics.” Not only has Pain’s ability in skeleton improved, but other facets of his life have as well. He has seen a change in his family life, as the financial situation is his only remaining stress. “That’s the biggest stress left in my life,” says Pain. “But my family and wife are willing to suffer a little bit to help me reach the dream.” The dream: to slide down the skeleton track in Vancouver on his 35-kilogram sled at speeds anywhere from 115 to 135 km/h. It will only take him 50 to 65 seconds to make it to the bottom, to determine whether or not he has achieved that dream. hat will be the measure of whether the pain has been worth it. |
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Packing for Beijing; The yachts and water bottles are already there. Horses are next.Maclean’s - He may be the best athlete in the world in his discipline, a study in grace and power at the peak of his career. He is one of Canada’s great hopes for Olympic gold in China, so when he flies off to compete in early August you’d better believe he’ll have kid-glove treatment. Extra legroom? Naturally. Special food and drink? Of course. Flight attendants will monitor his moods and wants. They’ll whisper encouragement and feed him snacks on takeoff and landing to sooth his warrior spirit and to make his ears pop. Athletes like Hickstead (he goes by but a single name) don’t want their ears bothered by changes in air pressure, says Mike Gallagher, one of those charged with meeting his needs. “Their ears will plug up and they don’t understand what’s happening to them, just like a baby,” he says. “They can’t cry, but they can start kicking.” You don’t want kicking. Hickstead is a very large stallion. He is the four-legged half of the Olympic duo that includes rider Eric Lamaze. Without Hickstead, Lamaze would be at considerable disadvantage clambering alone over the equestrian jumps in the Olympic show ring of the storied Hong Kong Jockey Club. Hickstead is one of 19 Canadian horses to be airlifted to Hong Kong, where the equestrian events will be staged for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, says Gallagher, equestrian team leader. If you’ve ever flown with young children, you can imagine just some of the challenges—and the piles of equipment—that entails. Getting to the Olympics in any sport is about sweating the details, for athlete and organizer alike. Behind—well, ahead of—Canada’s 330-odd athletes on the road to China are the team leaders and a world-class crew of planners, packers and bearers. They climb mountains of paperwork, ford bureaucratic swamps and clairvoyantly anticipate their athletes’ needs and emergencies six months or a year ahead of time. They toil, so, when the time comes in Beijing, Canada’s wrestling team will have its portable sauna and the yachting association will have its flotilla of boats as well as team leader Evert Bastet’s supply of Raisin Bran. “He can’t seem to eat anything else for breakfast,” says head coach Ken Dool. At the head of this supply convoy is Carla Anderson, the Canadian Olympic Committee’s manager of operations. She’s been dispatching equipment by sea and air to major sporting events since her first Olympics in 1992. When the Games open, athletes can expect a mini Canadian city in the midst of the Beijing athletes’ village, she promises. As many as possible of the bulky and heavy items were loaded in April into five 12-m-long shipping containers, which left Vancouver in mid-May. Inside are sailboats, long, frail rowing shells and canoes. There is an entire stand-alone health centre staffed by nine Canadian doctors. It offers a full pharmacy, from painkillers to condoms, almost every medical procedure short of surgery, and a “wellness centre” including massages, physiotherapy and ice baths to combat the heat, says Antoine Atallah, medical mission manager. “They feel like home and they can expect the same quality [care],” he says. “Sometimes better.” The cycling association has shipped 1,000 empty water bottles in the sea lift, but its 15 riders insist on taking their bikes on the plane with them. “It’s kind of like letting go of that blanket when you’re a little kid,” says high performance manager Sean O’Donnell. The COC added a new initiative in Beijing: a fully equipped gym and training centre, “strictly reserved for Canadians,” says Anderson. It’s one more way to lessen culture shock and make athletes feel at home. Included in the sea lift is a clothing store of uniforms for opening ceremonies, events, medal presentations and casual wear. It was packed months before many of the teams and athletes were selected, making size selection a challenge. As a result, two seamstresses will be on site for alterations, says Anderson. By late June, the containers of Olympic essentials were somewhere on the Pacific Ocean—still aboard ship, she hoped. Did you know, she asks, there’s an industry