Tickets Tip #5: Canada Day Sale

Now's the time to buy your Pan Am tickets if you've been procrastinating or are wanting to buy more.

CIBC is offering 25% discount on all remaining tickets from 10am Wednesday July 1st to 9pm Thursday July 2nd. Use the code CIBCPANAM.

Also Swimming Canada have been offering 20% off some swimming tickets (mostly more expensive ones).
Click here for more information and to buy tickets. Use discount code SWIM20. 

Here's a sneak preview for tomorrow's Ticket Tip:

The media may be trying to share the message that the Pan Am Games aren't popular and that ticket sales are lagging, but I will argue that there are tickets that I would buy but the events are now sold out. 

I thought that I would buy more tickets once I learned when Canadians were competing, but looking at tickets for various sports, a LOT MORE than I imagined are already sold.

Tickets Tip #4: Diving - going, going...gone.

If you're interested in seeing diving, you better hurry and get tickets. Most sessions are sold out, so these tickets are for die-hard diving fans who don't want to miss out. They're not the best quality so may be disappointing for others.

The only medal event with very few tickets left (and not great quality ones) is:

Monday July 13th 1pm
Click here for tickets.
Women 10m Synchro final (Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion)
Men 3m Synchro final (Philippe Gagné and François Imbeau-Dulac)

Canada is almost guaranteed a podium in this session and most probably gold in the Women 10m so that is a bonus for this session.

If you want to see diving with better quality tickets, the first day of preliminaries is still available (note: session is the same day as the Opening Ceremony).

Friday July 10th 10am
Click here for tickets
Men 3m Preliminaries (Philippe Gagné, François Imbeau-Dulac)
Friday July 10th 1:30pm 
Click here for tickets.
Women 10m Preliminaries (Meaghan Benfeito, Roseline Filion)

Diving is being held at the CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre & Field House at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus. Click here for more detail on the venue and transportation options.

I am happy to have gone to see the Winter Nationals at this venue. You can read my blog post here.

Just to give you an idea of the views, I took these photos from above section E303. The first shows the seats in the W sections (available tickets for the synchro on Monday are limited to the far left section whereas the diving is on the far right).

The second photo is a good representation of the view for available tickets in section E303. The divers in this photo are on the 1m boards which are not in use for the Pan Am Games. The 3m Springboards are on the left of the (tallest) 10m tower.

Perhaps I was spoiled having such a great view at Winter Nationals watching from the far right and aligned with the divers that I'm not overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the tickets left. If you've never seen diving, perhaps anywhere in this venue would still be amazing. If you think of an event at Air Canada Centre or Rogers Centre, we're so far from the action but it's still wonderful. The important thing is to be present and in this case hopefully hear O Canada.

Go Canada Go!

Tickets Tip #3: Rugby Sevens

Two weeks from today, the Rugby Sevens medals will be decided.

There aren't many tickets left for the medal rounds but this is a great ticket to have in hand with the bronze and gold medal games for both the men and the women being contested.

July 12 4pm (RU004). Click here for tickets.
Women's Classification Match
Women's Bronze Medal
Women's Gold Medal
Men's Classification Match
Men's Classification Match
Men's Semifinal Match
Men's Semifinal Match
Men's Classification Match
Men's Classification Match
Men's Bronze Medal Match
Men's Gold Medal Match

Click here for the full schedule.

Any rugby sevens ticket ensures you see the women's and men's Team Canada compete.

Saturday July 11 10am (RU001)
Women's Canada vs Columbia
4 other women's matches
Women's Canada vs Mexico
3 men's matches
Men's Canada vs Guyana

Saturday July 11 4pm (RU002)
Women's Canada vs Brazil
2 other women's matches
Men's Canada vs Brazil
Men's Canada vs Argentina
6 other men's matches

Sunday July 12 10am (RU003)
Canada vs Argentina
Canada vs USA
4 more women's matches
Men's 4 - Quarterfinal matches

Pan Am Events to See #2: Indoor Volleyball

Yesterday, I recommended athletics sessions to see at the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games. You can see that post here.

Today, I recommend indoor volleyball.

Watch our men's team take on Argentina on television tonight (Sportsnet ONE 8:30pm) and then buy your tickets to see this amazing team live in Toronto.

To ensure you see Canada play, here is the schedule of the preliminary games. Tickets are $20-$30 (plus fees).

