Canadian Canoe Museum Special Exhibition

Don't miss the new page on OHCanada Sports dedicated to the sport of sprint paddling and the Canadian Canoe Museum's exhibition. Click here.

In celebration of the upcoming Pan Am Games and the 2016 Olympic Games, the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough have opened a special exhibition on the sport of sprint paddling (canoe/kayak). I was thrilled to play a small part in this exhibit with one of the photos I have taken being used for the title banner.

Here is the original photo I took at the Mazda Canoe Kayak Knockout event in September 2011 (you can read my blog post and see other photos here):

This is the title banner that they created:

Needless to say that I was thrilled to attend the event and see my (edited) photo on display.

The exhibit is incredible. What a collection of canoes and kayaks they have on display dating back to the 1800's. The exhibit focuses on the history of the sport, the boats as well as the athletes.

"While the roots of canoe racing are indeed ancient, there has been a singular momentum over the last 150 years that has lead to the development of a sport known today as Canoe Sprint." 

"Since its beginnings 150 years ago, it has been the participants and athletes who have had the strongest voice in shaping the sport of canoeing".

They explained the significance of Canada with regards to the sport of sprint paddling.

"By the late 19th century a highlight event held at North American canoeing assemblies was the "War Canoe" race." 

"When the American Canoe Association (ACA) did not demonstrate adequate attention in the cultivation of these events, a Canadian faction split off and formed the Canadian Canoe Association. This organization would later become known as CanoeKayak Canada". 

"The rest of the world would come to call these [war canoes] "Canadian canoes".

They also have various boats that have been used by Olympians over the past few decades, most notably as perched on the right of these photos, Mark Oldershaw's canoe and Adam van Koeverden's kayak.

Although this canoe and kayak are the most recognizable to canoe sprint fans today, it was fascinating to see older boats from previous Olympics like the tandem canoe used by John Beedell and Joseph Derochie at the 1960 Rome Olympics or the Delta Model C1 that Larry Cain won two medals racing at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics (gold in 500m C1 and silver in 1000 C1).

There are biographies throughout the exhibit for many prominent Canadian paddlers.

Para Canoe is also represented.

It's not only canoes and kayaks that are on display at the Canadian Canoe Museum. There is an Adam van Koeverden memorabilia exhibit including three of his Olympic medals.

"Displayed here are a number of items on loan from Adam's family." 

"As this carefully preserved collection of memorabilia suggests, an athlete's family shares equally in all of an athlete's joys and accomplishments."

You can even try your hand at kayaking on the kayak simulator or see if you could keep your balance on the tipping kayak challenge.

This is only a small sample of the items on display at the exhibit. I don't want to give everything away.  It was really worth the drive to Peterborough to see this amazing exhibit. I look forward to returning. There are so many vessels on display and so much to read, that I couldn't absorb it all on opening night especially with the crowd that was present that evening. The exhibit will run until the Rio Olympics in 2016. I highly recommend a visit to the Canadian Canoe Museum before then.

The museum is located at 910 Monaghan Road in Peterborough.

Hours of operation:

Monday to Wednesday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Friday & Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday: Noon to 5 p.m.

The Museum is open daily except for December 25 and 26, January 1 and 2. On December 24 the Museum closes at 2:00pm.

Click here to visit their website.

Follow them on:
Twitter @CndnCanoeMuseum.

Facebook /CndnCanoeMuseum.

If you were directed to this post directly, don't miss the new page on OHCanada Sports dedicated to the sport of sprint paddling and the Canadian Canoe Museum's exhibition. Click here.

New Exhibition Opens at The Canadian Canoe Museum

The following invitation for the special exhibit opening at the Canadian Canoe Museum on April 22 was sent to me by Jeremy Ward, the museum's curator. He asked me to forward it to anyone who would be interested in attending the opening.

On a personal note, I originally took the photo in the title banner that they edited to give it the special effect.

You Are Invited!

