It is the most traditional of Olympic events and, in recent years, has come to symbolize the five-ring circus is about to pack up and move on to the next big stop.
Men's marathon time means it's definitely almost closing time for the Beijing Olympics, with the closing ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium now less than 10 hours away. Sure, there's still a basketball gold to be decided (which matters a great deal, I suppose, to the country to the south of us) and some boxing finals to be held (talk about a sport that's flown right under the radar in these parts, which might be expected when you send a one-man team to the Games).
But really, once the marathon is over, you know the extinguishing of the flame isn't too far away.
What a historic run it was. Hard to believe that, until tonight, Kenya — the nation which has been a long-distance terror at the Olympics for 40 years, going back to the legendary Kip Keino in Mexico City — had never produced a marathon winner.
Consider that little blip on the Kenyan radar erased after Sammy Wansiru's sizzling 2:06:32 run on an oppressively hot Beijing day. The 21-year-old ran the fastest marathon in Olympic history, blowing away the previous best by nearly three minutes (the old standard, set by Portugal's Carlos Lopes, had stood up since 1984).
For the second straight Games, Canada had no entrant in the event. Kenya, meanwhile, had literally hundreds of prospects to choose from for its Olympic roster. Mark Lee, CBC's voice at the track, pointed out that in that African nation, "more than 500 (athletes) have run a 2:20 marathon. In Canada, we have two."
"It is a mind-boggling depth and strength," added CBC analyst Dave Moorcroft.
*****
Wouldn't be nice if all athletes shared their stories as honestly as Adam van Koeverden?
The Canadian paddler, who was stunned by an eighth-place finish in the K-1 1,000-metre final on Friday, battled back for a silver medal earlier today in the 500 — the distance at which he struck gold four years ago in Athens.
After the race, Van Koeverden bluntly admitted his confidence needed a serious rebuild after the crushing result in the 1,000. It was a sentiment he repeated once more during a studio interview with CBC's Scott Russell on Olympic Prime, saying that he was "still worrying and terrified" about an hour before the 500-metre final.
"That self-doubt was definitely there and very prominent for the last 24 hours," said Van Koeverden, one of the most insightful athletes you'll ever meet. "That's the story of my Olympics, coming back from something as devastating as that."
Showing posts with label Athens 2004. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Athens 2004. Show all posts
Saturday, August 23, 2008
It's All About The Spin
When kayaker Adam van Koeverden emerged from the K-1 500 metre final with a silver medal early this morning at the Shunyi canoe/kayak venue, it signalled the final podium trip for a Canadian at the Beijing Olympics.
(although Gary Reed gave it his best shot in the 800 metres on the track at the Bird's Nest stadium, with the reigning world silver medallist finishing an agonizing fourth).
So the final medal count for Canada reads like this: Three gold, nine silver, six bronze. A grand total of 18, which rates six better than Athens 2004 and matches the second-best total ever for Canada at a non-boycotted Summer Olympics. We brought home the same number of medals from Barcelona in 1992; the number grew to 22 four years later in Atlanta.
Sports Illustrated predicted 15 Canadian medals at these Games. The majority of pundits probably weren't willing to go beyond that, given what transpired in Athens four years ago.
Were these Games a success for Canada? Based on the improvement over Athens, you'd have to give our gang in China a passing grade. Especially given the fact that the majority of amateur sport funding is being directed to winter athletes at the moment, with our country mere hours away from being officially on deck for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
The stated goal before Beijing 2008, according the Canadian Olympic Committee, was a top-16 finish in the medal standings. If one goes by the total medal count — and, as we've said here earlier, it should be that way — then the COC can boast about a tie for 13th with Belarus. The official Beijing Games site, though, ranks countries by golds won, which drops us down to a tie for 19th, and outside of the COC's target.
A successful Summer Olympics or not? We'll be interested to see how the powers-that-be in Canada spin this one.
(although Gary Reed gave it his best shot in the 800 metres on the track at the Bird's Nest stadium, with the reigning world silver medallist finishing an agonizing fourth).
So the final medal count for Canada reads like this: Three gold, nine silver, six bronze. A grand total of 18, which rates six better than Athens 2004 and matches the second-best total ever for Canada at a non-boycotted Summer Olympics. We brought home the same number of medals from Barcelona in 1992; the number grew to 22 four years later in Atlanta.
Sports Illustrated predicted 15 Canadian medals at these Games. The majority of pundits probably weren't willing to go beyond that, given what transpired in Athens four years ago.
Were these Games a success for Canada? Based on the improvement over Athens, you'd have to give our gang in China a passing grade. Especially given the fact that the majority of amateur sport funding is being directed to winter athletes at the moment, with our country mere hours away from being officially on deck for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
The stated goal before Beijing 2008, according the Canadian Olympic Committee, was a top-16 finish in the medal standings. If one goes by the total medal count — and, as we've said here earlier, it should be that way — then the COC can boast about a tie for 13th with Belarus. The official Beijing Games site, though, ranks countries by golds won, which drops us down to a tie for 19th, and outside of the COC's target.
A successful Summer Olympics or not? We'll be interested to see how the powers-that-be in Canada spin this one.
Friday, August 22, 2008
You Just Never Know
So you woke up this morning and heard Canada won a medal in canoe/kayak events.
Hell of a guy, that Adam van Koeverden, you no doubt thought. Soon enough, though, you realized you'd thought wrong. Very, very wrong.
While van Koeverden — considered the surest of shots among the Canadian contingent at the Beijing Games — faded badly to a shocking eighth-place finish in the men's K-1 1,000-metre final, it was the much more unheralded Thomas Hall driving to a bronze medal in the C-1 1,000 at the Shunyi Olympic venue.
There, in a nutshell, is what you typically find at an Olympic Games, especially when it comes to Canadian results. For every van Koeverden or Brent Hayden who doesn't quite match high pre-games expectations, you'll also find a Carol Huynh or Ryan Cochrane or Priscilla Lopes-Schliep who produces an unexpected trip to the podium.
"Some people can handle (the Olympic pressure) and some can't," Hall would later tell CBC's Scott Russell on Olympic Prime. "Some people can bring their 'A' game when it counts. The Olympics only happens once every four years. It's a big deal and there's lots of stress."
Add it all up, and Canada generally winds up about where you'd expect at the end of the day. We sit on 17 medals with one full competition day left in Beijing, one shy of matching Barcelona 1992 as the second most successful Summer Olympics for a Canadian team at a non-boycotted Games (only Atlanta 1996, with 22, ranks higher).
Van Koeverden might yet contribute to that total. He's back on the water at Shunyi at 3:30 a.m. ET, gunning to defend his Olympic crown in the K-1 500 metres. He was as stunned as everyone watching about what happened in the 1,000, a race in which he won the silver medal four years ago in Athens.
"I just didn't have it," van Koeverden told CBC's Karin Larsen after the race. "It's a hell of a time not to have it. It's the worst 1,000 metres I have put together in years."
He's hardly alone. The sprint relays were littered with disaster, with both the U.S. men's and women's teams disqualified in the heats because of botched exchanges. The same fate awaited a heavily favoured Jamaican team in the women's final.
All of which goes to show that at the Olympics, you just never know. It's a whole different Games.
*****
It didn't take long for the so-called "Canadian flagbearer jinx" to be trumpeted by the media in the wake of van Koeverden's finish this morning. In the last five Summer Games, only kayaker Caroline Brunet (silver at Sydney 2000) was able to climb on to the Olympic podium.
Van Koeverden, of course, isn't done yet in Beijing. And it's worth noting that in 1984 and 1988, Alex Baumann (Los Angeles) and Carolyn Waldo (Seoul) both struck gold.
We're sure the latter two didn't believe there was any sort of hex attached to the red maple leaf. Confident guy that he is, van Koeverden likely doesn't subscribe to such thinking, either.
Hell of a guy, that Adam van Koeverden, you no doubt thought. Soon enough, though, you realized you'd thought wrong. Very, very wrong.
While van Koeverden — considered the surest of shots among the Canadian contingent at the Beijing Games — faded badly to a shocking eighth-place finish in the men's K-1 1,000-metre final, it was the much more unheralded Thomas Hall driving to a bronze medal in the C-1 1,000 at the Shunyi Olympic venue.
There, in a nutshell, is what you typically find at an Olympic Games, especially when it comes to Canadian results. For every van Koeverden or Brent Hayden who doesn't quite match high pre-games expectations, you'll also find a Carol Huynh or Ryan Cochrane or Priscilla Lopes-Schliep who produces an unexpected trip to the podium.
"Some people can handle (the Olympic pressure) and some can't," Hall would later tell CBC's Scott Russell on Olympic Prime. "Some people can bring their 'A' game when it counts. The Olympics only happens once every four years. It's a big deal and there's lots of stress."
Add it all up, and Canada generally winds up about where you'd expect at the end of the day. We sit on 17 medals with one full competition day left in Beijing, one shy of matching Barcelona 1992 as the second most successful Summer Olympics for a Canadian team at a non-boycotted Games (only Atlanta 1996, with 22, ranks higher).
Van Koeverden might yet contribute to that total. He's back on the water at Shunyi at 3:30 a.m. ET, gunning to defend his Olympic crown in the K-1 500 metres. He was as stunned as everyone watching about what happened in the 1,000, a race in which he won the silver medal four years ago in Athens.
"I just didn't have it," van Koeverden told CBC's Karin Larsen after the race. "It's a hell of a time not to have it. It's the worst 1,000 metres I have put together in years."
He's hardly alone. The sprint relays were littered with disaster, with both the U.S. men's and women's teams disqualified in the heats because of botched exchanges. The same fate awaited a heavily favoured Jamaican team in the women's final.
All of which goes to show that at the Olympics, you just never know. It's a whole different Games.
