My pick for Canada's flag bearer

It's 20 days until the Opening Ceremony.

The highlight for the Olympic Opening Ceremony for me is seeing our flag bearer enter the stadium followed by Team Canada. I also love to see all the countries' uniforms and who they chose as their flag bearer. Besides looking for international athletes I love, it also gives me an idea of who to watch for.

As much as I may like to see a "professional" athlete I love carry their country's flag, I love that the U.S. has stayed away from having a professional (NBA, NHL, tennis) player carry their flag. I love hearing the story behind the athlete they choose to lead their team (that I normally don't know and possibly most Americans don't know). Click here for one example.

I love trying to guess who will be Canada's flag bearer.

Here are our latest flag bearers:

Opening Ceremony:
2012 Simon Whitfield (triathlon)
2010 Clara Hughes (speed skating)
2008 Adam van Koeverden (kayak)
2006 Danielle Goyette (hockey)
2004 Nicolas Gill (judo)
2002 Catriona Le May Doan (speed skating)
2000 Caroline Brunet (kayak)
1998 Jean-Luc Brassard (freestyle skiing)
1996 Charmaine Crooks (athletics)
1994 Kurt Browning (figure skating)
1992 Mike Smith (athletics)
1992 Sylvie Daigle (short track speed skating)

Closing Ceremony:
2012 Christine Sinclair (soccer)
2010 Joannie Rochette (figure skating)
2008 Karen Cockburn (trampoline)
2006 Cindy Klassen (speed skating)
2004 Adam van Koeverden (kayak)
2002 Jamie Salé and David Pelletier (figure skating)
2000 Simon Whitfield (triathlon)
1998 Catriona Le May Doan (speed skating)
1996 Marnie McBean and Kathleen Heddle (rowing)
1994 Myriam Bedard (biathlon)
1992 Silken Laumann (rowing)
1992 Nathalie Lambert (short track speed skating)

That is quite a list of Canadian icons leading Team Canada in the past couple of decades. Quite a list to live up to. The past few Games, Canada has had a male flag bearer for the summer Olympics and a female for winter Olympics. Will the trend continue or will they switch it up in 2014? Although it has been a woman for the last four Closing Ceremonies.

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a flag bearer. We could choose someone with past success at the Olympics like:

• Jasey-Jay Anderson
• Alexandre Bilodeau
• Chandra Crawford
• Charles Hamelin
• Kaillie Humphries
• Ashleigh McIvor
• Denny Morrison
• Christine Nesbitt
• Maelle Ricker
• Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
• Women's hockey player
• Men's hockey player

We could choose someone who has excelled on the world stage who hasn't yet succeeded at the Olympics:

• Patrick Chan
• Justine Dufour-Lapointe
• Alex Gough
• Erik Guay
• Roz Groenewould
• Alex Harvey
• Devon Kershaw
• Mikaël Kingsbury
• Mark McMorris
• Spencer O'Brien
• Kaya Turski

Being a veteran or leader is a great quality for a flag bearer:

• Chandra Crawford
• Erik Guay
• Charles Hamelin
• Alex Harvey
• Denny Morrison
• Heather Moyse
• Christine Nesbitt
• Hayley Wickenheiser

We could choose someone with a great story like the U.S. have done in the past. 

• Jan Hudec who emigrated from Czech republic as an infant with his parents in a home- made raft. Has overcome multiple injuries.
• Larisa Yurkiw who funded her Olympic dream when she lost Alpine Canada funding last year while coming back from injury
• Heather Moyse (3 time Olympian, multi-sport athlete coming back from injury)
• Alex Harvey (making history in cross-country skiing, all in the family ... father is summer and winter Olympian)
• siblings - Hamelin brothers (father is Speed Skating Canada program director), Dufour-Lapointe sisters
• love story/2010 memorable moment - Charles Hamelin and Marianne St-Gelais

The competition schedule is a concern. Athletes competing the day after the Ceremony (or soon afterwards) often do not attend the Ceremony and wouldn't want to be flag bearer because it could affect their performance. Other athletes with their competition being in the second week may want to stay away from the craziness of the Olympic Games for as long as possible so may not be in Sochi for the Olympic ceremony.

Who does this cancel out? Quite a few, including Patrick Chan, Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir, Mark McMorris, Hayley Wickenheiser and Chandra Crawford.

Also looking at the past flag bearers, do we want to repeat recent sports who have been represented? 2010 speed skater, 2006 women's ice hockey, 2002 speed skating. Although worthy, this cancels out Christine Nesbitt and Haeley Wickenheiser.

Here is my short list of athletes to be Canada's flag bearer in 2014.

Alexandre Bilodeau
Pro - first gold medal on Canadian soil, if curse is real, another Canadian (Mikaël Kingsbury) could win gold (also sentimental for me having been at the moguls event to see him win gold in 2010)
Con - sportsmanship/frustration issues this season may put damper on leader criterion

Sydney Crosby
Pro - Although I would normally not want a professional athlete as flag bearer, the golden goal in 2010 ignited the country, we haven't had a male hockey player as flag bearer since 1948, he would need no introduction
Con - too mainstream/professional; has a NHL game that night - could he be in Sochi instead?