dedicated to salvaging containers that fall off ships? “If I have nightmares, it’s that the team clothing is at the bottom of the ocean.” By mid-July, however, the containers had arrived at the Beijing warehouse. “I’m not saying anything to jinx us,” she said, not yet ready to relax, “as it is in customs but not yet cleared.” In fact, the COC leaves the fine detail, if not the worry, to experts. The sea and air freight, customs clearance and warehousing in Beijing is handled by Schenker of Canada, a transport logistics company with a specialized sports events division. Carlson Wagonlit Travel handles arrangements for about 700 members of the Canadian delegation. The team includes—in addition to athletes, coaches, sports psychologists, physiologists and physiotherapists—such exotic additions as a meteorologist for the sailing team and a blacksmith. |
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Swim Team To Get Inspirational Send Off by Calgary Businessman.WINNIPEG, MANITOBA – Pierre Lafontaine, CEO and National Coach of Swimming Canada, today announced that W. Brett Wilson, Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and panelist on CBC Dragons Den, has been invited to speak to the team as part of their final preparations for the Olympic Games. Mr. Wilson is a powerful speaker who has been invited to share his inspirational message about success. Wilson, himself a one-time competitive swimmer, is Swimming Canada’s largest private donor, having made a gift of $50,000 in support of the men’s 400 and 800 relay teams. An avid supporter of competitive swimming, Wilson was inspired by the stories he heard about the teams’ incredible potential for success in 2008. “Brett is an inspiration to many people and his involvement with us has been an honor. Not many people get involved like Brett has, and I believe that the swimmers can gain valuable life lessons from his inspirational message and commitment to excellence,” said Lafontaine. Mr. Wilson will speak about his personal experience about the sacrifice, discipline and commitment required to get to the top of your game. “These Olympians are examples of what happens when you commit to a life focused on passion and priorities, and have the discipline and commitment to follow through. As a father, a businessman, and a Canadian, I can say that these swimmers are inspirations to all of us,” said Wilson. |
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The Lucky Loonie Gets Minted VANOC -
In time for the Beijing 2008 Games, the Royal Canadian Mint has brought back the Lucky Loonie — a special edition of the familiar one dollar coin featuring a Canadian loon landing on the water. The Mint is also inviting Canadians to visit mint.ca/goodluck to share their personal stories of good luck and for a chance to win a one-ounce 2008 gold maple leaf coin and other Royal Canadian Mint Olympic-themed keepsakes. “Canadians from coast to coast can wish our athletes luck by giving athletes special coins produced by the Royal Canadian Mint, including the 2008 Lucky Loonie,” said Ian E. Bennett, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Canadian Mint. Designed by Quebec wildlife artist Jean-Luc Grondin, the Lucky Loonies are distributed exclusively by RBC Royal Bank, a premier national partner of the 2010 Winter Games . Ten million of the 2008 Lucky Loonies have been issued and are now available at RBC branches across Canada. |
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Beijing Olympic events sold out.CBC Sports - Beijing is on its way to being the first Olympic Games to sell out after organizers announced Monday that all tickets for events in the city itself had been sold. There are still tickets available for events held at venues outside of Beijing, including batches for preliminary round soccer matches in the cities of Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao. However, Li Dan, an official with the organizers’ ticketing centre, said he expects those remaining tickets will also all be sold. “We’re still counting the number of remaining tickets, and it’s hard to say when they’ll be sold out.” Although all tickets have been sold, many went to sponsors and Olympic committees of countries participating in the Games, which might result in empty seats at some events. A final 250,000 tickets were released Friday, prompting 30,000 people who had been in line for up to two days to swarm a ticket centre. Police avoided a stampede by using metal barricades and shoving and kicking people in the crowd. Organizers had to adopt a lottery system for ticket sales in November after overwhelming volume crashed the computerized system. The demand for tickets in Beijing has surpassed that of Athens, where only about two-thirds of the 5.3 million available tickets were sold, leaving many empty seats at events. |
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