*****
It didn't take long for the so-called "Canadian flagbearer jinx" to be trumpeted by the media in the wake of van Koeverden's finish this morning. In the last five Summer Games, only kayaker Caroline Brunet (silver at Sydney 2000) was able to climb on to the Olympic podium.
Van Koeverden, of course, isn't done yet in Beijing. And it's worth noting that in 1984 and 1988, Alex Baumann (Los Angeles) and Carolyn Waldo (Seoul) both struck gold.
We're sure the latter two didn't believe there was any sort of hex attached to the red maple leaf. Confident guy that he is, van Koeverden likely doesn't subscribe to such thinking, either.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Diving Behind The Scenes
Anne Montminy had the ultimate insider's view of the women's 10-metre platform diving final this morning at the Beijing Olympics.
Who knew better, after all, about what Canadian Emilie Heymans was going through than her former synchronized diving partner. Fortunately for the CBC, it Montminy was on its team for the dramatic event that resulted in Heymans earning Canada its 14th medal of Beijing 2008.
Working as an analyst alongside Steve Armitage, Montminy expertly told us which dives would tell the tale about Heymans' emotional state during a nerve-wracking final that went right down to the final plunge into the Water Cube pool (Chinese teen Chen Ruolin edged Heymans for the gold on a near-perfect final dive).
All the while, Montminy managed to conceal (for the most part) the excitement she felt for Heymans, who hadn't won an individual diving medal at the Games until today (she was fourth on the tower in Athens four years ago).
"It was particularly touching for me," Montminy later revealed in a studio interview with CBC Olympic Morning host Diana Swain. "(Heymans) has had trouble with her nerves in the past but she was really on tonight ... It was one of the most, if not the most, incredible competitions I've ever seen."
China has now won all seven diving golds at these Games. It's a dominance that Montminy doesn't see Canada, in particular, breaking any time soon. The Chinese, she said, spend "so many more hours" training than divers in other countries.
"We're not going to be able to put in the time (to match them)," said Montminy. "We have to prepare for life after sport, with things like school. It's a different society there."
*****
TSN has popularized the '1 Up, 1 Down' system for its hockey telecasts (that's a play-by-play guy in the broadcast booth and an analyst between the benches, for the uninitiated).
Here's a new one from the CBC. Bruce Rainnie, who was pulled from the Beijing rowing/canoe-kayak events at the last minute because of illness, called today's individual showjumping final off a monitor in Toronto while equestrian analyst Beth Underhill worked from ringside in Hong Kong.
What to call that setup? How about 'one here, one there,' perhaps?
Who knew better, after all, about what Canadian Emilie Heymans was going through than her former synchronized diving partner. Fortunately for the CBC, it Montminy was on its team for the dramatic event that resulted in Heymans earning Canada its 14th medal of Beijing 2008.
Working as an analyst alongside Steve Armitage, Montminy expertly told us which dives would tell the tale about Heymans' emotional state during a nerve-wracking final that went right down to the final plunge into the Water Cube pool (Chinese teen Chen Ruolin edged Heymans for the gold on a near-perfect final dive).
All the while, Montminy managed to conceal (for the most part) the excitement she felt for Heymans, who hadn't won an individual diving medal at the Games until today (she was fourth on the tower in Athens four years ago).
"It was particularly touching for me," Montminy later revealed in a studio interview with CBC Olympic Morning host Diana Swain. "(Heymans) has had trouble with her nerves in the past but she was really on tonight ... It was one of the most, if not the most, incredible competitions I've ever seen."
China has now won all seven diving golds at these Games. It's a dominance that Montminy doesn't see Canada, in particular, breaking any time soon. The Chinese, she said, spend "so many more hours" training than divers in other countries.
"We're not going to be able to put in the time (to match them)," said Montminy. "We have to prepare for life after sport, with things like school. It's a different society there."
*****
TSN has popularized the '1 Up, 1 Down' system for its hockey telecasts (that's a play-by-play guy in the broadcast booth and an analyst between the benches, for the uninitiated).
Here's a new one from the CBC. Bruce Rainnie, who was pulled from the Beijing rowing/canoe-kayak events at the last minute because of illness, called today's individual showjumping final off a monitor in Toronto while equestrian analyst Beth Underhill worked from ringside in Hong Kong.
What to call that setup? How about 'one here, one there,' perhaps?
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Heavy Medal Days Boost CBC
We would hope the grumbling has finally subsided. For good, for that matter.
Especially with Canadian athletes racking up an impressive 13 medals in five days at the Beijing Olympics, putting their total for Athens 2004 in the rear-view mirror.
While bitching about our medal goose egg became almost a national sport during the first week of the 2008 Summer Games, the passion for the five-ring circus was still mighty clear. And now that the red maple leaf is starting to soar above more and more podiums ... well, that's been the biggest signal of all for Canadians to tune in to the goings-on in China.
Just ask the CBC, which has seen its ratings soar along with Canada's medal total. An average of 1.590 million viewers — the public broadcaster's largest of the Games — tuned into Olympic Prime on Monday night. The highest peak in Beijing (2.574 million) came at 11:49 p.m., as Simon Whitfield charged for gold in the men's triathlon. The native of Kingston, Ont., wound up second in one of the most dramatic finishes of these entire Olympics.
That event helped push Pacific Prime's average overnight to 746,000, also the best number for that show during Beijing 2008.
With Canadians clearly on a roll — and more serious medal hopes to come, including flagbearer Adam van Koeverden at the canoe/kayak venue — this is a success story that should continue.
*****
There's a whole country south of the border that will take issue with this. But I'll say it anyways.
Is there a more boring, overhyped story in Beijing than the so-called Redeem Team? Yeah, it's true the NBA star laden U.S. men's basketball team has barely broken a sweat in Beijing and probably won't en route to gold. But really, I've got all winter to hear about this lot and even then, it's far too much.
Give me more stories about the men and women whose only time in the spotlight happens right now — and not again for four more years. That's the real Olympics to me. Always has been, always will be.
Especially with Canadian athletes racking up an impressive 13 medals in five days at the Beijing Olympics, putting their total for Athens 2004 in the rear-view mirror.
While bitching about our medal goose egg became almost a national sport during the first week of the 2008 Summer Games, the passion for the five-ring circus was still mighty clear. And now that the red maple leaf is starting to soar above more and more podiums ... well, that's been the biggest signal of all for Canadians to tune in to the goings-on in China.
Just ask the CBC, which has seen its ratings soar along with Canada's medal total. An average of 1.590 million viewers — the public broadcaster's largest of the Games — tuned into Olympic Prime on Monday night. The highest peak in Beijing (2.574 million) came at 11:49 p.m., as Simon Whitfield charged for gold in the men's triathlon. The native of Kingston, Ont., wound up second in one of the most dramatic finishes of these entire Olympics.
That event helped push Pacific Prime's average overnight to 746,000, also the best number for that show during Beijing 2008.
With Canadians clearly on a roll — and more serious medal hopes to come, including flagbearer Adam van Koeverden at the canoe/kayak venue — this is a success story that should continue.
*****
There's a whole country south of the border that will take issue with this. But I'll say it anyways.
Is there a more boring, overhyped story in Beijing than the so-called Redeem Team? Yeah, it's true the NBA star laden U.S. men's basketball team has barely broken a sweat in Beijing and probably won't en route to gold. But really, I've got all winter to hear about this lot and even then, it's far too much.
Give me more stories about the men and women whose only time in the spotlight happens right now — and not again for four more years. That's the real Olympics to me. Always has been, always will be.
Hurdling Into Her Own Spotlight
We first met three years ago at a much more quaint venue in Ottawa and instantly, I thought, this is an athlete Canadians everywhere should want to see succeed.
Priscilla Lopes (she hadn't picked up the Schliep yet) didn't win that day at the Canadian track and field championships, held on the Terry Fox Athletic Facility track that sits on the banks of Mooney's Bay. But there was just something about her that said 'winner.' And something else that made a neutral observer want to see it happen someday on the biggest of stages.
Lopes-Schliep, as she's now known, was just that charming with an attitude and personality that were nothing less than infectious, it must be said now.
I thought about all of that again this morning while watching the powerful runner from Whitby, Ont., dance around the track at the Bird's Nest with glee after learning a photo finish had declared her the winner of the bronze medal in the women's 100-metre hurdles. It was Canada's first Olympic medal in track and field since the men's 4x100-metre relay team blew away the vaunted Americans on their home soil in Atlanta in 1996.
The last Canadian to earn a Games medal in the women's hurdles? Try Elizabeth Taylor (no, not that one), way back in 1936 in Berlin (yes, the infamous 'Nazi Olympics.' The race was only 80 metres long back then, by the way).
That streak was supposed to end four years ago in Athens but world champion Perdita Felicien, sadly and incredibly, didn't make it past the first hurdle. Just when she was beginning to return to form, an injury knocked Felicien out of the Beijing Games, apparently ending Canada's hopes for the hurdles again.
But not enough people, it seemed, knew about the competitive fire that burns inside of Lopes-Schliep. Give a listen to this quote from her Olympians profile on CBC. "If you say you're trying for second or third, pack your bags and go home," she said. "I'm going out there to win."
She's never believed for a minute, either, that she's been running in Felicien's shadow.
"I'm not living somebody else's dream," she said. "I'm living my dream."
Still, the ironies — and the connections to Felicien's fall in Athens — were too rich to ignore. One of the top medal contenders, world champion Andrea Kallur of Sweden (daughter of former New York Islanders hockey star Susanna, if you're wondering), suffered the same fate as Felicien in the heats (see, it doesn't just happen to our athletes).
In the final, the gold favourite, LoLo Jones of the U.S., seemed en route to victory when she clipped the second-last hurdle, killing her momentum. Lopes-Schliep, meanwhile, kept chugging away like the runaway freight train she is on the track.
And there she was at the end, out from "under the radar" and bouncing with pure joy to a step on the Olympic podium. Living her own dream, nobody else's. Tell me it didn't make you smile right along with her, Canada.