New Exhibition Opens 
at The Canadian Canoe Museum

Wednesday April 22nd 7:30pm

When Wednesday April 22nd  7:30pm Where The Canadian Canoe Museum 910 Monaghan Road Peterborough ON K9J 5K4  Fee ~Free on Opening NightApril 22nd at 7:30pm ~Included with Regular Admission after Opening Night

Join Us  April 22nd 7:30pm In celebration of the Toronto 2015 Pan American/Parapan American Games The Canadian Canoe Museum is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of an engaging, interactive exhibition that captures the spirit, excitement and legacy of this sport.  The exhibition opens Wednesday April 22nd at 7:30pm to the public and is free of charge on this evening.

More about Skimming the Surface...

This bilingual exhibition showcases a range of sprint canoes and kayaks drawn from its world-renown collection of over 600 watercraft and that illustrate a century and a half of competitive sport history. They also illustrate the radical changes and innovations to the hull shape and design in these high-performance boats.  While Canoe Sprint is popular around the world, the exhibition also highlights the unique contributions of a dozen Canadian athletes who have, in their own way, contributed to shaping this sport today. Whether they showed remarkable grace on the course, fought for more inclusivity of female and disabled athletes within the sport, set an unbeaten world record, helped to use sport and play to enhance child development in disadvantaged regions, or were also the family that supported the athlete, Canadians have much to be proud of.  This exhibition has allowed the Museum the opportunity to present a unique, comprehensive history of a thriving international sport with strong links to Peterborough's own history.

Looking forward to seeing you soon! Sincerely, Jeremy Ward Curator

Canoe Kayak Team Trials - Part 1

The National team trials were held at the beautiful and serene-looking Welland International Flatwater Centre this past weekend.

Don't believe for a moment that it stayed serene. This picture perfect moment was short-lived when the paddlers took to the water to give their all while their friends and family cheered them on. The wind gusts on Saturday made conditions extremely challenging. Saturday and Sunday were quite windy so the water did not stay this calm. Also breaking the serenity was the construction of the venue which is ongoing as they prepare to host the U23 and Junior World Championships at the beginning of August. The left side of the venue was closed to spectators this past weekend.

The event was a great opportunity to see Olympians (and Olympic medallists) in action as well as upcoming juniors and future Olympians.

Watching canoe/kayak in person is quite different to watching it on television where the paddlers are followed throughout the race, especially the 1000m races. I positioned myself in the last 200m so the view of the start of the longer races was not visible. During 200m races, I had a great view of the start and finish.

In order for racing to not look like this all day...



it helps to have binoculars or a zoom lens. Here is Olympic bronze medallist Mark Oldershaw who would win the C1-1000m event.

Olympian Jason McCoombs was the class of the field in the C1-200m with Mark Oldershaw finishing 2nd. You can see the difference in the conditions on Day 2.

Olympic multi-medallist and flag bearer Adam van Koeverden partnered with 2008 Olympian Brady Reardon to win the K2-1000m event.

One of the big excitements of the day was watching the K2-200m men battle for the single spot to represent Canada at the World Championships. Olympic K2 paddlers Ryan Cochrane and Hugues Fournel have been trying different combinations of partners this past spring. For these trials, Hugues partnered with Etienne Morneau while Ryan partnered with 2008 Olympian Richard Dober Jr. The pairs needed to win two races on the weekend with one race held each day. A tie-breaker would be held Sunday if needed.



No matter what the combination, they were going to be close races. The intensity of the moment increased with the only false start I witnessed on the weekend.

Here's the video for Race 1.
Lane 5 Ryan Cochrane, Richard Dober Jr
Lane 6 Hugues Fournel, Étienne Morneau
The first race was won by Cochrane and Dober Jr by 0.094 seconds.

It was super close at the half way point of the second final on Saturday with the pairs switching lanes. Morneau and Fournel are in lane 5 this time.

but in the end, Ryan and Richard won again to secure the World Championship spot.