Men's Schedule:
Friday July 17 (VO004). Buy tickets here.
7pm Canada vs Mexico
9pm Argentina vs Cuba

Sunday July 19 (VO008). Buy tickets here.
1:30pm Brazil vs Cuba
3:30pm Canada vs Puerto Rico

Tuesday July 21 (VO012). Buy tickets here.
7pm Canada vs USA
9pm Cuba vs Columbia


Women's Schedule:
Thursday July 16 (VO002). Buy tickets here.
7pm Canada vs Dominican Republic
9pm USA vs Peru

Saturday July 18 (VO006). Buy tickets here.
7pm Canada vs Cuba
9pm USA vs Puerto Rico

Monday July 20 (VO009). Buy tickets here.
1:30pm Canada vs Argentina
3:30pm Dominican Republic vs Cuba

Click here to see the full schedule (including second round and medal games) and click here to buy tickets to other games. There are not many tickets left for the medal games ($35-$45 plus fees) so I wouldn't suggest waiting to see if Team Canada makes it.

Do you have your tickets for the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am Games? 2 weeks to Go!

With just two weeks to go to the Pan Am Games, do you have your tickets? Mayor John Tory said this week:

“People procrastinate on this because they’re not sure of exactly what they want to go and see or when they can go and see it. In my case it is more of a scheduling issue.” 

I can completely understand his comment.

The Pan Am Games are part of my passion so I have made the time to do the research. I have spent hours looking over the schedule, who is competing, when they're competing and which individuals have made the TORONTO 2015 team and comparing it to my calendar. I still don't have all the tickets that I will end up with but am very excited that the tickets I did buy have come in the mail during the past couple of weeks.

I can appreciate people who would love to go, but just don't have the time to research. The task can be daunting. For that reason, I will post my picks of tickets to get during the next few weeks. I will make my picks as specific as possible - meaning, I won't just name the sport but I will say the date and time of the session to make ticket buying easier.

Follow me to see my daily recommendations:
Twitter (@olympichearts and @ohcanadasports)
Facebook.com/ohcanadasports
www.ohcanadasports.com/olympichearts
www.ohcanadasports.com/panam

Don't have time to read this post? Scroll down to the end to see today's picks.

I wrote two blog posts last fall about how I decided which tickets to initially get. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.

I currently have tickets to 7 events. During the initial lottery process, I chose the Opening Ceremony, the Closing Ceremony, the trampoline medal session and the men's triathlon.

Once detailed schedules were released, I added two athletics sessions and men's basketball.

I chose the men's and women's 100m races session (semis and finals) on Wednesday evening (includes men's long jump, decathlon, women's shot put, women's 400m hurdles, women's 800m and men's hammer) as well as the men's and women's 4x100m and 4x400m session on Saturday evening July 25th. This also includes the final events of the heptathlon, women's 1500m, men's high jump, women's javelin and men's 5000m.

I am more than excited at the list of athletics athletes I'm going to see including Damian Warner, Jessica Zelinka, Derek Drouin, Cam Levins, Melissa Bishop, Jessica Smith, Sarah Wells, Elizabeth Gleadle, as well as our many sprinters.

I look forward to seeing who will represent Canada this summer on our men's basketball team as the announcement hasn't been made yet.

The events I chose seem to be popular choices. The Opening Ceremony, trampoline, triathlon, basketball and the relay athletics session are currently sold out.

Today's picks involve athletics because I believe these will sell quicker than some other recommendations that will follow in the next few weeks.

Eight Canadian athletes have broken Canadian athletics records in 2015:

• Shawn Barber - pole vault
• Andre De Grasse - 200m (competing in 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay)
• Cam Levins - 10000m (competing in the 5000m at the Pan Am Games)
• Elizabeth Gleadle - javelin
• Christabel Nettey - long jump
• Natasha Wodak - 10000m
• Brianne Theisen-Eaton (heptathlon - although competing in long jump and 4x400m relay at the Pan Am Games not the heptathlon)

The two sessions I recommend in particular involve the 100m and decathlon events (if you can get your hands on tickets for the sold out relay session on Saturday night, I highly recommend that too).

Andre De Grasse is in the media a lot recently after winning the NCAA titles in the 100m and the 200m races with (wind-aided) times of 9.75 and 19.58 respectively. He is the first Canadian to run under 10 seconds since Bruny Surin in 1999. Gavin Smellie will also be running the 100m. He was part of the London 2012 Olympic relay team and won the bronze in the relay at the 2013 World Championships.