Priscilla Lopes (she hadn't picked up the Schliep yet) didn't win that day at the Canadian track and field championships, held on the Terry Fox Athletic Facility track that sits on the banks of Mooney's Bay. But there was just something about her that said 'winner.' And something else that made a neutral observer want to see it happen someday on the biggest of stages.
Lopes-Schliep, as she's now known, was just that charming with an attitude and personality that were nothing less than infectious, it must be said now.
I thought about all of that again this morning while watching the powerful runner from Whitby, Ont., dance around the track at the Bird's Nest with glee after learning a photo finish had declared her the winner of the bronze medal in the women's 100-metre hurdles. It was Canada's first Olympic medal in track and field since the men's 4x100-metre relay team blew away the vaunted Americans on their home soil in Atlanta in 1996.
The last Canadian to earn a Games medal in the women's hurdles? Try Elizabeth Taylor (no, not that one), way back in 1936 in Berlin (yes, the infamous 'Nazi Olympics.' The race was only 80 metres long back then, by the way).
That streak was supposed to end four years ago in Athens but world champion Perdita Felicien, sadly and incredibly, didn't make it past the first hurdle. Just when she was beginning to return to form, an injury knocked Felicien out of the Beijing Games, apparently ending Canada's hopes for the hurdles again.
But not enough people, it seemed, knew about the competitive fire that burns inside of Lopes-Schliep. Give a listen to this quote from her Olympians profile on CBC. "If you say you're trying for second or third, pack your bags and go home," she said. "I'm going out there to win."
She's never believed for a minute, either, that she's been running in Felicien's shadow.
"I'm not living somebody else's dream," she said. "I'm living my dream."
Still, the ironies — and the connections to Felicien's fall in Athens — were too rich to ignore. One of the top medal contenders, world champion Andrea Kallur of Sweden (daughter of former New York Islanders hockey star Susanna, if you're wondering), suffered the same fate as Felicien in the heats (see, it doesn't just happen to our athletes).
In the final, the gold favourite, LoLo Jones of the U.S., seemed en route to victory when she clipped the second-last hurdle, killing her momentum. Lopes-Schliep, meanwhile, kept chugging away like the runaway freight train she is on the track.
And there she was at the end, out from "under the radar" and bouncing with pure joy to a step on the Olympic podium. Living her own dream, nobody else's. Tell me it didn't make you smile right along with her, Canada.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Making The Turn For Home
A few random Olympic thoughts (some TV related, some not) as we start down the road toward the finish line at the Beijing Games:
*****
Liu Xiang's departure from the Beijing Olympics was nothing short of bizarre. If you were watching late on Sunday night, you heard thunderous roars from the home fans at the Bird's Nest for Xiang, the 2004 Athens champ in the men's 110-metre hurdles, who became China biggest sporting hero at these Games because of it.
The roars continued, even though the television cameras showed Liang was clearly hurting and would be fortunate to finish his heat. As it turned out, he didn't. After feeling intense pain during a false start, Liang walked off the track, his Olympics over. Once the Chinese supporters saw their man's lane was empty, they filed out of the stadium quietly, with the heat being run in an eerie silence. It was a stunning departure for the man China clearly wanted to see win gold more than any of its athletes in Beijing.
"Liu Xiang is devastated and so is a nation," CBC track analyst Dave Moorcroft opined.
Sorry, but I'll stick with the word bizarre, if nobody minds. This truly was.
*****
We knew going in, given the 12-hour time difference, that these would be the games of the Internet (though anyone with a widecreen TV might call them the HD Olympics. They wouldn't exactly be wrong).
Here's some numerical proof to back up that online argument. Through Sunday, CBC reported its Olympics website had totalled 25 million page views — just two million less than the entire Athens Games in 2004. A year ago, all of CBCSports.ca generated 1.2 million page views in the same Aug. 8-18 time frame.
Users have downloaded 2.1 million live video streams and more than 700,000 on-demand.
Much of this, you'll note, came during a week which — until Saturday — included exactly zero Canadian medals. Who knows what might happens if our gang stays on its current roll?
*****
If the Bell Globemedia/Rogers consortium is looking for a gymnastics analyst for the London 2012 Summer Games, it could do far worse than Kyle Shewfelt. The 2004 Olympic gold medallist, brought in as a 'guest' analyst for men's events in Beijing, has quickly become one of CBC's standouts at these Games. His analysis is often very insightful and, unlike a lot of athletes who cross over into the broadcast realm, he hasn't shied away from being critical. It's refreshing, to say the least.
*****
If there are better in-your-face, feels like you're there camera shots than those we've witnessed at the triathlon venue, I have yet to see them. Absolutely breath-taking, without a doubt, especially in HD.
*****
Liu Xiang's departure from the Beijing Olympics was nothing short of bizarre. If you were watching late on Sunday night, you heard thunderous roars from the home fans at the Bird's Nest for Xiang, the 2004 Athens champ in the men's 110-metre hurdles, who became China biggest sporting hero at these Games because of it.
The roars continued, even though the television cameras showed Liang was clearly hurting and would be fortunate to finish his heat. As it turned out, he didn't. After feeling intense pain during a false start, Liang walked off the track, his Olympics over. Once the Chinese supporters saw their man's lane was empty, they filed out of the stadium quietly, with the heat being run in an eerie silence. It was a stunning departure for the man China clearly wanted to see win gold more than any of its athletes in Beijing.
"Liu Xiang is devastated and so is a nation," CBC track analyst Dave Moorcroft opined.
Sorry, but I'll stick with the word bizarre, if nobody minds. This truly was.
*****
We knew going in, given the 12-hour time difference, that these would be the games of the Internet (though anyone with a widecreen TV might call them the HD Olympics. They wouldn't exactly be wrong).
Here's some numerical proof to back up that online argument. Through Sunday, CBC reported its Olympics website had totalled 25 million page views — just two million less than the entire Athens Games in 2004. A year ago, all of CBCSports.ca generated 1.2 million page views in the same Aug. 8-18 time frame.
Users have downloaded 2.1 million live video streams and more than 700,000 on-demand.
Much of this, you'll note, came during a week which — until Saturday — included exactly zero Canadian medals. Who knows what might happens if our gang stays on its current roll?
*****
If the Bell Globemedia/Rogers consortium is looking for a gymnastics analyst for the London 2012 Summer Games, it could do far worse than Kyle Shewfelt. The 2004 Olympic gold medallist, brought in as a 'guest' analyst for men's events in Beijing, has quickly become one of CBC's standouts at these Games. His analysis is often very insightful and, unlike a lot of athletes who cross over into the broadcast realm, he hasn't shied away from being critical. It's refreshing, to say the least.
*****
If there are better in-your-face, feels like you're there camera shots than those we've witnessed at the triathlon venue, I have yet to see them. Absolutely breath-taking, without a doubt, especially in HD.
Another Great Leap Forward
And how's that for a way to a put a bounce into your morning?
Yes, that's Toronto's Karen Cockburn smiling at a third straight Summer Olympics after soaring to a silver medal in the women's trampoline final in Beijing today. That follows up on a bronze eight years ago in Sydney and silver in 2004 in Athens, making Cockburn on the fourth Canadian athlete to win a medal at three straight Games (track athlete Phil Edwards, rowing coxwain Lesley Thompson-Willie and kayaker Caroline Brunet are the others, in case you're wondering).
Trampoline is one of those TV-friendly Olympic sports. The tricks look spectacular, especially from the overhead view, and with just eight competitors turning in one short routine, it only requires about half an hour of your time to see who wins gold, silver and bronze (that sort of timing allowed CBC to get off to Hong Kong for the drama of the team showjumping final, but more on that later in another post).
Cockburn is one of those rare athletes who manages to turn medal potential into a trip to the podium each time she shows up at an Olympics (and this may well have been her swan song). This one, though, took some doing after she tore cartilage in her right knee just before last year's world championships — the qualifier for these Games.
Somehow, Cockburn got through it, had surgery afterward then got herself into the right shape to soar in Beijing.
"I learned how tough I am. The week before worlds, I couldn't even walk," Cockburn told Scott Russell on CBC's Olympic Morning. "I'm just so happy. That's why this medal means so much to me, after what I had to go through to get to this point."
Only thing missing from her day: Cockburn hadn't managed to get through to her husband, Mathieu Turgeon (also an Olympic trampoline medallist in Sydney) to share the good news. We're guessing he was watching back home in T.O., though.
*****
No doubt, Michael Phelps has inspired many money-making schemes already.
Here's one we hope doesn't see the light of day. Turned on ESPN Radio on my drive to work and heard them suggesting (I kid you not) "Swimming With Celebrities," featuring the eight-time gold medallist and assorted buff bodies.
There are no words to accurately describe the flat-out silliness of that. Scary (sad?) part is, they might not be far off.
Yes, that's Toronto's Karen Cockburn smiling at a third straight Summer Olympics after soaring to a silver medal in the women's trampoline final in Beijing today. That follows up on a bronze eight years ago in Sydney and silver in 2004 in Athens, making Cockburn on the fourth Canadian athlete to win a medal at three straight Games (track athlete Phil Edwards, rowing coxwain Lesley Thompson-Willie and kayaker Caroline Brunet are the others, in case you're wondering).
Trampoline is one of those TV-friendly Olympic sports. The tricks look spectacular, especially from the overhead view, and with just eight competitors turning in one short routine, it only requires about half an hour of your time to see who wins gold, silver and bronze (that sort of timing allowed CBC to get off to Hong Kong for the drama of the team showjumping final, but more on that later in another post).
Cockburn is one of those rare athletes who manages to turn medal potential into a trip to the podium each time she shows up at an Olympics (and this may well have been her swan song). This one, though, took some doing after she tore cartilage in her right knee just before last year's world championships — the qualifier for these Games.