Sunday morning, the K1-200m final was extremely close at the half way point in the race.

With most of the races won in the middle lanes and with SportCafé co-founder Etienne Morneau in lane 4, I was focused on these lanes. It looked like he had won it, but Shaun Fair in lane 8 (black t-shirt in red kayak at the top of the photo) came through with the win, 0.006 seconds ahead of Etienne.

It wasn't the only close race of the day. The K1-1000m saw Jarret Kanke in lane 9 win by 0.002 seconds over 2008 Olympian Angus Mortimer.

Here is Kanke in lane 3 during his heat.

I unfortunately didn't stay for the final that was being held after lunch.  I decided to return to Toronto for my daughter's consolation final soccer game. I missed a great kayak final but saw a great soccer one!

I can't end my first post without a photo of SportCafé co-founder Antoine Meunier who competed in the C1-200m. He unfortunately did not qualify for the A final, but comfortably won the B final by 2.5 seconds.

Stay tuned for future posts about the women and junior competitions.

Click here to view the team selection for the World Championships.

Heartbeat Highlights

Here are some of the Canadian highlights from the past week in sports:

New Canadian High Jump Record

Olympic bronze medallist, Derek Drouin broke the Canadian record in the high jump at the Prefontaine Classic. It's a shame that Canadian broadcasters weren't covering the Diamond League meet this past weekend. Although NBC showed a few of the jumpers, they didn't show Drouin's bronze medal performance (or I missed it).

Here's the video of his record-breaking jump:



Click here for his post event interview.

Sheila Reid posted a personal best time of 4:02.96 while coming in 6th in the 1500m final and reaching the A standard. It's her first time running faster than 4:07. Click here for the race video and here for an informative and entertaining post race interview.

In the 800m National final, Melissa Bishop finished 2nd reaching the B standard. Click here for the race video and here for the post-race interview.

CanoeKayak World Cup #3

The Canadian CanoeKayak team won thirteen medals this past weekend. It was wonderful to see the coverage on Sportsnet and see (in HD) our athletes who are on the road to Rio race against some of the best in the world.

You can watch the A Finals by clicking here, then choosing the individual races (or just let the videos play back to back). Unfortunately, women's canoe and 5000m races are not televised.

Gold:

• Ben Russell and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny - Men's C2 1000m (race video)
• Mark de Jonge - Men's K1 200m (race video)
• Laurence Vincent-Lapointe - Women's C1 200m
• Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Sara-Jane Caumartin - Women's C2 500m
• Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny - Men's C1 5000m

Silver:

• Geneviève Beauchesne-Sévigny and KC Fraser - K2 500m (race video)
• Adam van Koeverden and Brady Reardon - K2 1000m (race video)
• Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny and Pierre-Luc Laliberte - Men's C2 200m (race video)
• Émilie Fournel - Women's K1 5000m

Bronze:

• Étienne Beauchesne, Marshall Hughes, Philippe Duchesneau and Sam Roworth - Men's K4 1000m
• Adam van Koeverden & Brady Reardon - Men's K2 500m
• Geneviève Beauchesne-Sévigny, KC Fraser, Una Lounder and Émilie Fournel - Women's K4 500 (race video)
• Geneviève Beauchesne-Sévigny and KC Fraser - Women's K2 200m (race video)

The Canadian K2 200m teams shook things up this past weekend.

At the World Cup #2, London 2012 team Ryan Cochrane and Hugues Fournel came in 7th in the K2-200m, one and a half seconds back from the winners from Russia. Etienne Morneau and Richard Dober Jr. were 3rd in the B Final.

This weekend, Cochrane teamed up with Morneau and Fournel teamed up with Dober Jr. Both teams made the A Final this time with Cochrane and Morneau winning their heat to go straight to the final. Fournel and Dober were second in their heat to the Russians then second to the Argentinians in the semi-final.