Erik Guay
Pro - most successful Canadian alpine skier with 21 World Cup podiums, crystal globe winner, world champion, downhill is well known and popular event
Con - has been SO close at the Olympics (4th and two 5ths), I'm worried about the flag bearer curse (I am SO hoping he medals in Sochi), also competes two days after the ceremony.

Charles Hamelin
Pro - 3-time Olympic medallist (2 gold within 30 minutes on home soil), 26-time World Champion medallist, family affair (brother, father, girlfriend)
Con - sport is high risk, so flag bearer curse could easily affect outcome

Alex Harvey
Pro - history making results in cross-country skiing (including 4 recent podiums of which 2 are wins), father is 2-time Olympian (1976 road cycling, 1988 cross-country skiing)
Con - has been SO close at the Olympics (4th), my fear of curse (especially with 4 recent podiums including 2 wins), competes 2 days later.

Kaillie Humphries
Pro - 2010 Olympic champion, perfect season last year
Con - competition starts Week 2 so may not be in Sochi, bobsleigh not as popular as other sports in Canada

History is being made at the 2014 Olympics with women being included in halfpipe and ski jumping. Slopestyle is also being added as a sport.

One of the major reasons for women freestyle skiing being added is Sarah Burke who lobbied the IOC for inclusion. I would love our flag bearer to be a tribute to Sarah who died January 19, 2012. Roz Groenewoud is an obvious candidate competing in the event that Sarah was the favourite to win Olympic gold. A recent injury and the event being scheduled in the second week makes me doubt that Roz would be available for the Opening Ceremony.

Another athlete inspired by Sarah is Kaya Turski who competes in slopestyle. As much as I would love to see Kaya carry the flag into the Opening Ceremony, I fear that Sarah and Kaya (or Roz) are not known enough in Canada for it to be a moment where Canada stands up with pride. It could be an opportunity however to share Sarah's story with a larger audience - especially with Canada Post releasing a Sarah Burke stamp as a pioneer of winter sports.

I received a tweet reply from Marc Durand, host of Objectif Sotchi on Radio-Canada.  He had a great idea to honour Sarah. Whoever we choose to be flag bearer could wear a Sarah sticker/patch on their uniform like many athletes do now. I would love for the whole team to wear a Sarah sticker/patch and the commentators to point it out and explain the significance.

So if the decision was up to me who would I choose as flag bearer? I would choose someone with experience and knowledge of what it takes to succeed and how to handle disappointment at Olympic Games. I would choose someone who is not competing within 48 hours of the ceremony. My choice doesn't "need" to win a medal to complete their career but are expected to medal. I would choose someone who has given us memorable moments and someone that the other athletes would be proud to follow into the stadium.

I would choose Charles Hamelin.

I don't have a vote though and I will be happy with whoever is chosen to lead Team Canada in to the Opening Ceremony.

Cheering for the Home Team

 

Most people cheer for the home team, but why is that?

I'm guilty of it. I live in Toronto and so I (casually) cheer for the Blue Jays, the Raptors, the Leafs, Toronto FC and the Toronto Rush (our new undefeated ultimate team). I live in Canada so I cheer for the Canadian Olympic Team, Team Canada, Ryder Hesjedal, Milos Raonic, Steve Nash (and whichever team he plays for), Jacques Villeneuve (and whatever team he drove for), etc. You get the picture.

I have been questioning that rationale recently when I was being criticized for cheering for an athlete instead of a team. I don't have an allegiance to a British football team. For the past decade I was cheering for the team that Michael Owen played on. I followed his career and when he retired last year, I wondered who I would cheer for. The argument was made that I should cheer for a team no matter who plays for it.

I have a problem with that. Why do we need to blindly follow a team even when we don't like the players (or the way they play)? I understand the irony of that question having already stated that I cheer for the Toronto teams. Perhaps my cheering for the Toronto teams is because I don't follow those sports that much so don't know any of the other teams enough to like them.

Of course, there are Torontonians who cheer against Toronto either just to be contrary to the mainstream, who have seen another team enough to prefer them or who want to cheer for winning teams. Is that only a Toronto phenomenon?

Another time that I was questioning blindly following athletes and teams was when I started cheering more passionately for the Blue Jays after Brett Lawrie joined the team. A Canadian playing for a Toronto team was too much to resist. The honeymoon phase lasted for a few months. He was exciting to watch and he was playing well. I started following him on Twitter, but eventually realized that the less I knew the better it was. Is it enough to cheer for someone because they're from our country or playing for our home team?

I thought I was a very patriotic fan. I always cheered for Canada (when they were competing - of course I also cheered for favourites from other countries that I knew). I was at a physio appointment in August 2000 when Daniel Nestor was having a conversation next to me about leaving for the Sydney Olympics the next day. It was exciting to have such a close encounter with an Olympian on the eve of the Games.