Somehow, Cockburn got through it, had surgery afterward then got herself into the right shape to soar in Beijing.
"I learned how tough I am. The week before worlds, I couldn't even walk," Cockburn told Scott Russell on CBC's Olympic Morning. "I'm just so happy. That's why this medal means so much to me, after what I had to go through to get to this point."
Only thing missing from her day: Cockburn hadn't managed to get through to her husband, Mathieu Turgeon (also an Olympic trampoline medallist in Sydney) to share the good news. We're guessing he was watching back home in T.O., though.
*****
No doubt, Michael Phelps has inspired many money-making schemes already.
Here's one we hope doesn't see the light of day. Turned on ESPN Radio on my drive to work and heard them suggesting (I kid you not) "Swimming With Celebrities," featuring the eight-time gold medallist and assorted buff bodies.
There are no words to accurately describe the flat-out silliness of that. Scary (sad?) part is, they might not be far off.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Canadian Eights On Golden Pond
Forget the overblown nicknames or the endless hype.
Nope, Canada's men's rowing eights didn't want any of that. So single-minded was their desire to erase the disastrous fifth-place finish of Athens 2004.
That they did, crushing the field at the Shunyi Olympic rowing park to earn Canada's second gold medal of the Beijing Games early, early this morning. They did it as one of the country's most highly touted gold hopes coming into these Olympics.
But save those 'redeem team' monikers for someone else. These nine guys (eight rowers and coxswain Brian Price) have the only title they wanted: Olympic champions.
"It's not about redemption," an elated Adam Kreek told CBC after their decisive triumph. "It's about seizing the moment and we seized the moment."
This was a story that was supposed to be written four years ago in Athens. The Canadian eights went into those Games as world champions, too, but faded badly in the final and didn't even hit the podium. They've had to live with the disappointment for four years now.
"Gold medals are awarded in the summer but they're earned in the winter," said Kyle Hamilton. "This was four years of hard winters."
Added Jake Wetzel, a part of that '04 crew: "In Athens, it was a very hard-fought race. It was one where we fell behind and we battled back. Here, we dominated, and it's just such a testament to what a great crew this was."
As an aside, so, too was the camera work in Shunyi (we've always been fans of those stunning overhead shots). And CBC did well by putting the commentary in the hands of the very capable Scott Oake and Barney Williams, an insightful analyst as an Olympic rookie.
They had plenty of good to talk about on this day. Melanie Kok and Tracy Cameron earned a heart-stopping bronze in the women's double sculls, a feat also matched by the men's lightweight fours (Iain Brambell, Jon Beare, Mike Lewis and Liam Parsons).
Combined with the silver earned by Scott Frandsen and Dave Calder on Saturday in the men's pairs, it was a four-medal haul by Canada at Shunyi (almost five, but the women's eights wound up an agonizing fourth). As Olympic Morning anchor Scott Russell put it, that harkens back to the glory days of Barcelona 1992.
Oh, before we forget, the rest of that golden eights crew: Ben Rutledge, Kevin Light, Malcolm Howard, Andrew Byrnes and Dominic Seiterle.
Nope, Canada's men's rowing eights didn't want any of that. So single-minded was their desire to erase the disastrous fifth-place finish of Athens 2004.
That they did, crushing the field at the Shunyi Olympic rowing park to earn Canada's second gold medal of the Beijing Games early, early this morning. They did it as one of the country's most highly touted gold hopes coming into these Olympics.
But save those 'redeem team' monikers for someone else. These nine guys (eight rowers and coxswain Brian Price) have the only title they wanted: Olympic champions.
"It's not about redemption," an elated Adam Kreek told CBC after their decisive triumph. "It's about seizing the moment and we seized the moment."
This was a story that was supposed to be written four years ago in Athens. The Canadian eights went into those Games as world champions, too, but faded badly in the final and didn't even hit the podium. They've had to live with the disappointment for four years now.
"Gold medals are awarded in the summer but they're earned in the winter," said Kyle Hamilton. "This was four years of hard winters."
Added Jake Wetzel, a part of that '04 crew: "In Athens, it was a very hard-fought race. It was one where we fell behind and we battled back. Here, we dominated, and it's just such a testament to what a great crew this was."
As an aside, so, too was the camera work in Shunyi (we've always been fans of those stunning overhead shots). And CBC did well by putting the commentary in the hands of the very capable Scott Oake and Barney Williams, an insightful analyst as an Olympic rookie.
They had plenty of good to talk about on this day. Melanie Kok and Tracy Cameron earned a heart-stopping bronze in the women's double sculls, a feat also matched by the men's lightweight fours (Iain Brambell, Jon Beare, Mike Lewis and Liam Parsons).
Combined with the silver earned by Scott Frandsen and Dave Calder on Saturday in the men's pairs, it was a four-medal haul by Canada at Shunyi (almost five, but the women's eights wound up an agonizing fourth). As Olympic Morning anchor Scott Russell put it, that harkens back to the glory days of Barcelona 1992.
Oh, before we forget, the rest of that golden eights crew: Ben Rutledge, Kevin Light, Malcolm Howard, Andrew Byrnes and Dominic Seiterle.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Eight Is Enough For Phelps
A few days back, as Michael Phelps marched inexorably toward Olympic history, CBC's Steve Armitage opined the following about the American swimming giant.
"We are running out of superlatives," said Armitage, whose booming voice Canadians have come to know so well over the past four Summer Olympics.
Everyone found a few more, though, on the final night of the Beijing Games swim competition, as the U.S. 4x100-metre medley relay team — with Phelps putting the Stars and Stripes ahead to stay with a crucial butterfly leg — maintained its spotless record in this event in Olympic finals.
Oh, yeah, did we mention it was gold medal No. 8 for Phelps, breaking the record set by another American swimmer, Mark Spitz, back in 1972 in Munich?
"Seventeen swims, eight golds," Armitage said in summing up the remarkable achievement he had witnessed all week at the Water Cube. "The great Michael Phelps. Now the greatest."
CBC Olympic Prime anchor Ron MacLean went further, calling Phelps "the eighth wonder of the swimming world."
To NBC, he's been the engine driving a massive ratings success story. With Phelps on almost every night during the first eight days of the Beijing Games, NBC Universal networks' total viewership had hit 185 million — on pace to be the most-watched Olympics ever in the U.S., even surpassing the 1996 Atlanta Games, which attracted the largest television audiences of any event in history.
NBCOlympics.com has already generated 628 million page viewers, more than the total for the entire Athens 2004 and the 2006 Torino Winter Games combined (561 million).
*****
With the swimming competition in Beijing now in the books, a much-deserved hat tip to Australia's Channel 7, which produced the host broadcast feed at the Water Cube.
The underwater camera shots, in particular, were fabulous, often showing us the minute difference between winning and losing. We also enjoyed the overhead views and the slo-motion replay close-ups of the race victors.
Of course, watching it all in high-definition format was just the icing on the cake.
*****
Photo of the day: Debbie Phelps, mother of you know who, receiving heartfelt congratulations from Aussie swim legend Ian (Thorpedo) Thorpe after her son claimed his record-shattering eighth Olympic gold.
"We are running out of superlatives," said Armitage, whose booming voice Canadians have come to know so well over the past four Summer Olympics.
Everyone found a few more, though, on the final night of the Beijing Games swim competition, as the U.S. 4x100-metre medley relay team — with Phelps putting the Stars and Stripes ahead to stay with a crucial butterfly leg — maintained its spotless record in this event in Olympic finals.
Oh, yeah, did we mention it was gold medal No. 8 for Phelps, breaking the record set by another American swimmer, Mark Spitz, back in 1972 in Munich?
"Seventeen swims, eight golds," Armitage said in summing up the remarkable achievement he had witnessed all week at the Water Cube. "The great Michael Phelps. Now the greatest."
CBC Olympic Prime anchor Ron MacLean went further, calling Phelps "the eighth wonder of the swimming world."
To NBC, he's been the engine driving a massive ratings success story. With Phelps on almost every night during the first eight days of the Beijing Games, NBC Universal networks' total viewership had hit 185 million — on pace to be the most-watched Olympics ever in the U.S., even surpassing the 1996 Atlanta Games, which attracted the largest television audiences of any event in history.
NBCOlympics.com has already generated 628 million page viewers, more than the total for the entire Athens 2004 and the 2006 Torino Winter Games combined (561 million).
*****
With the swimming competition in Beijing now in the books, a much-deserved hat tip to Australia's Channel 7, which produced the host broadcast feed at the Water Cube.
The underwater camera shots, in particular, were fabulous, often showing us the minute difference between winning and losing. We also enjoyed the overhead views and the slo-motion replay close-ups of the race victors.
Of course, watching it all in high-definition format was just the icing on the cake.
*****
Photo of the day: Debbie Phelps, mother of you know who, receiving heartfelt congratulations from Aussie swim legend Ian (Thorpedo) Thorpe after her son claimed his record-shattering eighth Olympic gold.
A Long Stride Toward London
We've heard all about the raft of Canadian records, the number of swimmers making finals, the reasons why Beijing has been so much better than the misery of Athens.
With Ryan Cochrane's bronze medal in the gruelling 1,500-metre freestyle at the Water Cube tonight now in the books, is it time finally to believe that Canada's swimming team is back on the road to Olympic respectability?
Canadians watching back home surely have reason to think so now. They didn't want to hear about national records and personal bests. Everyone, you see, has been swimming faster in the Beijing Olympics pool.
A medal, though? That's pretty much impossible to overlook. And who knew, coming into these Games, that Canada's first Olympic swimming medal in eight years would come from Cochrane, a 19-year-old from Victoria who was targeted for such a feat at London 2012.
Apparently, the kid just didn't want to wait. He lowered his personal-best time by 10 seconds in the heats two days ago and kept it going tonight, becoming the first Canadian in 88 years to win a medal in the marathon of the Olympic swim competition (George Vernot grabbed a silver back in 1920 in Antwerp, if you're wondering).