In the final it was the team of Fournel and Dober who would be the top Canadian team finishing 4th just over one second behind the powerful Russian team in a very close finish for 3rd with 0.2 seconds separating 3rd from 6th. Cochrane and Morneau could not duplicate their heat performance finishing 9th in the final.

Full Canadian results can be found here for Day1 and here for Day 2. The Canadian team are now coming back to Canada in preparation for Team Trials #2 being held in Welland on June 21-23.

Swimming U.S. Grand Prix

It was great to see our Canadian swimmers performing well at the U.S. Grand Prix in Santa Clara televised on Sportsnet on the weekend.

Top results included:

Gold:

• Audrey Lacroix - women's 200m butterfly
• Ryan Cochrane, Alec Page, Keegan Zanatta and Jeremy Bagshaw - men's 4x200m freestyle relay
• Katerine Savard - women's 100m butterfly

Silver:

• Alexa Komarnycky - women's 800m freestyle
• Alexa Komarnycky - women's 400m freestyle
• Hannah Riordan, Victoria Poon, Sandrine Mainville and Barbara Jardin - women's 4x100m freestyle
• Hassaan Abdel-Khalik, Blake Worsley, Frank Despond, Aly Abdel-Khalik - men's 4x200m freestyle relay

Bronze:

• Paige Schultz, Bridget Coley, Kennedy Goss and Heather Maitland women's 4x200m freestyle relay
• Hiilary Caldwell - women's 200m backstroke
• Ryan Cochrane - men's 400m freestyle
• Ryan Cochrane - men's 800m freestyle

Full results can be found here.

Heartbeat Highlights

Here are some highlights from the past week in Canadian sports.

The SportCafé website is a great place to see posts from athletes about their personal experiences. The Latest News section also have news from Canadian sports organizations.

This week's highlight posts include:

• Lex Albrecht with a post that includes a behind-the-scenes video at the Chrono Gatineau this past weekend. Click here (will be added to SportCafé website shortly).
• Rachel Siemens competed at the Canadian Weightlifting Championships where she finished 3rd. I love her enthusiasm and insight in her post. She also shared great photos. Click here.
• Sport Climbing isn't in the Olympics yet, but it is in the running to be included in 2020. Sean McColl was 4th this past weekend at the Innsbruck World Cup. He wrote a great photo blog that gives us an appreciation for sport climbing. Click here. If you prefer to read the post from his World Cup victory the week before in Log-Dragomer, Slovenia, click here. If Sean's posts have piqued your curiosity, check out the IFSC Climbing channel with videos from the Innsbruck and Log-Dragomer World Cups. You can also see him compete at the World Cup being held in Hamilton on June 1st and 2nd. Click here for more detail.

Canoe-Kayak Sprint World Cup #2

Canada's Canoe/Kayak team competed in Racice, Czech Republic this past weekend.

If you missed Sportsnet telecast on the weekend, you can view race videos by clicking here.

You can view full race results here including A finals, B finals, semi-finals and heats.

Result highlights include three gold medals for Canada, although in non-Olympic events. Unfortunately these events were not televised on Sportsnet (and videos are not available on ICF's website).

Laurence Vincent-Lapointe won gold in the C1 200m and partnered with Sara-Jane Caumartin to win the C2 500m. You can view an interview with Laurence here. Last fall the International Canoe Federation decided to not include women's canoe at the 2016 Olympics however it will be at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto.

Paul Bryant won gold in the C1 5000. He was 5th in the C1 500.

Other medallists included Genevieve Beauchesne-Sevigny and KC Fraser winning bronze in the K2 Women 500m (view race video here) and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny and Roland Varga in C2 Men 500m (no race video).

Diving

Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware won the silver in the 3m synchro event at a World Series event in Guadalajara, Mexico. Click here to watch the event video.

Jennifer Abel won the bronze in the 3m springboard event. Click here for the video.

In the 10m platform event, Roseline Filion won the bronze. Click here for the video.