Damian Warner is the World bronze medallist in the decathlon. It is very likely that he will be on the podium at the TORONTO 2015 Games if not on top of the podium.

There aren't many tickets left for this session (in the corner of the 3rd leg of the 100m relay - but still worth it).

Wednesday July 22 6pm (AT006) featuring 8 Canadian Olympians. 
Click here for tickets.
(Please double check ticket link to ensure you are directed to the correct session)
Men Long Jump Final (Jharyl Bowry, Stevens Dorcelus)
Men High Jump Decathlon (Olympian Damian Warner, Patrick Arbour)
Women 100m Semi-Finals (Khamica Bingham, Olympian Crystal Emmanuel)
Women Shot Put Final (Taryn Suttie, Olympian Julie Labonté)
Men 100m Semi-Finals (Andre De Grasse, Olympian Gavin Smellie)
Women 400m Hurdles Final (Sage Watson, Olympian Sarah Wells)
Women 800m Final (Olympian Melissa Bishop, Olympian Jessica Smith)
Men 400m Decathlon (Olympian Damian Warner, Patrick Arbour)
Men Hammer Final (Olympian Jim Steacy and Daniel Novia)
Women 100m Final  (Khamica Bingham, Olympian Crystal Emmanuel)
Men 100m Final  (Andre De Grasse, Olympian Gavin Smellie)

There are more tickets available for the following evening that includes the last two events of the decathlon and a chance to hear O Canada with Damian Warner at the top of the podium.

Thursday July 23 5:30pm (AT008). Click here for tickets.
(Please double check ticket link to ensure you are directed to the correct session)
Men Javelin Decathlon (Olympian Damian Warner, Patrick Arbour)
Men 400m Hurdles Final (Tait Nystuen, Gregory MacNeill)
Women 200m Semi-Finals (Kimberley Hyacinthe, Raquel Tjernagel)
Women Pole Vault Final (Kelsie Ahbe, Olympian Mélanie Blouin)
Men 200m Semi-Finals (Andre De Grasse, Brendon Rodney)
Men 800m Final (Brandon McBride, Anthony Romaniw)
Men Discus Final (Olympian Tim Nedow, Marc-Antoine Lafrenaye-Dugas)
Women 400m Final (Audrey Jean-Baptiste, Taylor Sharpe)
Men 400m Final  (Philip Osei, Daniel Harper)
Women 10000m Final (Natasha Wodak, Lanni Marchant)
Men 1500m Decathlon (Olympian Damian Warner, Patrick Arbour)

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.

Doors Open Toronto - Pan Am Edition

"In honour of this summer's Toronto 2015 Pan Am / Parapam Am Games, the Doors Open Toronto 2015 theme is Sports, Recreation & Leisure."

To see the many places that have incorporated the sports and recreation theme (those with the sneaker icon), click here. To see all the buildings, click here.

The following are venues who were more specifically relating to the Pan Am Games.

BMO Field  (Sunday only) - Pan Am venue

"Back of house areas of BMO Field will be available and open for viewing through a self-guided tour. Visitors will also see the results of a recent construction project that expanded the capacity of BMO Field to 30,000 seats. This expansion was undertaken in anticipation of the upcoming 2015 Toronto Pan/Parapan American Games. An exhibit on the history of sports at Exhibition Place will be on display."

Mattamy Athletic Centre - Pan Am venue

The rejuvenated Maple Leaf Gardens is now the Mattamy Athletic Centre, the blend of heritage and innovation that has been reborn on the corner of Church & Carlton. Visitors can take in breathtaking historic rafters that shelter a new NHL sized ice rink, sit in the original blues and view the contents of the unearthed 1931 time capsule. The heritage panels mark the most memorable moments in the history of the building. Visitors can enhance their experience by downloading the Mattamy AC Interactive App on a smart phone or tablet. A behind-the-scenes tour will be offered including the architect of the site at 1 pm. Doors Open Toronto is the best opportunity to celebrate the monumental past of The Gardens and experience its revolutionary transformation.