"A lot of people said 2012 would be my big Olympics," Cochrane told CBC after the race. "But the time is now and I did what I could to get a medal."
CBC swimming analyst Byron MacDonald predicted Canadians should get used to hearing Cochrane's name over the next four years.
"Ryan Cochrane will definitely be around for the next quadrennial as a favourite for the podium in every race he goes to," said MacDonald.
He might have company from a group of young swimmers poised to enter their primes.
"We've come a long way (since Athens) and we've got a long way to go," Julia Wilkinson told CBC's Elliotte Friedman after the women's 4x100-metre medley relay. "But we're going."
All the way to jolly old London, they'll tell you. It should be a fun ride until then.
*****
Cochrane's medal gives Canada a total of four (one gold, one silver, two bronze) in Beijing.
Don't be surprised if that total doubles before you wake up Sunday morning, with our gang in position for another hardware haul at the rowing and wrestling venues.
Maybe we really are a second-week team at the Summer Olympics after all.
With Ryan Cochrane's bronze medal in the gruelling 1,500-metre freestyle at the Water Cube tonight now in the books, is it time finally to believe that Canada's swimming team is back on the road to Olympic respectability?
Canadians watching back home surely have reason to think so now. They didn't want to hear about national records and personal bests. Everyone, you see, has been swimming faster in the Beijing Olympics pool.
A medal, though? That's pretty much impossible to overlook. And who knew, coming into these Games, that Canada's first Olympic swimming medal in eight years would come from Cochrane, a 19-year-old from Victoria who was targeted for such a feat at London 2012.
Apparently, the kid just didn't want to wait. He lowered his personal-best time by 10 seconds in the heats two days ago and kept it going tonight, becoming the first Canadian in 88 years to win a medal in the marathon of the Olympic swim competition (George Vernot grabbed a silver back in 1920 in Antwerp, if you're wondering).
"A lot of people said 2012 would be my big Olympics," Cochrane told CBC after the race. "But the time is now and I did what I could to get a medal."
CBC swimming analyst Byron MacDonald predicted Canadians should get used to hearing Cochrane's name over the next four years.
"Ryan Cochrane will definitely be around for the next quadrennial as a favourite for the podium in every race he goes to," said MacDonald.
He might have company from a group of young swimmers poised to enter their primes.
"We've come a long way (since Athens) and we've got a long way to go," Julia Wilkinson told CBC's Elliotte Friedman after the women's 4x100-metre medley relay. "But we're going."
All the way to jolly old London, they'll tell you. It should be a fun ride until then.
*****
Cochrane's medal gives Canada a total of four (one gold, one silver, two bronze) in Beijing.
Don't be surprised if that total doubles before you wake up Sunday morning, with our gang in position for another hardware haul at the rowing and wrestling venues.
Maybe we really are a second-week team at the Summer Olympics after all.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
We're Still At The Four-Front
It's been called the "tin medal" and Canadians, it seems, have become masters at collecting them over the years.
Add Perth's Mike Brown to the list of athletes sentenced to the dreaded fourth-place finish at an Olympic Games, after he finished an agonizing fourth in the men's 200-metre breaststroke final at the Beijing Games tonight. And there with it went Canada's last best shot at a swimming medal at these Olympics.
No need to tell Brown, who finished .09 seconds off the podium, how tough it was to take.
"That's about as frustrating as it gets," he told reporters after the race. "Fourth place is probably the worst spot you can get at the Olympic Games."
Canada's swimmers have been blanked in the Olympic pool since Sydney 2000.
"I would have loved the medal," said Brown. "The first medal for Canada (at the Beijing Games) would have been awesome to have. I couldn't pull it through but that doesn't mean we won't be having one soon."
Brown predicted "there will be lots of medals for Canadian athletes" before these Games are done. And this is a team, admittedly, that has most of its medal potential packed into the second week in Beijing.
No doubt Perth, Ont., is still proud of one of its favourite sons tonight. The pretty town in the Ottawa Valley couldn't have paid for better exposure than the CBC gave it this evening. We saw the Perth Aquatic Stingrays Club's website on air before the race (CBC also had a camera positioned in the town to capture some of the local celebrations, had their been a medal to cheer). Brown smiled afterward when reminded that, by improving his finish by two spots over Athens 2004, one of his sponsors back home has a $60,000 SUV waiting for him when he returns to Perth.
The one place, to be sure, that he'll always be a champion.
*****
What's the deal with the medal standings?
Look on CBC's Olympics website and you'll see China listed on top of the medals table because it's won the most golds so far at the Games. Many other media sites, though, put the U.S. first because its overall medal total is higher.
It's a regular debate at every Olympics. Personally, I think total medals wins. But whatever way you want to do it, let's just get everyone on the same page, can we?
*****
CBC Newsworld's Beijing Today offers a nice highlights roundup for those who couldn't stay up through the night to catch all the live Olympics action.
But the show is missing those feature reports that used to add that extra touch to similar Newsworld efforts at previous Games. Then again, I was always a fan of the late, lamented Sports Journal that shone for so many years on Newsworld (till the budget axe sentenced it to oblivion).
It's that spirit that, sadly, is noticeably absent on Beijing Today. Too bad.
*****
The dreaded glitch hit CBC during tonight's swimming coverage. The public broadcaster lost its feed during one of the women's 200-metre breaststroke semi-finals. CBC planned a repeat of that race as part of its swim package in Pacific Prime.
Add Perth's Mike Brown to the list of athletes sentenced to the dreaded fourth-place finish at an Olympic Games, after he finished an agonizing fourth in the men's 200-metre breaststroke final at the Beijing Games tonight. And there with it went Canada's last best shot at a swimming medal at these Olympics.
No need to tell Brown, who finished .09 seconds off the podium, how tough it was to take.
"That's about as frustrating as it gets," he told reporters after the race. "Fourth place is probably the worst spot you can get at the Olympic Games."
Canada's swimmers have been blanked in the Olympic pool since Sydney 2000.
"I would have loved the medal," said Brown. "The first medal for Canada (at the Beijing Games) would have been awesome to have. I couldn't pull it through but that doesn't mean we won't be having one soon."
Brown predicted "there will be lots of medals for Canadian athletes" before these Games are done. And this is a team, admittedly, that has most of its medal potential packed into the second week in Beijing.
No doubt Perth, Ont., is still proud of one of its favourite sons tonight. The pretty town in the Ottawa Valley couldn't have paid for better exposure than the CBC gave it this evening. We saw the Perth Aquatic Stingrays Club's website on air before the race (CBC also had a camera positioned in the town to capture some of the local celebrations, had their been a medal to cheer). Brown smiled afterward when reminded that, by improving his finish by two spots over Athens 2004, one of his sponsors back home has a $60,000 SUV waiting for him when he returns to Perth.
The one place, to be sure, that he'll always be a champion.
*****
What's the deal with the medal standings?
Look on CBC's Olympics website and you'll see China listed on top of the medals table because it's won the most golds so far at the Games. Many other media sites, though, put the U.S. first because its overall medal total is higher.
It's a regular debate at every Olympics. Personally, I think total medals wins. But whatever way you want to do it, let's just get everyone on the same page, can we?
*****
CBC Newsworld's Beijing Today offers a nice highlights roundup for those who couldn't stay up through the night to catch all the live Olympics action.
But the show is missing those feature reports that used to add that extra touch to similar Newsworld efforts at previous Games. Then again, I was always a fan of the late, lamented Sports Journal that shone for so many years on Newsworld (till the budget axe sentenced it to oblivion).
It's that spirit that, sadly, is noticeably absent on Beijing Today. Too bad.
*****
The dreaded glitch hit CBC during tonight's swimming coverage. The public broadcaster lost its feed during one of the women's 200-metre breaststroke semi-finals. CBC planned a repeat of that race as part of its swim package in Pacific Prime.
Here We Go Again
Looks like your faithful Olympic correspondent spoke a little too soon, wondering the other day about the absence of the 'where the hell are the Canadian medals' debate.
As you can see here, it's in full roar already. And we figure it's only just begun.
The mentality of it all, quite frankly, makes me want to throw up.
We went through all of this in Athens and here we're at it again. Five days into Beijing 2008 and there's still a goose egg beside Canada on the medal count table. All of which, it seems, is the cue for way too many people to jump on the "we suck" bandwagon.
The majority of whom, it must be said, don't give a rat's ass about amateur sports for three years and 50 weeks or so -- and yes, this includes plenty of the media contingent in China at this moment -- but now suddenly, they're freakin' experts on all of this. And leading the charge to pile on our athletes when they fall short of the podium.
Sickening doesn't begin to describe this kind of attitude.
Let's start this blame game by asking this: What did any of you do to help our athletes' cause? Did you contribute $8 (yes, eight measly bucks) to CAN Fund's Beijing challenge? Yeah, it doesn't sound like much, but multiply that by the more than 30 million people who call Canada home and ... well, you do the math.
Eight freakin' dollars.
Tell me again how helping our athletes is such a financial strain on us all.
It was laughable hearing a Canadian Olympic Committee executive say more money is coming into the amateur sport system in the next few months. Fat lot of good that does to help any of our athletes in Beijing (thanks a lot, federal government). It might even be too late to help for London 2012. And that's without knowing how much of it will be siphoned off by the COC and other national sport governing bodies for more needless bureaucracy.
It says here that in the mad dash to Vancouver 2010, we threw our summer sports athletes under the bus (yes, corporate Canada deserves some of the finger of guilt pointed at it, too, in this area). And yet, despite this massive lack of support, we somehow expect to see an endless parade to the medal podium.
Let me know what part of this you're not getting, people.