Maxim Bouchard and Philippe Gagné were the silver medallists at a Grand Prix event in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the 10m platform event. Philippe Gagné also won the silver in the 10m platform event. At the same competition, Emma Friesen won the silver in the 3m springboard.

The Canadian diving team will be competing at the Summer Senior National Championships in Québec City this weekend to earn spots for the World Championships. The live feed will be available here starting Thursday.

Women's Sevens World Series

Rugby Sevens has been added for the 2016 Olympics.

Canada were finalists at the Cup Event held in Netherlands on the weekend.

Click here to watch video from the event.

They played the USA in the Quarter Finals (at the 1:15:15 mark on the video)

Canada met England in the semi-final (at the 4:16:30 mark)

The finals consisted of Canada and New Zealand. (at the 7:18:41 mark - although I wasn't able to get the video to work at this point. Hopefully it's an issue with my computer rather than with the video).

Here's a great article about Olympic champion Heather Moyse (bobsleigh) who played five of the six games at the event and is hoping to be chosen for the World Cup team.

Track and Field

Athletics Canada have posted Canadian results here.

Off the track, Olympian sprinters Nikkita Holder and Justyn Warner announced that they're expecting their first child on October 29th. You can read a great article about them here. Perfect timing to still be ready for Rio 2016.

Here's Justin's tweet from last week:

Justyn Warner ‏@justynwarner15 May

Look what I made #4months #October #JusKita http://instagram.com/p/ZVo4UHE8Qg/ 

Heartbeat Highlights

Here are the highlights in the amateur sporting world this past weekend.

Luge World Cup from Lake Placid
3rd Women's: Alex Gough

Speed Skating - Short Track
2nd Charles Cournoyer 1000m
2nd Marianne St. Gelais 500m
3rd Marie-Eve Drolet 1500m
3rd Guillaume Bastille1500m
2nd Women relay 3000m Valérie Maltais, Marianne St-Gelais, Marie-Ève Drolet and Jessica Hewitt

Snowboard
Caroline Calvé was fourth in Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom in Rogla, Slovenia, in so doing becoming the points leader in the World Cup standings.

Sochi Test Events
Snowboard and Ski Slopestyle Sochi test events were cancelled this week due to lack of snow, rain and warm weather.

Bobsleigh and skeleton training have been cancelled due to poor track conditions.

Sochi is quite far south and has warm climate, similar to Vancouver. Organizers have built vast underground vaults in order to store snow for the Olympics so hopefully lack of snow will not be a problem next year.

Judo Grand Slam - Paris
Kelita Zupancic - 2nd 70kg
Catherine Roberge - 3rd 78kg

Read Judo Canada's report here.

Click here for video. Final 70kg starts at 1:13:30 mark.

Click here for video of Can vs Can bronze medal match 78kg. It starts at 32:00 mark.

Olympic bronze medallist Antoine Valois-Fortier shared the video of his fight being confused and frustrated at his disqualification according to the new rules that were implemented this weekend. Click here for video.

Figure Skating - Four Continents
This event will be televised starting on February 23 on CBC.

Pairs
1st Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford
2nd Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch

Ice Dancing
2nd Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir

Men's
1st Ryan Reynolds

Objectif Sotchi 

Animé par Marc Durand, Objectif Sotchi est diffusé chaque samedi à 14 h 00 à Radio-Canada. Regardez l'émission du 9 février ici.

En Route Vers Les Olympiques Avec 1 an avant les Olympiques 2014, Marie-José Turcotte anime En Route Vers Les Olympiques, qui nous introduit à Sotchi, qui parle de nos espoirs pour les Jeux et inclue les invités Charles Hamelin, Caroline Ouellette, Dominique Maltais, Alex Bilodeau, et les trois soeurs qui espèrent tous être sur l'équipe de bosses, Maxime, Chloé et Justine Dufour-Lapointe.
Regardez l'émission spéciale ici.