When Nestor was scheduled to play against my favourite tennis player at the time who was Australian, I thought I would cheer for both players. Without having a Canadian on the singles tour, I had started following this Australian who had caught my attention a few years before.

At the Olympics however, I found out that my allegiance to my favourite player was stronger than my allegiance to a Canadian player, even one I had a close encounter with. Perhaps I would have felt differently if it had been doubles. I knew that Nestor had no chance to medal in singles (better in doubles) and he beat my favourite who had a better chance to win a medal in singles, in his home country. Nestor would go on to lose his next singles match, but he won the doubles gold medal and I cheered for him and Sebastien Lareau the whole way.

Sports is more fun to watch when we have someone to cheer for. Geography is an easy way to pick a side. Having a connection with someone from your home town or home country gives you something to cheer for. Seeing the red and white on the start line or a chance to hear our national anthem give us a reason to cheer, because sport for most, is more interesting when we have someone to cheer for.

Some sports make it easier to follow and cheer for the other team/country. Sports that are televised a lot gives us the opportunity to get to know athletes and see their skill, so we can appreciate the way a Brit plays golf, a Swiss plays tennis, a Spaniard plays basketball, a Dutchman plays soccer or even the style of play of a basketball team or soccer team. Some sports that are more artistic make it easier to appreciate a Chinese diver, an American gymnast, a Russian figure skater or an Australian freestyle skier. The appreciation for dominance in a sport can get us to cheer for a Jamaican runner, an American swimmer or snowboarder, a Norwegian alpine skier or British triathlete brothers.

It's also easy to cheer for winners. In 2014 it will be easy to cheer for our speed skaters or our freestyle skiers. We'll closely follow our luge, bobsleigh and skeleton athletes. The mainstream fan will not necessarily be cheering the amazing top 20's, top 10's or top 5's in sports that are dominated by Scandinavian or European countries. That 10th place could be as incredible a feat as a gold medal in another sport, but medal counts is (rightly or wrongly) more important than personal bests.

Another reason to cheer for the home team is that it's a lot easier to go see the local teams play live. In order to see the Dallas Mavericks or the Phoenix Suns play (when I was cheering for Steve Nash), I had the choice of one or two dates a year - and those games were often sold out. I wasn't alone in cheering for Steve Nash. There are dozens of home games to attend when you cheer for the home team.

Lately though, with technology adding to the photo of the athlete or to the athletic performance, athletes' personalities are coming through for good and bad.

I try to follow as many Canadian athletes on Twitter and their blogs. We know a lot more about athletes now than we ever had. For some though, this has not been a good thing. Even after having cheered for Michael Owen for a decade, I stopped following him on Twitter for a while because he would get into arguments with people who criticized him (like Piers Morgan). I stopped following Brett Lawrie and even stopped following some Olympians.

Just because someone is a great athlete doesn't mean that they are great writers, public speakers or social media sharers. Just because we come from the same country doesn't mean we share the same sense of humour or same interests.

For most athletes though, the more I find out about them, the more I like them and want to see them succeed.

When we don't know anything about athletes, like was often the case at the beginning of the Olympics, it's easy to cheer for the home team. Hopefully with Olympic athletes getting more media attention now than they did a decade ago, we will be cheering for the Canadian athletes because we know their story, we have experienced their struggles and their successes, and have found a deeper connection to cheer for.

2014 Olympians Get Together

(photo taken from CdnOlympicTeam twitter feed)

The 2014 Olympic Games are 9 months away but over 100 athletes gathered in Vancouver last week to prepare for the Games. The event included the Olympic Excellence Series that included workshops and inspiration as well as a Media Summit that gave the athletes a preview of the intense media attention the Olympics provides.

From the Olympic website:

"The primary goal of OES is to prepare athletes and staff for podium success by providing practical skills and strategies for the upcoming Olympic or Olympic Winter Games. The secondary objective is to inspire and motivate athletes, coaches, team leaders and media attachés, leaving everyone with greater sense of confidence and drive in their quest for the podium."

It was an opportunity for athletes to prepare for what to expect at an Olympic Games on and off the field. Past Olympic athletes shared stories about their challenges and triumphs to help each other be ready when the Games open on February 7, 2014.

Chef de Mission Steve Podborski and Assistant Chef de Mission Luc Brassard inspired the athletes as did COC President Marcel Aubut. There were multiple tweets expressing the inspiration felt after hearing Clara Hughes and Women's Soccer coach John Herdman.

During the Olympics, there are athlete profiles, interviews and photos that are shared by the media. This was an opportunity to record athlete interviews and take the athlete photos that will be seen on the Olympic websites and television programs.

Here are a couple of news reports from CBC, the official Canadian broadcaster for the 2014 Olympics:





I loved reading the media and athletes' tweets and getting a sneak peak at what was going on at the event. Click here to see an article that includes some of those tweets and photos from the Olympic.ca website and here for the CBC Olympics website.