Whatever success we achieve in Beijing will be in spite of the system, not because of it. Tell me who in their right mind thought it was fair to pull whitewater kayaker David Ford's funding just months before these Games? He finished sixth in his event yesterday without the benefit of a pre-Olympic training camp on the Beijing course, which you know most every one of his top competitors enjoyed. Yeah, that's really standing behind our athletes.
So before you start lobbing bombs at our Beijing gang, think about all of the above.
Better yet, take a look in the mirror. Ask what you did to make a difference.
And why you only care now, when it's really much too late.
As you can see here, it's in full roar already. And we figure it's only just begun.
The mentality of it all, quite frankly, makes me want to throw up.
We went through all of this in Athens and here we're at it again. Five days into Beijing 2008 and there's still a goose egg beside Canada on the medal count table. All of which, it seems, is the cue for way too many people to jump on the "we suck" bandwagon.
The majority of whom, it must be said, don't give a rat's ass about amateur sports for three years and 50 weeks or so -- and yes, this includes plenty of the media contingent in China at this moment -- but now suddenly, they're freakin' experts on all of this. And leading the charge to pile on our athletes when they fall short of the podium.
Sickening doesn't begin to describe this kind of attitude.
Let's start this blame game by asking this: What did any of you do to help our athletes' cause? Did you contribute $8 (yes, eight measly bucks) to CAN Fund's Beijing challenge? Yeah, it doesn't sound like much, but multiply that by the more than 30 million people who call Canada home and ... well, you do the math.
Eight freakin' dollars.
Tell me again how helping our athletes is such a financial strain on us all.
It was laughable hearing a Canadian Olympic Committee executive say more money is coming into the amateur sport system in the next few months. Fat lot of good that does to help any of our athletes in Beijing (thanks a lot, federal government). It might even be too late to help for London 2012. And that's without knowing how much of it will be siphoned off by the COC and other national sport governing bodies for more needless bureaucracy.
It says here that in the mad dash to Vancouver 2010, we threw our summer sports athletes under the bus (yes, corporate Canada deserves some of the finger of guilt pointed at it, too, in this area). And yet, despite this massive lack of support, we somehow expect to see an endless parade to the medal podium.
Let me know what part of this you're not getting, people.
Whatever success we achieve in Beijing will be in spite of the system, not because of it. Tell me who in their right mind thought it was fair to pull whitewater kayaker David Ford's funding just months before these Games? He finished sixth in his event yesterday without the benefit of a pre-Olympic training camp on the Beijing course, which you know most every one of his top competitors enjoyed. Yeah, that's really standing behind our athletes.
So before you start lobbing bombs at our Beijing gang, think about all of the above.
Better yet, take a look in the mirror. Ask what you did to make a difference.
And why you only care now, when it's really much too late.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Me And My Kooky Fencing Friend
First, an admission: If the headline on this post isn't a total ripoff, it's close.
(if you want to know from where, the answer's right here).
And I wouldn't exactly call Sherraine Schalm kooky, though she cracks me up often enough (if the comely lass from Alberta can't make you laugh, it's your problem, not hers).
As I write this, Sherraine is hours away from her third Olympic appearance at the Summer Olympics. And, as this revealing piece penned a few days ago by the Toronto Star's Randy Starkman illustrates, her long road from Athens 2004 to Beijing 2008 has been anything but a smooth and straight line (a painful divorce and depression among the demons she had to conquer along the way). But once again, she enters an Olympics as Canada's best hope to win its first fencing medal of any colour in Games history (women's epee is her event).
Sherraine and I first crossed paths eight years ago before the Sydney Olympics. She was one of the first in a series of profiles of local Olympians I tackled for the Ottawa Sun that year and, it must be said now, the most enjoyable of the lot. Rudimentary didn't begin to describe my knowledge of fencing (that assessment still isn't far from the truth) but what was expected to be the typical 15-20 minute interview evolved into a two-hour conversation with one of the most wonderfully engaging people you will ever meet.
I've always appreciated a sense of humour (even like to think I own one myself ... well, most of the time) and whether she's talking or writing, Sherraine's sharp sense of wit is never far from the surface.
Case in point: A few years back, when she was putting the finishing touches on Running With Swords, her often-humorous look at her sport and her life (still plenty available at a Chapters near you and well worth the read), the book was still untitled at the time. Smart ass that I can be sometimes, I suggested "Piste Off" (a reference to the fencing court) during a telephone conversation. Not missing a beat, Sherraine told me she'd already had the same thought. Alas, while great minds thought alike, it didn't make it to print.
We've fallen out of touch since I moved on from the Sun (and off the amateur sports beat) last fall. But as the days and weeks to Beijing grew closer, I picked up on her story once more. And there is no Canadian athlete I'll be cheering more loudly for at these Beijing Games.
While Sherraine calls Montreal home now (she spent a lot of her pre-Olympic training time in Hungary), with any luck, she'll make her way back to Ottawa sometime after the Games are done. Maybe she'll even do it with a precious Olympic medal in hand. With or without the big prize, though, she will still be the same Sherraine to me.
Her prodigious fencing talent is perhaps only surpassed by her ability to chronicle it all (her CBC blog being evidence of that). I've heard she might like to be a journalist someday and, well, the world I left behind can't help but become a better place if she chooses to be a part of it.
Let's just say it's a happening that surely wouldn't leave me feeling "piste off."
Nope, not at all. Not in the very least.
(if you want to know from where, the answer's right here).
And I wouldn't exactly call Sherraine Schalm kooky, though she cracks me up often enough (if the comely lass from Alberta can't make you laugh, it's your problem, not hers).
As I write this, Sherraine is hours away from her third Olympic appearance at the Summer Olympics. And, as this revealing piece penned a few days ago by the Toronto Star's Randy Starkman illustrates, her long road from Athens 2004 to Beijing 2008 has been anything but a smooth and straight line (a painful divorce and depression among the demons she had to conquer along the way). But once again, she enters an Olympics as Canada's best hope to win its first fencing medal of any colour in Games history (women's epee is her event).
Sherraine and I first crossed paths eight years ago before the Sydney Olympics. She was one of the first in a series of profiles of local Olympians I tackled for the Ottawa Sun that year and, it must be said now, the most enjoyable of the lot. Rudimentary didn't begin to describe my knowledge of fencing (that assessment still isn't far from the truth) but what was expected to be the typical 15-20 minute interview evolved into a two-hour conversation with one of the most wonderfully engaging people you will ever meet.
I've always appreciated a sense of humour (even like to think I own one myself ... well, most of the time) and whether she's talking or writing, Sherraine's sharp sense of wit is never far from the surface.
Case in point: A few years back, when she was putting the finishing touches on Running With Swords, her often-humorous look at her sport and her life (still plenty available at a Chapters near you and well worth the read), the book was still untitled at the time. Smart ass that I can be sometimes, I suggested "Piste Off" (a reference to the fencing court) during a telephone conversation. Not missing a beat, Sherraine told me she'd already had the same thought. Alas, while great minds thought alike, it didn't make it to print.
We've fallen out of touch since I moved on from the Sun (and off the amateur sports beat) last fall. But as the days and weeks to Beijing grew closer, I picked up on her story once more. And there is no Canadian athlete I'll be cheering more loudly for at these Beijing Games.
While Sherraine calls Montreal home now (she spent a lot of her pre-Olympic training time in Hungary), with any luck, she'll make her way back to Ottawa sometime after the Games are done. Maybe she'll even do it with a precious Olympic medal in hand. With or without the big prize, though, she will still be the same Sherraine to me.
Her prodigious fencing talent is perhaps only surpassed by her ability to chronicle it all (her CBC blog being evidence of that). I've heard she might like to be a journalist someday and, well, the world I left behind can't help but become a better place if she chooses to be a part of it.
Let's just say it's a happening that surely wouldn't leave me feeling "piste off."
Nope, not at all. Not in the very least.
Monday, August 11, 2008
China Fine In CBC's Eyes
Canadians, it seems, are starting to catch a bit of Beijing Olympics fever.
Through midnight Sunday (a period which included the first two full days of competition in China), some 15.2 million Canadians had tuned into CBC's Games coverage. Most impressively, that included an average of 919,000 who were up at 7 a.m. ET (and a whole lot earlier out west) for live coverage of the out-of-this-world Opening Ceremony (not too shabby numbers, eh, NBC? And they were actually slightly lower than for Athens 2004).
More importantly for the CBC, audiences are growing. Olympic Prime averaged 1.2 million on Saturday night; it climbed to 1.3 million on Sunday evening. And that's without a Canadian medal yet at these Games (granted, though, these were weekend numbers, which are typically higher).
Olympic Morning, meanwhile, topped the 835,000 mark both Saturday and Sunday.
Online, CBCSports.ca/Olympics has attracted nearly 250,000 video streams per day.
*****
Lost in all the hype about the Americans' comeback triumph in the men's 4x100-metre freestyle swim relay Sunday night: The French screwed up royally at the finish.
(and before you start screaming, yes the Yanks were full value for their triumph).
With victory in sight, French anchor Alain Bernard rode the lane rope for the final stretch of the race, allowing U.S. swimmer Jason Lezak to "drag" in his wake. A huge error, pointed out by both CBC swimming analyst Byron MacDonald right after the event ("an unbelievable mistake") and studio analyst Mark Tewksbury again tonight.
An underwater camera (and haven't those been among the stars of the Games so far?) also showed Bernard looking over toward Lezak while the American focused on driving to the finish. Think any of the above might have made .08 seconds of difference?
Such is how gold medals are won and lost.
*****
CBC's live online streaming came in handy tonight. While the swim finals were starting at the Water Cube, Olympic watchers could also catch the start of the men's gymnastics team final live on the web.
The next best thing to picture-in-picture, don't ya think?
Through midnight Sunday (a period which included the first two full days of competition in China), some 15.2 million Canadians had tuned into CBC's Games coverage. Most impressively, that included an average of 919,000 who were up at 7 a.m. ET (and a whole lot earlier out west) for live coverage of the out-of-this-world Opening Ceremony (not too shabby numbers, eh, NBC? And they were actually slightly lower than for Athens 2004).