Toronto Track and Field Centre (Saturday only) - Pan Am practice venue

This unique sanctioned indoor and outdoor Toronto Track and Field Facility services thousands of athletes each week providing training from grassroots to Olympic level athletes. The facility provides a vast area of training space for specialized track and field sporting events including pole vault, high jump, long/triple jump, hurdles, shot put, discus, hammer, javelin, steeplechase, sprinting and running events. Running competitions frequently take place in the centre and make use of the 200m indoor oval track, 60m straight track, 100m straight and 400m outdoor oval track. The facility hosts over 100 track meets every year including Provincial, University and National Championships sending out Canadian Athletes into competition across Canada and the world. This site will be the Practise Facility for Athletics during the 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games.

Free 30-minute tours of this unique one-of-a-kind sporting facility will be offered Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm. Guests can remain in the second floor Viewing Gallery to continue to view athletes training. Visitors can exercise at the facility at a fee.

Downsview Park Sports Centre - National Squash Academy - National team training centre

"The National Squash Academy (NSA) will be offering free squash clinics to those who sign up. Guests are also welcome to walk around and view the facility that offers the world's first all-glass doubles squash court. It is also home to some of the many world renowned squash professionals who train out of the NSA. The NSA works in partnership with Urban Squash Toronto, giving students from the Jane and Finch area the opportunity to play squash and study in the Urban Squash classroom." 

University of Toronto - Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport - Olympian and Pan Am athlete appearances

"Visitors will explore the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport to see some of its incredible architectural features. Visitors will see athletes using the cutting-edge equipment in the strength and conditioning centre and the speed and power centre. In the fitness studio, instructors will showcase the dynamic classes offered to students and members. Athletes will show off their skills in the Kimel Family Field House. U of T staff will provide information about the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education’s renowned academic programs.

Varsity Blues women’s hockey alum, coach and three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Vicky Sunohara will make appearance on Saturday between 2:00 and 3:30 pm.

Varsity Blues swimming alum and 2015 Pan Am competitor Zack Chetrat will make an appearance on Sunday."

Cannon Design - Venue design

"Cannon Design provides visitors with a sneak preview of three venues designed for this summer's 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in July. Welcoming the world's greatest athletes as Canada hosts the international event, the Cisco Velodrome in Milton, CIBC Athletics Stadium at York University and the CIBC Soccer Stadium in Hamilton are powerful and distinct in their designs. Those on site will be able to explore the context and creative vision behind each of these world-class venues designed to serve both sport and community needs. The venues will provide athletes and spectators alike with a memorable experience while showcasing Canadian sport excellence. Included in the self-guided Architects' Studio Tour presented by the Toronto Society of Architects. Visit Special Programs for details."

DTAH - Pan Am / Parapan Am Athletes' Village design

"Visitors to DTAH will experience the history of a beautifully renovated modern building that sits in the Rosedale Valley ravine and get a glimpse inside the working environment in a leading urban design, building and landscape architecture firm. Guests will have the opportunity to learn about John B. Parkin Associates, the architects who won the building design competition in the early 1950s and how they contributed to the design of significant buildings such as Toronto City Hall (1965^ with Viljo Revell) and the Toronto-Dominion Centre (1969^ with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe). Visitors can also learn about how DTAH continues to shape the city, through projects such as the Lower Don Trail Master Plan and the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan Am Athletes' Village. Included in the self-guided Architects' Studio Tour presented by the Toronto Society of Architects. Visit Special Programs for details."

"DTAH is a key consultant in the Planning, Design and Compliance (PDC) team of HOK | Montgomery Sisam | DTAH | Quadrangle Architects, who collaborated to develop output specifications and preliminary design documents for the Toronto 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games Athletes’ Village."

HOK Architects Corporation & HOK, Inc. (Sunday only) - Pan Am / Parapan Am Athletes' Village design (although not specifically mentioned in the description)

"Visitors will get insight into the everyday work life of one of the world's leading architectural, planning, strategy, and interior design firms. They will have the opportunity to tour HOK's newly designed studio, ask in-house subject matter experts questions about the design process, as well as view some sports and recreation projects from around the world designed by HOK's new Sports & Entertainment division. The 22nd Floor has registered for LEED Certification. Included in the self-guided Architects' Studio Tour presented by the Toronto Society of Architects. Visit Special Programs for details." 