How inspiring for these athletes to have spent a few days together. If this doesn't motivate them to give their everything in the months to come in preparation for the Games, I don't know what would. Alex Bilodeau has a great quote in the video: "Every athlete has a great story to tell". This may be a biased opinion, but I love that SportCafé is giving the platform for every athlete to continue to share their story.

Tears and Goosebumps in 2012

As 2012 comes to an end, it's time to reflect on the sports moments that had an impact on me this year. This is not a list of THE "best" moments, you can read the major newspapers and watch sports stations for those. This is a list of moments that brought tears to my eyes and goosebumps on my skin.

I'll start on a sad note with those who left the sports world in their prime.

Much more than a sports reporter to Canada's amateur athletes, Randy Starkman was the fan's looking glass into the athletes' world of training and competition. Husband, father, colleague and writer, he will be missed for years to come. He was remembered this past week in the Toronto Star. You can read the article here.

Canada also lost two Olympic hopefuls in 2012.

Sarah Burke was a pioneer of ski halfpipe.  She was the best at her sport and successfully fought for ski halfpipe to be added to the 2014 Olympics. Winning the first gold medal for Canada was almost a sure thing, until she died doing what she loved to do. Click here to read the article that Randy Starkman wrote after her death.

Nic Zoricic died while racing in a ski-cross race in Switzerland. Since leaving alpine skiing to join ski-cross in 2009, he was climbing up the rankings with two World Cup podiums.  Click here to read the article that Randy Starkman wrote after his death.

On a cheerier note, here are the moments that had me cheering, gave me goosebumps and brought tears to my eyes:

2012 Olympics

Choosing favourite Olympic moments is so difficult because I was thrilled with each and every medal that Canada won. Above and beyond that, I loved seeing the personal bests whether that meant a medal, making a final or semi-final or going faster, farther or higher. I was also proud of the Olympians who came home disappointed that the best they had to offer that day wasn't the best they had hoped for whether that meant finishing a triathlon in tears or on the pavement, flopping on a last dive, stepping on a line, running out of steam or finding the conditions or pressure too tough to handle.

I am proud of all our Olympians but here's an attempt at some of my favourite moments:

Leading the Team
One of my favourite Olympians, Simon Whitfield led Canada into the Olympic Opening Ceremony. Watching Canada walk in is always one of my highlights and recognizing so many of our athletes walking into the stadium in 2012 was amazing.

The Sprinters
Brent Hayden 100m freestyle bronze and Mark de Jonge 200m kayak bronze
Short distances are exciting because everything has to be perfect. There's no time to come back from a poor start. It's all out for the full distance and we won bronze in the water and on the water.

The Long Distance Swimmers
Ryan Cochrane 1500m freestyle silver and Richard Weinberger 10k bronze
The beauty of the long distance swimmer (cyclist, runner, skater or skier) is that a surprise is harder to come by. If you're one of the best, you have a lesser chance of not winning a medal. So although Ryan and Richard didn't surprise me with their medal wins, it's amazing to see them maintain their positions as some of the best in the world.

Meeting Silver Expectations On The Water
Adam van Koeverden, Men's Eight Rowing and Women's Eight Rowing
Winning a medal wasn't a sure thing as anything can happen in sport as we saw many of our favourites stumble so it was wonderful to see our successful rowing tradition continue along with Adam winning his fourth Olympic medal.

Overcoming adversity
THE call during the Women's soccer team's semi-final was a pivotal play that sometimes overshadowed Christine Sinclair's amazing hat-trick against the United States. Overcoming the letdown of their dream being crushed by a referee's call put them in our hearts. They could have also lost that bronze medal match, but they didn't. They kept fighting to the last whistle and came home heroes with a last minute goal by Diana Matheson. Christine Sinclair would be named flagbearer for the Closing Ceremony.

Our First Gold
Rosie MacLennan won our first and what would be our only gold medal at the Olympics becoming our golden girl for 2012.


Give Your Everything
Clara Hughes didn't win her 7th Olympic medal, but she was the epitome of Give Your Everything when she led the road race in the first half of the race and then finished a wonderful 5th in the time trial. Clara's Olympic career will be remembered for her medals but also for her smile as well as her grit and determination.


Thrill of Victory and Agony of Defeat
4x100m relay - even if we didn't get to keep the bronze, the moment when I realized Justyn Warner was going from 5th, to 4th and finally to 3rd down the final straight of the relay had me jumping up and down with excitement. Watching Gavin Smellie, Seyi Smith, Jared Connaughton and Justyn Warner celebrate was an amazing moment that I will not forget. Click here for a blog post I wrote about the race and their journey. Click here to see an early celebratory reaction.

The Reactions
There are moments that stick in your mind for the athletes' reactions. My favourites were:

Mark Oldershaw's shocked hand on his mouth look when he realized that he won the bronze medal in the 1000m canoe. Click here.