More importantly for the CBC, audiences are growing. Olympic Prime averaged 1.2 million on Saturday night; it climbed to 1.3 million on Sunday evening. And that's without a Canadian medal yet at these Games (granted, though, these were weekend numbers, which are typically higher).
Olympic Morning, meanwhile, topped the 835,000 mark both Saturday and Sunday.
Online, CBCSports.ca/Olympics has attracted nearly 250,000 video streams per day.
*****
Lost in all the hype about the Americans' comeback triumph in the men's 4x100-metre freestyle swim relay Sunday night: The French screwed up royally at the finish.
(and before you start screaming, yes the Yanks were full value for their triumph).
With victory in sight, French anchor Alain Bernard rode the lane rope for the final stretch of the race, allowing U.S. swimmer Jason Lezak to "drag" in his wake. A huge error, pointed out by both CBC swimming analyst Byron MacDonald right after the event ("an unbelievable mistake") and studio analyst Mark Tewksbury again tonight.
An underwater camera (and haven't those been among the stars of the Games so far?) also showed Bernard looking over toward Lezak while the American focused on driving to the finish. Think any of the above might have made .08 seconds of difference?
Such is how gold medals are won and lost.
*****
CBC's live online streaming came in handy tonight. While the swim finals were starting at the Water Cube, Olympic watchers could also catch the start of the men's gymnastics team final live on the web.
The next best thing to picture-in-picture, don't ya think?
Lights, Camera, Action For Shewfelt
Kyle Shewfelt has an admitted interest in a broadcast career.
He'll get a trial run of sorts starting tonight when he appears as a guest analyst for CBC during its coverage of the remainder of the men's artistic gymnastics competition at the Beijing Olympics. Shewfelt will make his first appearance alongside Brenda Irving and analyst Lori Strong-Ballard during Olympic Prime tonight for the men's team final.
Shewfelt, who battled back from two broken legs suffered 11 months ago at the world gymnastics championships in Germany, didn't make it out of the qualifying round here (a result that was decried by his coaches, who accused certain judges of undermarking the Canadian to keep him out of the event finals. Particularly the floor excercise, the event he won four years ago in Athens, making him the first and only Canadian to strike Olympic gold in gymnastics).
It'll be interesting to check Shewfelt's emotions during a competition you know he dearly wishes he was still a part of in every way possible. But this is a guy who has bared plenty of that in a blog he's written chronicling the long road back from his injuries to Beijing. If he channels some of that into his television commentary, it should make for quite the interesting broadcast debut.
He'll get a trial run of sorts starting tonight when he appears as a guest analyst for CBC during its coverage of the remainder of the men's artistic gymnastics competition at the Beijing Olympics. Shewfelt will make his first appearance alongside Brenda Irving and analyst Lori Strong-Ballard during Olympic Prime tonight for the men's team final.
Shewfelt, who battled back from two broken legs suffered 11 months ago at the world gymnastics championships in Germany, didn't make it out of the qualifying round here (a result that was decried by his coaches, who accused certain judges of undermarking the Canadian to keep him out of the event finals. Particularly the floor excercise, the event he won four years ago in Athens, making him the first and only Canadian to strike Olympic gold in gymnastics).
It'll be interesting to check Shewfelt's emotions during a competition you know he dearly wishes he was still a part of in every way possible. But this is a guy who has bared plenty of that in a blog he's written chronicling the long road back from his injuries to Beijing. If he channels some of that into his television commentary, it should make for quite the interesting broadcast debut.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
You Can Go Home Again
Sometimes, the Olympics offer a revealing lesson about how the rest of the world thinks.
That there is reason to celebrate sport beyond the professional leagues we watch every day.
Take, for example, the story of Jujie Luan, an Edmonton fencer who has returned to the land of her birth for one last stab at Olympic glory. Luan is a national hero in China — she is the country's only Olympic gold medallist ever in fencing, having accomplished that feat in Los Angeles back in 1984 — and has been swarmed by the local media since her arrival at the Beijing Olympics.
Clearly, she is still revered in her homeland (and beyond, it would appear. Canada's most accomplished fencer ever, three-time Olympian Sherraine Schalm, posted an interesting tale about it all on her CBC blog).
Now this 50-year-old mother of three is back on the biggest stage of them all one last time. As we learned in a report by CBC's Mark Kelley, her entire family is here, including a teenage daughter who hopes to follow in her mother's footsteps as an Olympic fencer someday.
It's the kind of tale that escapes so many of us, who often forget there's a sporting world that exists beyond the multi-millionaires who play in the NHL, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. But for so many more, it's these stories that are the lure to the five-ring circus, the kind of thing that keep bringing us back for more each and every time the flame is lit.
*****
Apparently, the intrigue and anticipation about these Games wasn't a myth.
NBC reports that Beijing 2008 is on pace to be the most-watched Olympics in U.S. television history, and that's after just the first two days of the XXIXth Olympiad.
Through Saturday night, NBC Universal's networks (seven are being used for Beijing coverage) had attracted 114 million total viewers. That's four million better at the same point than Atlanta 1996, the most viewed games ever south of the border. It's also nearly 20 million ahead of the pace set at Athens 2004 (95 million).
Meanwhile, NBCOlympics.com pulled in a staggering 126.7 million page viewers over the first two days in Beijing, a 641% jump over Athens (17.9 million).
It's probably not hurting the cause, either, than NBC convinced Beijing organizers to schedule swimming (read: Michael Phelps) and gymnastics finals for morning start times (which are translating to prime time back home).
*****
We keep hearing about beach volleyball is one of the 'hot' sports of the Summer Olympics.
So how come every time they show it in Beijing, more empty seats can be clearly spotted at that venue than at any other we've seen at the 2008 Games so far.
Apparently, the Chinese didn't get the memo about this one.
That there is reason to celebrate sport beyond the professional leagues we watch every day.
Take, for example, the story of Jujie Luan, an Edmonton fencer who has returned to the land of her birth for one last stab at Olympic glory. Luan is a national hero in China — she is the country's only Olympic gold medallist ever in fencing, having accomplished that feat in Los Angeles back in 1984 — and has been swarmed by the local media since her arrival at the Beijing Olympics.
Clearly, she is still revered in her homeland (and beyond, it would appear. Canada's most accomplished fencer ever, three-time Olympian Sherraine Schalm, posted an interesting tale about it all on her CBC blog).
Now this 50-year-old mother of three is back on the biggest stage of them all one last time. As we learned in a report by CBC's Mark Kelley, her entire family is here, including a teenage daughter who hopes to follow in her mother's footsteps as an Olympic fencer someday.
It's the kind of tale that escapes so many of us, who often forget there's a sporting world that exists beyond the multi-millionaires who play in the NHL, NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. But for so many more, it's these stories that are the lure to the five-ring circus, the kind of thing that keep bringing us back for more each and every time the flame is lit.
*****
Apparently, the intrigue and anticipation about these Games wasn't a myth.
NBC reports that Beijing 2008 is on pace to be the most-watched Olympics in U.S. television history, and that's after just the first two days of the XXIXth Olympiad.
Through Saturday night, NBC Universal's networks (seven are being used for Beijing coverage) had attracted 114 million total viewers. That's four million better at the same point than Atlanta 1996, the most viewed games ever south of the border. It's also nearly 20 million ahead of the pace set at Athens 2004 (95 million).
Meanwhile, NBCOlympics.com pulled in a staggering 126.7 million page viewers over the first two days in Beijing, a 641% jump over Athens (17.9 million).
It's probably not hurting the cause, either, than NBC convinced Beijing organizers to schedule swimming (read: Michael Phelps) and gymnastics finals for morning start times (which are translating to prime time back home).
*****
We keep hearing about beach volleyball is one of the 'hot' sports of the Summer Olympics.
So how come every time they show it in Beijing, more empty seats can be clearly spotted at that venue than at any other we've seen at the 2008 Games so far.
Apparently, the Chinese didn't get the memo about this one.
We're Back In The Games
We've always been big on perspective. More specifically, at it pertains to television, those analysts who know how to bring that sort of thing in spades.
Four years ago in Athens, the Canadian swim team sank in a wave of underachievement and internal strife. CBC had Mark Tewksbury on board as a guest analyst for those Games and the 1992 Olympic gold medallist pulled no punches in wading through the carnage. He made for great television.
Tewksbury is back for Beijing 2008 and that's a good thing for the CBC and Olympic viewers. While Canada has yet to hit the podium in the Games pool, Tewksbury pointed out what is becoming a growing feeling — that this isn't close to Athens revisited. Heading into Day 3 of the Beijing competition, eight Canadians had set national marks and 13 of 19 had swum personal bests. There were also 10 top 16 finishes, as a CBC graphic showed viewers.
"I'm really happy to say we're a part of it," Tewksbury said of the performance level of its swimmers to date. "Canadians have been so competitive ... We've seen six second (semi-final) swims. That's more than the entire Athens Olympic Games. Canadians will see more action tonight than they saw in the entire Olympics four years ago."
Swim Canada has targeted one medal at these Games and it is clear it sees the biggest potential for it in the men's 4x200-metre freestyle relay. Tewksbury doesn't doubt it can happen, based on the individual 200 free heat results.
"There's a really serious chance of a medal coming up in the next couple of days in the 4x200 relay," he said.
More importantly, the mindset around the team has done a 180-degree turn since Athens.
"Instead of dread, (there's) an anticipation," Tewksbury said of the Canadians eagerly awaiting their turn to dive into these Games. "It's very hard to watch and wait when you're not doing well. It's a lot easier to (do it) when you are."