City of Toronto Archives (Saturday only)

"Visitors to the City of Toronto Archives will be treated to a jam-packed day of local history and behind-the-scenes exploration. Guests can get an up-close view of some of the most remarkable and unique documents in the collection and view artworks based on archival images that have been created by students from the TDSB especially for the Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. A collection of Toronto boxing-related photographs donated to the Archives in 2014 will allow guests to step into the ring with photographer and retired boxer, Pete Doherty. Conservation staff will be on hand in the conservation lab explaining how documents are preserved for future generations. A photographic exhibit, Made in Toronto, Food & Drink Manufacturing in our City, which explores more than a century of food manufacturing in Toronto, will be on display. Volunteers will be on hand to answer questions."

Archives of Ontario (Saturday only)

"Visitors are welcome to participate in guided tours of the Archives of Ontario's Reading Room, Exhibit Gallery, cutting-edge Vaults and Preservation Lab. The Reading Room Montage Wall features 375 images documenting 200 years of Ontario's history. Two sports-related exhibits will be on display featuring Ontario's Sporting Past travelling exhibit and the records of Ontario Olympian, Jacqueline (Jackie) MacDonald. 

Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Lakeshore Campus, The Fashion Institute (Saturday only)

Visitors to Humber's Fashion Institute will dive into the past. Originally the old Almont Hotel, the building is now home to the Fashion Management degree and The Fashion Management & Promotions postgraduate certificate program. This year's exhibit will feature a collection of fashion from the past 100 years, including a select number of vintage athletic wear, women's swimsuits, golf attire and tennis ensembles in a tribute to the upcoming Pan Am games. This exhibit will be sure to cause a splash!

Market Gallery (Saturday only)

In addition to viewing the exhibit on the history of summer waterfront sports in Toronto, presentations on the history of the St. Lawrence Market neighbourhood and behind-the-scenes tour will be offered.

Are you excited about the Pan Am Games?

I am very biased but I can't wait for the Pan Am Games! I don't want the time to go faster so that they're here sooner, because just like Christmas, sometimes the anticipation is just as exciting as the day.

The Toronto Star contacted me recently looking for superfans of the Pan Am Games. The writer had been looking for people who were excited and she admitted that she found the task challenging. Having been interviewed during the Sochi Olympics and now the Pan Am Games, I did think - am I the only one out there? I'm hoping that because I have a website/blog, perhaps I am easier to find.

Although there are some negative comments out there, I think that there are a lot of people excited about the Pan Am Games.

The Opening Ceremony and many events are almost if not completely sold out.

The Pan Am Committee received double the applications for the volunteer positions they had available.

I applied to be a torch bearer and did not get chosen, so there are obviously many more people interested in the relay than there were spots.

For me, the Pan Am Games is more than the two and a half weeks of competition. It is about building a legacy in the GTA and venues for future athletes to enjoy whether they are recreational, competitive or become Olympic athletes.

It's an opportunity to see events in a way that is potentially once in a lifetime.

Some of our athletes will be competing internationally at home in front of friends and family for the first time.


I got goose bumps earlier listening to Alexandre Despatie talk about the legacy of the Games even before he said that "he gets goose bumps just talking about it".



I have been to events in the GTA where our athletes were competing (like the Toronto Track and Field International that is shown in the video with high jumper Derek Drouin, Kate van Buskirk, Damian Warner and Jessica Zelinka - got my tickets to see those four compete at the Pan Am Games).

Here are my photos from that meet. I get a kick seeing the same scenes on the video.

   

Most of the events I went to were mostly Canadian athletes (canoe kayak, track cycling, diving, swimming). It's easy to cheer for Canada at those meets. You're cheering for almost everyone.

I can't wait for the Pan Am Games when we really get to cheer Go Canada Go!! I can't wait to hear O Canada when our athletes win gold (I already have a few tickets where that will be a strong possibility).

I can't wait to see our athletes do the best that they can, whether that is a podium finish, a personal best or the best that they could do on that day. I also can't wait to see the world's best even if they're not from Canada.

This is our chance to see world class athletes perform in 36 sports. I can't wait.

But don't take my word for it.

Here's an article with Olympic multi-medallist Adam van Koeverden:
http://www.ohcanadasports.ca/media-articles/2015/5/15/post-city-toronto-post-interview-not-excited-about-the-pan-am-games-you-should-be

Here's an article with Olympian Julia Wilkinson:
http://www.ohcanadasports.ca/athlete-posts/2015/5/15/julia-wilkinson-pan-am-games-will-be-huge-for-canada

And for more Pan Am content, click here to see OHCanada Sports' special Pan Am page.