Christine Girard coming off the stage after missing her last lift thinking she was not on the podium to reading her lips say "J'ai une médaille?" and her reaction afterwards. (translated as "I have a medal?" I am going by memory of what she said since I can't find a video of that moment)

Antoine Valois-Fortier's tearful celebration when he won the bronze medal in Judo. Click here.

Diana Matheson scoring the winning goal giving them the bronze medal and the celebration happening in front of my husband's parents and uncle and aunt. Click here for a photo that includes his uncle (in white shirt and Tilley hat) and aunt and mother partially blocked by Christine Sinclair. Great seats!

Brittany MacLean hugging her sister Heather at the Canadian Olympic trials when Heather qualified in her last race and would join Brittany at the London Olympics who had qualified earlier.

2012 Paralympics

The television coverage for the Paralympics was disappointing but the team's performance wasn't as the competition at the Paralympics gets tougher and tougher.

Although the major networks made it difficult to catch the action, there were still some amazing moments for our Canadian Paralympians.

Leading the Team
As mentioned above, nothing gets the tears in my eyes like watching Canada enter the Opening Ceremony. Garett Hickling, a five-time Paralympian in wheelchair rugby led the team in 2012. His team would go on to win the silver medal.

Veteran and Rookie Success in the Pool
Benoit Huot won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal in 2012 with three personal bests and a world record. The three medals increased his overall total to 19 Paralympic medals including 9 golds for his four Paralympic Games.

At her first Paralympic Games, Summer Mortimer won two gold, one silver and one bronze. What will her total count be when she has competed at her fourth Paralympics?

Basketball Gold
Winning gold at basketball isn't something Canada does at the Olympics, but at the Paralympics, Canada won gold in 2000, 2004 and now 2012.


Milestones

I have a special place in my heart for the Olympics, but 2012 saw Canadians achieve some amazing milestones and firsts. Here are some of them:

Ryder Hesjedal (cycling)
1st Canadian to win a Grand Tour when he won the Giro d'Italia. Click here and here to read my posts. He also won Male Athlete of the Year.

Jean-Philippe Le Guellec (biathlon)
1st Male Canadian to win a biathlon World Cup. Watch the race here.

Eugenie Bouchard (tennis)
First Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles championships when she won the Junior Wimbledon Championships.


Filip Peliwo (tennis)
First Canadian to win Junior Wimbledon and U.S. Open. He was finalist at Australian Open and French Open ending the year ranked #1, a first for a Canadian singles player. The future for Tennis Canada is very bright.

Kaillie Humphries (bobsleigh)
Streak of 8 wins, including the World Championships, started at the end of the 2011-2012 season with Jennifer Ciochetti and continued with new partner Chelsea Valois.



I can't imagine 2013 being as wonderful as an Olympic year, but I look forward to seeing the Winter Olympians gear up for the 2014 Games as well as following the summer athletes' journey for the next three and a half years.

Happy New Year!

Canada's Flag Bearer

Who should be Canada's Flag Bearer at the 2012 Olympics?

CBC are having a poll to determine Canada's choice. You can see it and vote here.

They have eight men and eight women facing off in four rounds to reach a final poll winner.

Alexandre Despatie
Mark Oldershaw
Ian Millar
Ryan Cochrane
Adam van Koeverden
Dylan Armstrong
Simon Whitfield
Daniel Nestor

Christine Sinclair
Catharine Pendel
Carol Huynh
Catherine Cockburn
Priscilla Lopes-Schlepp
Perdita Felicien
Clara Hughes
Emilie Heymans

Yesterday's vote was between Alexandre Despatie and Mark Oldershaw. Alex won that round.

Today, they pit Christine Sinclair vs Catharine Pendrel.

On a day where Alexandre Despatie has been seriously injured, should he make a comeback of Silken Laumann proportions to compete, I would go with Alex.

Almost every athlete in the poll, in my opinion deserves to carry the flag although for me, the flagbearer should be someone who has had success at past Olympics, is respected by his/her peers, has overcome some challenges and is a good role model for Canadians. I also have a personal preference for someone with past results and without too much pressure to perform this time. An athlete who is poised to win his/her first medal would not be my choice...save their highlight for their medal winning performance (no I don't believe in the flag bearer curse...really!)

My top 4 in the way CBC has selected the draw are: Carol Huynh/Christine Sinclair (I'm going back and forth on this semi), Clara Hughes, Alexandre Despatie and Simon Whitfield. Actually it's quite difficult to choose. There is a good case to be made for most of the athletes.

Overall I would go with Simon or Alex.

If I wasn't so biased towards my favourite Olympians (Simon, Alex, Adam) I would think that Ian Millar would be a better choice. Has he ever carried the flag in his previous NINE Olympic Games? He has been selected to attend his record-breaking 10th Olympic Games (it would be eleven if the 1980 Olympics had not been boycotted). I would be thrilled to see him carry our flag as well.