News

Women's C1 will be at Pan-Am Games in Toronto.
It was announced last week that C1 Sprint and C1 Slalom will be part of the Pan-Am Games in 2015 in Toronto. More info.

Women's C1 is not an Olympic sport. Last fall the International Canoe Federation decided to not include women's canoe in the 2016 Olympics. There was quite a discussion about this issue with the media, athletes and fans voicing opinions on whether it should be included or not. It's a complicated issue that includes a Catch-22. Without funding, it's difficult to grow the sport to a level that gets it included. Without it being included in the Olympics, it's difficult to get funding and sponsors. What comes first? Funding/growth or inclusion?

Perhaps Pan-Am inclusion is a step towards being included in the Olympics.

This is great news for Canada. Laurence Vincent-Lapointe, a 20-year old from Trois-Rivières, has won the past two World Championships in the C1 200m event. I was lucky to see her in action a couple of years ago.

2014 Olympics tickets 
Even if you don't qualify to compete in Sochi, you can buy your ticket to attend the Games.

Tickets are on sale today at www.cosport.ca

Mazda Canoe Kayak Knockout

The Canadian Canoe and Kayak team was in Toronto to compete in the Mazda Canoe Kayak Knockout event yesterday.

It is such a fun event. They really should promote it better. The only reason I knew about it was because I went to the Canoe Kayak Canada website to see the schedule of events having learned of this event after the fact last year. I didn't want to miss my chance at seeing Adam van Koeverden race this year.

The event has a Facebook Page and Twitter account, but they're not updated very often. It's sad because this was a wonderful opportunity to see our national team up close heading into the London 2012 Olympics. There was also an autograph session where you could meet each member of the national team.

The events included Men's K-1, Women's K-1, Men's C-1, Women's C-1, Paracanoe and junior K1 and junior C1. Team members who would normally race K-2 or C-2 were racing on their own.

Each event would have multiple races. After each race, the slowest competitors are knocked out. Although the races are 200m (and so a sprint), there is strategy involved to try to ensure the racer doesn't get knocked out, and at the same time maintains enough energy for the following races.

The men's K1 had the most competitors starting with 39.

The top 18 moved on after the first race. In the third race, the top 14 moved on followed by the top 10 and the top 6. There were plenty of opportunities to see our favourites race and get different viewpoints.

After qualifying, the racers would paddle back to the starting line passing right by the spectators which allowed some great photos to be taken.

(Ian Mortimer)

Although Adam van Koeverden is the reason I went, I was excited to see the rest of the Canadian team including:

Mark Oldershaw

Mark de Jonge

Richard Dalton

19 year old World Champion Laurence Vincent-Lapointe

up and coming Juniors including Etienne Beauchesne:

and many more.

Results:
Men's Kayak
1. Mark de Jonge
2. Richard Dober
3. Ryan Cochrane

Women's Kayak
1. Kathleen Carole Fraser
2. Genny Orton
3. Mylanie Barre

Men's Canoe
1. Richard Dalton
2. Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny
3. Andrew Russell

Women's Canoe
1. Laurence Vincent-Lapointe
2. Mallorie Nicholson
3. Taylor Potts

Can't wait for London 2012!!

Kayak Competitions

Great Source for Adam van Koeverden's schedule and results: www.canoekayak.ca

photos and blog: www.vankayak.com

World Cup #3 May 27-29, 2011

Duisburg, Germany

http://www.kanuduisburg.de/cms/

• Silver in 1000m
• Silver in 500m

"I had a good race today in the 1000m final. Rene Poulsen (DEN) was the weltcupmeister with a fast 3:27, I finished a close 2nd also in 3:27... Eirik "2nd-half" Veraas Larsen made a late charge for the bronze. Good Battle Fellas!!"

from www.vankayak.com

World Cup #2 May 21-22, 2011

Racice, Cze

http://www.racice2011.com/

• 4th in 1000m
• 2nd in 5000m

"I had a really good race, but I came in 4th place. I wanted to practice something different, and it went really well, so I'm stoked and ready to race Duisburg next week!"

from www.vankayak.com

Athlete Profile: Adam van Koeverden

My first athlete page is dedicated to Adam van Koeverden.