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

Short Track Speed Skating: Was it a racing incident or deliberate cheating?

After watching the Short Track Speed Skating World Championships 1000m men's race, I was angry and sad.

Contact happens in short track speed skating. I know that.

A skater doesn't deliberately take another out but skating so close and so fast with each other, accidents happen and sometimes a skater is found at fault and penalized (disqualified).

When these incidents happen, fans/commentators will say things like:

• luck was on his side (or not on his side)
• that's short track
• they have to accept it for what it is

I have often said those things but in my opinion, they do not apply this time.

You can see it by clicking here. What do you think?


Sin Da Woon of South Korea had no chance at the overall title, but his teammate did. While Park Se Yoeong sat back in 4th, his teammate (in 3rd) first nudges/pushes Wu Dajing of China aside who was in 2nd place at the time. On the last straightaway, he even more obviously pushes Charles Hamelin aside with all his might (it takes two attempts to finally impede him enough). It's amazing that Charles stayed on his feet and reached the line in second. Wu Dajing who was earlier impeded would finish fourth. Sin Da Woon was disqualified.

In a regular incident when the contact is accidental, the skater at fault would be penalized and the results stand (if in an earlier round, sometimes the impeded skater will still go through to the next round). Sometimes it is luck. Sometimes a skater is in the wrong place at the wrong time or miscalculates their pass. You are taken out or detained and you have to accept the result.

This time is different for me because it was done deliberately to reward a teammate like Hamelin said after the race:

"I'm a little disappointed with only getting the silver," said Hamelin. "I was on my way to a gold medal when the two Koreans teamed up, sacrificing one so the other could win. One pushed me in the last turn and I ended up second."

On the podium, the Korean put the gold medal in front of Hamelin but that's little consolation though.

I am heartbroken to see this happen in an Olympic sport. I am perhaps naive to think that cheating shouldn't happen in Olympic sports.

I'm not saying that cheating doesn't happen, but you hope that when it does, the International Olympic Committee or Sport Federation will do something about it.

Cheating is not new in short track speed skating. At the 2011 World Team Championships, an American skater tampered with Olivier Jean's skates which affected the team's relay performance. You can read CBC's 2012 article here and a 2013 updated article here.

In that instance, the athlete and the coach were suspended for 2 years from the ISU. I am hoping that the International Skating Union will look at this incident and take action to prevent such blatant cheating from succeeding in the future.

Diving at the Pan Am Games

Note: Pan Am ticket sales will be suspended on March 9th until mid-April.

Is diving one of the events you're interested in seeing at the Pan Am Games? The event will be held at the CIBC Pan Am / Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House. Click here for more detail.

Although we don't know all the Canadian athletes who will be competing yet, the detailed schedule of events has been released. Preliminary session ticket price are $25/$35 while medal sessions are $40/$50. You can buy tickets by clicking here.

This photo shows the seating. The cheaper seats (green) are adjacent to the swimming pool while the more expensive tickets (blue) are adjacent to the diving pool.

(Photo credit: Suzanne Sewell)

The 10m platform is the highest one in the centre of this photo. The 3m springboards are on the far side. The boards near the bottom of this photo (with athletes) are 1m boards which were in use at the Diving Nationals a few weeks ago but are not part of the Pan Am Games.

(Photo credit: Suzanne Sewell)

Here is the schedule:

Canada's women's team the "Fab IV" will very likely land on the podium. Click here for an article written by Scott Russell: Getting to know Team Canada with a focus on the Fab IV.

10m synchro: Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito won Olympic bronze in 2012 (and Worlds silver in 2013)
3m synchro: Jennifer Abel won bronze with a different partner at 2012 Olympics and won bronze in 2013 with current partner Pamela Ware.

They may also perform in the singles events.

Winter Nationals results:

10m Women:

1. Meaghan Benfeito

2. Roseline Filion

3. Celina Toth

3m Women:

1. Jennifer Abel

2. Hailey Casper

3. Fréderique Lalonde

10m Men:

1. Maxim Bouchard

2. Vincent Riendeau (2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist)

3. Philippe Gagné

3m Men:

1. Jamie Bissett

2. Marc Sabourin-Germain

3. Philippe Gagné

10m Synchro Men:

1. Philippe Gagné and Vincent Riendeau

3m Synchro Men:

1. Marc Sabourin-Germain and Maxim Bouchard

That moment you wait for...