All I know is that I can't wait to see who Canada chooses in the poll; and who actually gets chosen by the Canadian team.

Canadian Marathoners

For the first time since 1996, Canada will have three male marathoners at the Olympics.  We haven't had a marathoner compete since 2000.

Dylan Wykes qualified at the Rotterdam Marathon to become our third Olympian.  Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis qualified last fall at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.  You can read my post about them here.

You can follow our Olympians on Twitter or on their blogs:

Reid Coolsaet:  
www.twitter.com/reidcoolsaet 
www.reidcoolsaet.com

Eric Gillis:
www.twitter.com/nishrunner
www.ericgillis.org

Dylan Wykes:
www.twitter.com/dylanwykes
www.dylanwykes.com

Dylan's marathon didn't start well as he stumbled and scraped his knees.  He posted a photo of his knees after the race on Twitter.  It's amazing that he ran a personal best after that incident.  His time of 2:10:47 is the second fastest by a Canadian all-time.  The women have not surpassed the Canadian standard and haven't qualified for the London Olympics yet.

The great thing about following athletes on Twitter is that you can find out when they are racing.  Often times you can catch the races on television, on live-stream online or even in person, like I did on Sunday.

The Toronto Yonge Street 10K was starting in my neighbourhood.  A few times a year, races start in my neighbourhood.  Sometimes I go watch the start, while other times, I sleep in or don't realize there's a race.  When Reid tweeted that he'd be racing, I took the opportunity to see an Olympian in person.

I got there early enough to see him warm-up.

The beginning of the race

Reid would win, with Kip Kangogo 2nd and Josephat Ongeri 3rd. Tara Korir won the women's race, with Kate Van Buskirk 2nd and Rachel Hannah 3rd.

I did drive downtown to see if I could capture the finish, but unfortunately, the runners were faster. It was an exciting finish as shared by Canada Running Series on YouTube:

Lose Canada Lose

Originally published on My Life Is Like A Song on April 13, 2009

Recently, Canada's teams have not fared as well as they are expected. Our men's team, our women's team and our junior team in curling did not win the World Championships. The women's hockey team has lost to the U.S. two years in a row. Our figure skaters (although very impressively won medals) did not win World Championships (when some media predicted they could).

Many people may be feeling down or disappointed in our teams.

For me, I remember too many teams and athletes arriving at the Olympics as World Champions only to lose at the Olympics. Brian Orser won the Worlds in 1987...but won silver at the Olympics in 1988. Kurt Browning won the Worlds in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1993 but did not medal at two Olympic Games in 1992 and 1994 while defending champion. Elvis Stojko won the Worlds in 1997 and did not win the Olympics in 1998.  Adam van Koeverden although well decorated, inexplicably faded in the 1000m in 2008. Perdita Felicien hit the first hurdle and fell in 2004. Jeremy Wotherspoon fell at the start of his race in 2002.

There are probably countless more that I can't think of at the moment.

I'm not saying that the teams and athletes who are now losing will win at the Olympics but maybe it will make them a bit hungrier and more motivated for next year.

John Kucera won the World Championships in Downhill skiing, but this sport is not as predictable. The chance of him winning the gold in 2010 is far less than in a sport like curling or hockey so I don't think very competitive and unpredictable sports follow the same rule. I don't think he'll have the same pressure as defending World Champion.

Earlier in the winter, it seemed like our athletes could do no wrong. The "Own the Podium" funding seemed to have given us many great results (exceeding our expectations) going into the Olympics, but secretly I was worried about the expectations on our athletes would be too much for them.

So for now, although I would love to see Canada win more World Championships (because hey, a World Championship is better than nothing), I'm glad we're not winning everything...because I want Canada to win at least one gold medal next year and hopefully many more!!

Is Winning Everything?

Originally published on My Life Is Like A Song on August 13, 2008

I am hearing and reading more and more from journalists/bloggers that Canada should stop sending athletes if they are not medal threats.

Seriously?

How does someone decide if you are a medal threat or not? Who would make that decision?

Winning Olympic medals does not always happen overnight. Sometimes, athletes gain experience from attending and end up winning at the next Olympics. Sometimes, attending the Olympic games is the achievement...just getting there against all odds is enough.

Our swimmers may not win medals this time around, but are their track records that much worse than Curtis Myden or Mark Tewksbury were? I remember Mark's gold medal win being a big surprise - perhaps it wasn't. Curtis Myden's only World Championship medals were in 1995 (he won two bronze medals at the 1996 Olympics). Should we not have sent him in 2000 as he wasn't as big of a threat then. He won the bronze medal in the 400m IM. Or should we not have sent him in 1992 when he didn't win a medal? Perhaps that experience got him ready for his two medals in 1996 and his 3rd in 2000.