Four years ago in Athens, the Canadian swim team sank in a wave of underachievement and internal strife. CBC had Mark Tewksbury on board as a guest analyst for those Games and the 1992 Olympic gold medallist pulled no punches in wading through the carnage. He made for great television.
Tewksbury is back for Beijing 2008 and that's a good thing for the CBC and Olympic viewers. While Canada has yet to hit the podium in the Games pool, Tewksbury pointed out what is becoming a growing feeling — that this isn't close to Athens revisited. Heading into Day 3 of the Beijing competition, eight Canadians had set national marks and 13 of 19 had swum personal bests. There were also 10 top 16 finishes, as a CBC graphic showed viewers.
"I'm really happy to say we're a part of it," Tewksbury said of the performance level of its swimmers to date. "Canadians have been so competitive ... We've seen six second (semi-final) swims. That's more than the entire Athens Olympic Games. Canadians will see more action tonight than they saw in the entire Olympics four years ago."
Swim Canada has targeted one medal at these Games and it is clear it sees the biggest potential for it in the men's 4x200-metre freestyle relay. Tewksbury doesn't doubt it can happen, based on the individual 200 free heat results.
"There's a really serious chance of a medal coming up in the next couple of days in the 4x200 relay," he said.
More importantly, the mindset around the team has done a 180-degree turn since Athens.
"Instead of dread, (there's) an anticipation," Tewksbury said of the Canadians eagerly awaiting their turn to dive into these Games. "It's very hard to watch and wait when you're not doing well. It's a lot easier to (do it) when you are."
Saturday, August 9, 2008
More Than Just The Gold
Just the second night of the Beijing Olympics and we've already had our first warm and fuzzy moment. Didn't take long, did it?
The comeback tale of Calgary gymnast Kyle Shewfelt has been well-documented heading into these Games. Less than a year ago, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist in floor exercise was stuck in a wheelchair after breaking both his legs at the '07 gymnastics worlds in Stuttgart, Germany. Beijing must have seemed like a pipe dream back then.
But there was Shewfelt last night, competing for Canada again. He finished 11th on the floor in men's qualifying, dashing his dreams of a repeat gold. A wasted effort? Not on your life.
"Those were giant victories," he told Olympic Prime host Ron MacLean in CBC's Olympic studio tonight. "I think it speaks much louder than a gold medal ... I did win in 2004. I lived the dream. But this was something just as special on a different level."
A young girl named Erica sure thought so. MacLean read her poignant, support e-mail to Shewfelt and the Canadian hero couldn't hold back the tears. An "Oprah moment," as Sherraine Schalm might call it (and she did back in Athens, come to think of it).
"I want to be a real athlete, I want to be a real leader," Shewfelt said after taking a few moments to compose himself. "Even when I don't win, people are still proud of me."
I've often heard — and you probably have, too — athletes talk about enjoying the journey and that moment on the Olympic stage. Shewfelt showed us how very real that is to so many of them. After watching a perfect landing on one of his vaults, he told MacLean "that's what the Olympics are all about. It doesn't get any better than that."
About his not-quite-good enough floor routine (well, at least according to the judges ... for the record, Shewfelt called one of his scores 'harsh.' His coach was, well, a little more harsh in his assessment): "I was proud of that routine. At the end of it, I felt like an Olympic champion again. After overcoming the injuries like I did, it was a great accomplishment."
Erica, and a whole bunch more Canadians, would heartily agree.
(a sampling of them you'll find right here).
*****
A little more perspective.
Canada's men's eights rowing crew, you may recall, entered the 2004 Athens Olympics as two-time world champions and heavily favoured to win gold. They wound up fifth in a stunning result that crushed the boys in the red maple leaf.
Now about half that crew is back for redemption in Beijing and, wouldn't you know it, they're world champs once again (apparently, this is a bad thing in men's eights. No reigning world champion has won this event since 1980, we were told).
How bad was the feeling in Athens?
One of those (not so) crazy eights, Kyle Hamilton, called it "the worst day of my life" during a The Olympians profile on CBC. But then he quickly added this.
"If that's the worst day of your life, you've had a pretty decent life."
We should all have it so good.
The comeback tale of Calgary gymnast Kyle Shewfelt has been well-documented heading into these Games. Less than a year ago, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist in floor exercise was stuck in a wheelchair after breaking both his legs at the '07 gymnastics worlds in Stuttgart, Germany. Beijing must have seemed like a pipe dream back then.
But there was Shewfelt last night, competing for Canada again. He finished 11th on the floor in men's qualifying, dashing his dreams of a repeat gold. A wasted effort? Not on your life.
"Those were giant victories," he told Olympic Prime host Ron MacLean in CBC's Olympic studio tonight. "I think it speaks much louder than a gold medal ... I did win in 2004. I lived the dream. But this was something just as special on a different level."
A young girl named Erica sure thought so. MacLean read her poignant, support e-mail to Shewfelt and the Canadian hero couldn't hold back the tears. An "Oprah moment," as Sherraine Schalm might call it (and she did back in Athens, come to think of it).
"I want to be a real athlete, I want to be a real leader," Shewfelt said after taking a few moments to compose himself. "Even when I don't win, people are still proud of me."
I've often heard — and you probably have, too — athletes talk about enjoying the journey and that moment on the Olympic stage. Shewfelt showed us how very real that is to so many of them. After watching a perfect landing on one of his vaults, he told MacLean "that's what the Olympics are all about. It doesn't get any better than that."
About his not-quite-good enough floor routine (well, at least according to the judges ... for the record, Shewfelt called one of his scores 'harsh.' His coach was, well, a little more harsh in his assessment): "I was proud of that routine. At the end of it, I felt like an Olympic champion again. After overcoming the injuries like I did, it was a great accomplishment."
Erica, and a whole bunch more Canadians, would heartily agree.
(a sampling of them you'll find right here).
*****
A little more perspective.
Canada's men's eights rowing crew, you may recall, entered the 2004 Athens Olympics as two-time world champions and heavily favoured to win gold. They wound up fifth in a stunning result that crushed the boys in the red maple leaf.
Now about half that crew is back for redemption in Beijing and, wouldn't you know it, they're world champs once again (apparently, this is a bad thing in men's eights. No reigning world champion has won this event since 1980, we were told).
How bad was the feeling in Athens?
One of those (not so) crazy eights, Kyle Hamilton, called it "the worst day of my life" during a The Olympians profile on CBC. But then he quickly added this.
"If that's the worst day of your life, you've had a pretty decent life."
We should all have it so good.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The Original Mr. Olympics
Once upon a time — a few days before they lit the torch for Athens 2004, if memory serves me — your humble blogger penned his usual preview of the planned Olympic broadcast coverage for the Ottawa Sun.
(at least it was 'usual' procedure for seven Games while I was there).
Often, those pre-Olympic columns would revolve around an interview with the CBC's then-dean of the Games, Brian Williams (now at TSN). A veteran of the sporting Big Show that I dubbed the network's "Mr. Olympics" before those Summer Games in Greece (it was such a good reference that Peter Mansbridge used it to introduce the esteemed Mr. Williams before the Mother Corp.'s coverage of the opening ceremony in Athens. Undoubtedly a coincidence ... but I digress).
While we Canadians have set our clocks, so to speak, to Williams' direction of prime-time coverage of the Games over the years — gawd, we're gonna miss him in Beijing this summer — another TV broadcaster south of the border had already set the standard for how an Olympics should be presented.
To me, ABC's Jim McKay was the original Mr. Olympics, a distinction and honour he is most worthy of wearing. And this isn't just being said out of necessary respect on the day on which McKay passed away at age 87.
For someone who developed a passion for all things Olympics at a young age, McKay was the gold standard for it all. The man you trusted to give you the straight goods from wherever the Games were being held (a dozen times in all), back when ABC was America's Olympic network (pre-1990s, for those who don't recall).
Of course, McKay is most famous for his work on that terrible day in Munich in 1972, when he carried us all through what would end up being the darkest moment in Olympic history: The massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Arab terrorists.
"They're all gone," McKay told us when the awful news was confirmed, the tone of his voice truly offering up all that needed to be said.
While McKay's longest association was with ABC's often wild and wacky Wide World of Sports — the anthology show that gave us "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” — I will always remember him as the man who spoke in front of the five rings so many times.
Forever, he'll be Mr. Olympics to me.
(at least it was 'usual' procedure for seven Games while I was there).
Often, those pre-Olympic columns would revolve around an interview with the CBC's then-dean of the Games, Brian Williams (now at TSN). A veteran of the sporting Big Show that I dubbed the network's "Mr. Olympics" before those Summer Games in Greece (it was such a good reference that Peter Mansbridge used it to introduce the esteemed Mr. Williams before the Mother Corp.'s coverage of the opening ceremony in Athens. Undoubtedly a coincidence ... but I digress).
While we Canadians have set our clocks, so to speak, to Williams' direction of prime-time coverage of the Games over the years — gawd, we're gonna miss him in Beijing this summer — another TV broadcaster south of the border had already set the standard for how an Olympics should be presented.
To me, ABC's Jim McKay was the original Mr. Olympics, a distinction and honour he is most worthy of wearing. And this isn't just being said out of necessary respect on the day on which McKay passed away at age 87.
For someone who developed a passion for all things Olympics at a young age, McKay was the gold standard for it all. The man you trusted to give you the straight goods from wherever the Games were being held (a dozen times in all), back when ABC was America's Olympic network (pre-1990s, for those who don't recall).
Of course, McKay is most famous for his work on that terrible day in Munich in 1972, when he carried us all through what would end up being the darkest moment in Olympic history: The massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Arab terrorists.
"They're all gone," McKay told us when the awful news was confirmed, the tone of his voice truly offering up all that needed to be said.
While McKay's longest association was with ABC's often wild and wacky Wide World of Sports — the anthology show that gave us "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” — I will always remember him as the man who spoke in front of the five rings so many times.
Forever, he'll be Mr. Olympics to me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)