There are sports moments that are unforgettable. Sometimes it's an Olympic gold medal. Sometimes it's a 20th place in a World Cup race. Sometimes it's qualifying for a national championship.

Athletes grow up dreaming of those moments.

One of those moments happened today for alpine skier Dustin Cook.

Olympic gold medallist Kerrin Lee-Gartner tweeted today:

The bio on his website have these gems:

Best moment in ski racing: Coming through the finish line in the top 30 at Sölden last season. A breakthrough I’d been gunning for for a long time, and it felt so so good!

I guess he'll change that one!

Best World Cup stop: Beaver Creek is my personal favourite. Amazingly fun track, best snow anywhere in the world, and it’s in North America. Wengen is probably the most scenic and beautiful though.

I guess he won't change that one!

Funniest thing you’ve seen in ski racing: Didn’t see it live but Bode Miller continuing to ski the track in Bormio, Italy, when his ski popped off 15 seconds into the world championship downhill in 2005. It’s something only Bode could pull off.

He may change that one to Bode's run today where he put his skis back on and skied down after a huge crash with a huge gash on his calf (turned out to be a torn tendon) or Kjetil Jansrud hitting the gate hard but still finishing to be just off the podium (thanks to Dustin).

You can read the full bio and great quotes here.

Dustin Cook is now officially a "Canadian Cowboy"...following in the footsteps of the Crazy Canucks.

I can't wait to see CDN Cowboys Racing profile updated to include Dustin!!

Sportsnet and CBC show most alpine races during the season, but they are normally tape delayed. CBC will livestream from the European time zones but it's rare that I get to see racing live (I'm a girl who needs her sleep).

With the World Championships in the US and most events televised, it's been great to see the races live. With that being said, NBC does have a very US-focused telecast. I don't have a problem with that. Canada is Canadian focused (showing all the Canadians in their telecast), Britain has a British focus, etc.

I was just catching up to the live telecast (having been late to start so watching it from PVR). As NBC is showing the American who will race soon, we hear the crowd cheering and finally the telecast goes to the last 10 seconds of Dustin Cook's run and he crosses the line in 2nd!! In amazing 2nd!!

Luckily, they went back to show the full run for our enjoyment.

A great article written by Kerry Gillespie was published in The Toronto Star. 

There are often hugs and tears between athletes and loved ones when they finally get that spectacular result they’ve spent years striving toward. 

But the embrace between Dustin Cook, Canada’s first-ever world championship super-G medallist, and his father was much more than about a simple victory.

Cook’s grandfather Bill, known as Papa, passed away two weeks ago from renal failure and his uncle Scott passed away last week from lymphoma. 

“Dustin couldn’t go to their funerals, so this is pretty nice for them,” his father said in an interview with the Star. “My mom asked (Dustin) to do it for his Papa . . . so this is in their memory.”

You can click here to read the article.

When I launched OhCanada Sports, the first athlete post I shared was one by Dustin that he wrote at the end of 2014. Reading it again in hindsight is fascinating and shows how having the right mind-set can lead to better and better things. He wrote about the World Cup at Beaver Creek where the World Championships were going to be held. How often do we hear great results for people on "one of their favourite hills". The World Cup would only be the beginning for Dustin at Beaver Creek.

"I opted to skip the downhill in Beaver Creek to get a day of GS training and a day to recover instead. The SG at the Beav is one of my favourites. Super steep with tons of terrain on the top, jumps and terrain at the bottom, and always perfect Colorado snow. Starting 35 again I didn’t feel like I had that great of a run, with a couple mistakes and some soft skiing on the bottom pitch. I wouldn’t say I was more pumped seeing 12 on the board this time, but it was pretty close! It was great to confirm the result from Lake Louise, and to do it at my home away from home was pretty special. The next day I was 21st in the GS as well, making it two solid results on the World Championship hill!"

"Obviously I couldn’t be happier about my start to the season. I’ve known that I’m capable of results like this for a while, but it’s taken a lot longer than I wanted to get them! Thanks for all the kind words and congratulations, the amount of support I’ve received has been pretty amazing."

You can read the full blog post here.

As a fan, these are the moments we wait for as well.