Adam's blog: www.vankayak.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/vankayak

Adam carried the flag for Canada at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I wrote at the time:

The highlight for me definitely has to be when the Canadians walked in (isn't it every time?). I loved Adam van Koeverden as our flag bearer. I loved his enthusiasm. I loved the way he was waving the flag like if it was much smaller and lighter (as opposed to many flag bearers who let it sit in the holster). The mother in me was thinking - don't injure yourself - but as a viewer, I loved it.

He has won 3 Olympic medals.

• Gold in the K1 500m in Athens 2004
• Silver in the K1 1000m in Beijing 2008
• Bronze in the 1000m in Athens 2004

In 2008, this is what I wrote on my personal blog:

"When I saw Adam's reaction with his hand on his face this morning after losing his race, I wanted to cry. He was so awesome all week. I woke up one morning this week relieved that I had only dreamed that he didn't win a medal in his race (seriously, I did). I thought it was inconceivable for him to not win two medals. I was in shock as I watched him fade at the end of his race. You could feel his pain and dejection as he was interviewed afterwards. He wore his heart on his sleeve especially when he looked in the camera and said "I'm sorry". You could see how devastated he was. This is one of the moments in this Olympics that has brought very strong emotions in me. There were such high hopes for him. He was one of our biggest hopes for medals. He knew it. The country knew it. I thought he could win a medal in his sleep (but would have to be awake for gold). I keep hoping that I'm dreaming (as I'm sure he does). Hopefully he puts it behind him and wins gold tomorrow in the 500. I refuse to believe in the flagbearer curse."

I was happy a few days later to post the following:

"I can't say enough about Adam van Koeverden. He is an inspiration when he wins and when he doesn't. He was so eloquent in his interviews. He wore his heart on his sleeve. On his website, he said that a great friend told him "Our time in the valleys helps us truly appreciate the views from the mountain tops". If he had been told before the Games that he would come home with a silver medal, he would have been disappointed. Having had a horrendous first race (for him), he truly appreciated the silver medal (eventhough he would have preferred gold). 

I found out he won silver before I saw his race (if I had been home, I might have woken up at 3:30am to watch it live). I felt so sad for him. Then I saw the race. He's leading by a lot. The commentators are saying he's going to win, then the others start catching him (I'm thankful that I know he won't win so I don't get overly excited or disappointed). Then the results come up. First to Australia. Second to Great Britain. His shoulders slump. I can see his disappointment (he later says he's scared he won't be on the podium and will want to go and hide somewhere). Then they remove Great Britain and put his name for silver. 

It was so great to see him happy with silver when the country expected double gold."

You can follow his activities on Twitter or on his blog. You can view the races from the link I got from his website at the time:
http://video.digotel.com/eurovisionbest/icf/index.html It's at times like these that I appreciate the internet. A few years ago, we may have gotten results in the newspapers. Now, we can actually see the races.

I can't remember when I started following his blog and him on Twitter, but there was a time when I saw that there was an Adam van Koeverden Street in Oakville. I vowed to go there some day to see it. By chance a couple of weeks ago (May 14th), I was attending an event at the Oakville Club. As I'm approaching the club, I look up and see tthe Water Street sign that has been ceremoniously named Adam van Koeverden Street.

I love that my Mothers On Fire event has brought me to Adam van Koeverden Street, since they were instrumental on getting me to realize my dream to attend the 2010 Olympics.

Olympic Memorable Moments (part one)

Originally posted on My Life Is Like A Song on August 22, 2008

I will write about my Canadian moments for now. I am saving up my international highlights for next week.