One of the biggest stories of these Olympic Games for the Canadians and for the Chinese has been Jujie Luan. She was not a medal threat, but her story is so inspiring. In 1984, she won the gold medal in fencing for China (it's first and only gold in fencing). She moved to Canada in 1989. When she learned that China would be hosting the Olympics, she came out of retirement with the dream of qualifying for the Olympics. What a lesson to teach to your children. You can do anything you set your mind to! She is 50 years old and has 3 children.

She is a sports hero in China (they are saying even bigger than Yao Ming). She was on the front page of the newspapers over there on the first day of the Olympics. Now (personally) I don't understand why she is a national hero in China. They have so many gold medallists but perhaps it was because this was a sport that they weren't known for (just speculating). Linda Thom won a gold medal for Canada in shooting in 1984. Do you remember her? If she was coming back to Canada to compete in 2010 as a 50 year old, would she be treated like a national hero? I don't think so (nothing personal to Linda - at least I did remember her). Different countries...different mentalities. All I'm saying is what a great story and how inspiring. She makes me feel young.

Should we not send Ian Millar? He is participating in his 9th Olympic Summer Games. This ties the international record. He is 60+ years old. He is not a medal contender, but he is the best our country has. He has and will do us proud.

[update: Ian Millar anchored his team to a first place standing. He completed a faultless run that led to a jump-off for gold. Canada won the silver, so I repeat, should he have stayed home?]

I think these journalists and bloggers need to understand that the Olympics is not just about winning...yes, I would love for us to already have some medals - don't get me wrong...but the Olympics is also about personal struggles, dreams and disappointments. It's about trying to be the best that you can be. It's about sportsmanship. It's about the countries in the world coming together as one...as friends to compete and see who can win (do you have tears in your eyes yet? I can keep going if you don't).

Who will forget (and if you did, I'll remind you) when Sara Renner broke her pole in a cross-country skiing race at the Olympics in 2006. A Norwegian coach gave her a replacement and she (along with her partner) went on to win the silver medal. These are great lessons for our kids to see. People helping people no matter where they're from.

If it was just about winning medals, the poorer countries may as well stay home as well. They can't afford the new technologically advanced equipment. A friend of mine shared this article about the advances in technology. Canada could be considered one of these poorer countries. Our citizens and our government don't want to spend as much as other countries so that we are best represented.

David Ford is a 40+ year old kayaker. He lost his funding because Canada decided he wasn't a medal threat (see? we do it already) because he was too old. Yesterday, he officially came in 6th (there was some controversy about a penalty he received that was unproven - without the penalty he was 4th). What could he have done if he had proper funding? He wasn't able to attend the last training camp in Beijing because he didn't have the money to go. The five athletes who finished ahead of him did go (even the guy from Togo - is that a richer country?)

Sometimes, sports just sucks. There are some medal contenders who have never won an Olympic medal. Kurt Browning comes to mind. Dan Jensen (American speed skater) also does. He was world champion and did not medal in 1998 or in 1992. At his last race in 1994, he finally won a gold medal, but really, on paper, he should have won so many more.

That's the great thing about sports. Anything can happen if you peak at the right time, have done the right preparations and have luck on your side (ok, perhaps worth another blog about how few surprises there are these days compared to in the past).

We have only won 3 gold medals in each of the past 3 Olympics. We are only 5 days into the Games. We have never started out strongly. Every Olympics, this is how the discussion goes. How poorly we are doing. I'm not saying that we are definitely going to do better this time around. What I am saying is that at day 5 in the past, we haven't necessarily been doing much better.

Curtis Myden was the first male athlete to win a medal in 1996 (I remember because my husband and I were struggling to name our unborn son...so we joked that we would choose the name of the first gold medallist (which we changed to medallist when he won)). So not sure if there was a female medallist before him. He won a bronze on July 25th. The opening ceremonies were on the 19th. According to my calculations, that is on day 6. In 1996, we ended up winning 22 medals. Second only to our result at the boycotted 1984 games.

So I say, relax people!!! Wait until the games are over, then give your critical evaluations if we don't perform up to par.

We have 10% of the U.S. population (I'm using the U.S. as an example because we have similar cultures - but imagine if I compare us to China's population). Does it not make sense that we should have 10% of their medal count? At the last Olympics, U.S. had 102. Canada had 12. They have 29 now, so yes, ideally we should have 3...but let's wait until the Games are over before we do the final comparison. Let's not forget that we also have a shorter summer. So obviously countries like Australia (who love their sport and spend more than we do - and have a longer summer) do better.

If we start trying to decide who to send and who not to send, choosing our representatives will become like a judged event. Do we take our budget and bestow it only on our medal contenders? We will be putting all our eggs in one basket and what if this person decides he/she doesn't want to do it anymore? Who will be there to take over? Should we not spend on our younger athletes as well?

To me, the Olympics is an experience that should be enjoyed by the best athletes in our country. They should grow old with the knowledge that they were the best in the country and represented our country against the best in the world. That is what sport is about...competing...having the dream to win...training as hard as you can...giving it your all.

If you don't compete, you can't win. And don't forget...winning isn't everything.