So here goes:

Carol Huynh (wrestling gold) on the podium - when she put her hand over her mouth - overwhelmed by emotion.

"and the anthem all Canadians have been waiting to hear"

This is one of my most vivid memories of the Olympics.

A hand on the face going from ecstasy to agony.

(not my photo)

When I saw this reaction by Adam van Koeverden this morning, I wanted to cry.  I woke up one morning this week relieved that I had only dreamed that he didn't win a medal in his race (seriously, I did). I thought it was inconceivable for him to not win two medals. I was in shock as I watched him fade at the end of his race. You could feel his pain and dejection as he was interviewed afterwards. He wore his heart on his sleeve especially when he looked in the camera and said "I'm sorry". This is one of the moments in this Olympics that has brought very strong emotions in me. There were such high hopes for him. He was one of our biggest hopes for medals. He knew it. The country knew it. I thought he could win a medal in his sleep (but would have to be awake for gold). Hopefully he puts it behind him and wins gold tomorrow in the 500. I refuse to believe in the flagbearer curse.

Another memorable moment for me was watching the gutsy run by Simon Whitfield in the triathlon. Man, as optomistic as I like to be, I thought he was done (a number of times) but especially when three runners start to pull away from him near the end. The commentator says that Simon had just said the other day that he did not want to be 4th. I'm thinking...ahh man - there isn't even anyone around to pass him so he can be 5th...lol.

Then, I see him throw his hat down. My first reaction is that he's annoyed that he's going to be 4th (has nothing left in the tank) or he's p*$#'d off and decides to go for it...ok, I was a little dramatic - perhaps he always takes his hat off for his final sprint, but that image is ingrained in my brain of seeing him throw his hat. Unfortunately, only those watching in HD could see this. I was recording in non-HD and it's not visible, so I'm glad I watched it live.

So I go from thinking he won't get a medal to thinking he's got it, he's going to win gold, to the final realization that he wins the silver...so moving...so exciting...what a roller coaster ride...definitely a highlight.

To see the video (although not in HD so you don't see him toss his hat) go to http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/ondemand/ You have to scroll to "day 11 triathlon highlights". It's at the 5 minute mark. [video no longer exists]

To add to the triathlon excitement, was to see Colin Jenkins finish the triathlon...jumping up and down like if he was the one who won a medal. What a great teammate. He was instrumental in Simon winning the medal (well, instrumental in ensuring he didn't lose it).

Actually Simon said something very interesting. The choice of Jenkins to the Olympic team was criticized in the media because he wasn't our 3rd fastest. He was chosen to help Simon in the first two legs (by staying near the front and keeping an eye on athletes who would make a charge and run away from the pack and letting Simon know). Then, at the Olympics, the media complains that Canada is not winning enough medals. So should we have sent 3 triathlon athletes to compete individually and none win a medal or should we have sent someone to help our best hope to win a medal?

Ryan Cochrane...winning our only swimming medal in the 1500m when we thought Canada's hopes of a swimming medal were over. Hadn't I read a few days earlier that Mike Brown had been our last hope at a swimming medal (when he finished 4th)?

Donovan Bailey's excitement about Usain Bolt. Can't help but smile when he's talking about him.

Ron McLean explaining that his mother passed away two hours earlier and that he's going home. He spoke so eloquently and my heart went out to him.

Luan Jujie...such an inspiring story of a 50 year old returning to her native China to compete for Canada...her adopted country (and winning one of her matches in fencing).

Ian Millar finally winning a medal in show jumping (after 9 Olympics) only a few months after his wife has passed away.

The determination and sheer grit of the men's 8 in rowing. When they received their gold medals, they showed such passion singing the national anthem (especially Adam Kreek) that Simon Whitfield wrote Sing Like Kreek on the handlebars of his bike.

Later edit: I found the video of O Canada.



Of the Olympics that I have seen, these have been my Canadian memorable moments so far. What about you?

You can read part two here.