Are We There To Win Or Represent?

Originally published on My Life Is Like A Song on August 13, 2008

PJmixer had a good comment on my pre-Olympics post that I felt justified more than a comment response.

While talking about medal predictions, he wondered whether as "true Canucks (or maybe even Brits) are we just happy to compete?"

Thanks for bringing that point up. It's a very valid point and I think there isn't an easy answer.

A few years ago, Canada changed their Olympic standards. So although our top Canadian meets the Olympic standards (and if they were the best of a different country, they would qualify for the Olympics) Canada has stricter standards and choose to not send our athlete. This is the case in the marathon at these Olympics. We have at least two men and one woman (Gitah Macharia, Matthew McInnes and Tara Quinn-Smith) who met the Olympic standard but will be staying home.

Canada's reasons are that they want to spend their resources on athletes that have a chance of finishing in the top half of the field. If every country followed this reasoning, there would be no bottom half of a field.

Every athlete's dream is to compete at the Olympics. It must be heartbreaking to be the best in your country, to best the Olympic standard and be denied the chance to compete.

There is a fine line between the best in your country and the Eddy the Eagle/Jamaican bobsled team who may be the few who attempt the sport in their countries (and perhaps didn't really train for years for that moment). These stories capture the imagination of the public and are worthy for their own reasons.

When I was younger, I qualified for the All-Ontario championships in the 3000m. I remember having to reach the Ontario standard (which I didn't in the qualifying race). After that meet, I trained even harder to get that time and did reach it.

It was my first All-Ontario competition. I was not prepared mentally for it. I didn't perform close to my best time. There was a thunderstorm and I used that as an excuse. I was lapped, but I finished it. In hindsight, I was probably shocked and discouraged to see the pace of the other competitors (back home I was one of the fast ones, now I was one of the slow ones). Coming from small town Northern Ontario down to Burlington was quite an experience. I'm sure it allowed me to dream about my future even if I didn't get the result I would have hoped for. I later competed in All-Ontario Championships in volleyball and badminton. Again, I never came close to winning (the last time I was extremely close to beating the eventual semi-finalist-4th seed), but those experiences made me the person that I am today (ok, maybe that's not a great thing..lol).

So what if my hometown had decided that I wasn't going to be in the top half of the field so they weren't going to send me? That last year, I went to OFSAA with the goal of winning. I thought I had a realistic shot (I ran into the girl who beat me a few months later at University - she recognized me on campus (so I guess I made an impression) and she tried to recruit me for the university team. She told me I was her hardest match until she lost her semi.)

If I had never left Northern Ontario, I would have never found out how much better I would need to be to reach the national level. I didn't have it in me to reach that level, but others from my hometown have.

One of my favourite motivational speakers Vince Poscente has a great story. When he was younger, he had a friend ask him if he wanted to go luging at Lake Placid. While there they met the Canadian luge team. They dreamed of being on the Canadian team. Many years later, the Olympics are in his hometown in Calgary. He's in the stands for the opening ceremonies. He tells the story of watching the Canadian team entering the stadium. The crowd goes nuts. He says the noise in his head went silent as he watched his buddy walk in with the Canadian team. His friend followed his dream, trained hard and made the Canadian luge team.

Vince was 26 years old at the time and he decided that he wanted to compete in the Olympics. The next Olympics were in France. Speed skiing was a demonstration sport. Vince was a recreational skier, but he had a dream. The way he tells the story is that he did what his competitors were not willing to do. That's how you get ahead (in business - as he now addresses the business world).

To make a long story short (and if you ever have the chance to hear him tell the story live, it is definitely worth it) he made the final round and had been faster than the others going into the last run. As I was listening to him tell the story (and he showed the video), I remembered it. I came home and checked my old videotapes. There it was. Not in the middle of an episode. I started recording as his turn was coming up. I was watching it live and remembered being so excited (more than 10 years later, I still had it on tape). Unfortunately, he caught an edge and did not win.

He continues the story by saying how depressed he was afterwards, until he overheard his dad on the phone telling a friend: "those Olympics Games were the greatest experience of my entire life. I'm so proud of my kid". He was proud not because of the result but because of the "journey of integrity" that it took to get there. To be able to strive to that excellence. It's the path we take to get there.

I can understand the importance of results. Countries spend a lot of money sending athletes, coaches and officials to the Olympics. We have more important issues that perhaps our money should be spent on. But the Olympics represents dreams, passion, dedication and compassion. It brings a country together with our hopes, our disappointments and our triumphs.

So although my country doesn't think that our country's best are worthy of going to the Olympic games, I disagree. I don't think that it's only about winning. It's about being the best that you can be and representing your country and that's the best that our country has at that time in that sport. Who knows how much better we can be for the next Olympics. Leaving our athletes at home doesn't help our chances next time.

(sidenote: I wrote this post last Friday before the competition began- in my next post I will comment on the media questions surrounding our lack of medals so far)