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.
Showing posts with label Barcelona 1992. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barcelona 1992. Show all posts
Saturday, August 23, 2008
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.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
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
So What Else Is New?
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know this is CBC's Olympics swan song. Until 2014 at the earliest, that is.
A CTV Globemedia/Rogers Consortium (primarily CTV, TSN and Sportsnet) moves onto centre stage for the next two Games — the highly anticipated Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, followed by the next Summer Olympics in London in 2012.
No surprise, really, seeing the CBC bashers of the world (and they are legion) chortling with glee about the impending turn of events. The Hockey Night in Canada theme song fiasco, the curling mess of a few years back, the end of its hold on the Grey Cup after more than half a century ... yep, those bitter folks have had plenty of ammo in recent years (and, they might also remind you, how come we're not hearing Brian Williams or Chris Cuthbert from Beijing?).
At times, it's been like shooting fish in a barrel, it's been so easy.
In this case, at least, I find that whole tone humorous. You see, it wasn't all that many years ago the Canadians from coast-to-coast were cheering loudly when CBC got its hands back on the Olympic rings for the 1996 Atlanta Games. This was after CTV efforts in Barcelona 1992 and Lillehammer 1994 that were received rather coolly, to put it kindly, by the viewers and the critics back at home.
So what's the lesson here?
That's easy. Canadians like to bitch about what they see on television, no matter what the game is or who's showing it to them. You'd almost think it's a national sport. Some of them actually know what they're talking about, too (everyone's an armchair expert, right?).
In other words, be forewarned TSN and Sportsnet. While we trust the next two Games will be in good hands, someone out there figures to disagree. And they won't be shy about telling you so.
Hey, it's the Canadian way.
A CTV Globemedia/Rogers Consortium (primarily CTV, TSN and Sportsnet) moves onto centre stage for the next two Games — the highly anticipated Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, followed by the next Summer Olympics in London in 2012.
No surprise, really, seeing the CBC bashers of the world (and they are legion) chortling with glee about the impending turn of events. The Hockey Night in Canada theme song fiasco, the curling mess of a few years back, the end of its hold on the Grey Cup after more than half a century ... yep, those bitter folks have had plenty of ammo in recent years (and, they might also remind you, how come we're not hearing Brian Williams or Chris Cuthbert from Beijing?).
At times, it's been like shooting fish in a barrel, it's been so easy.
In this case, at least, I find that whole tone humorous. You see, it wasn't all that many years ago the Canadians from coast-to-coast were cheering loudly when CBC got its hands back on the Olympic rings for the 1996 Atlanta Games. This was after CTV efforts in Barcelona 1992 and Lillehammer 1994 that were received rather coolly, to put it kindly, by the viewers and the critics back at home.
So what's the lesson here?
That's easy. Canadians like to bitch about what they see on television, no matter what the game is or who's showing it to them. You'd almost think it's a national sport. Some of them actually know what they're talking about, too (everyone's an armchair expert, right?).
In other words, be forewarned TSN and Sportsnet. While we trust the next two Games will be in good hands, someone out there figures to disagree. And they won't be shy about telling you so.
Hey, it's the Canadian way.
Friday, August 8, 2008
And So It Begins ...
Some spectacular show, wasn't it?
A whopping $100 million, it's been said, went into the Opening Ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. And the guess here is that one heck of a lot of it was poured into the fireworks the lit up the smoggy skies in the city of 17.4 million that is playing host to these Summer Games.
An interesting view of it all on this end. Woke up this morning and watched the first couple of hours of the big show at home on my HDTV, and what a stunning way to take it all in. These are the first-ever all-HD Olympics and we can hardly wait to see what the next 17 days bring from all the various venues in Beijing — many of which are truly a sight for the eyes (especially after the sun goes down).
Off to the office, then, where I caught a good chunk of the Parade of Nations on CBCSports.ca (shhhh!). The feed aired with no commentary, which brings a couple of thoughts to mind: On the one hand, it was a bit fun to feel the the sights and sounds the same way the 91,000 at National Stadium (a.k.a. the Bird's Nest) did today.
Some might even suggest it's a bonus to not hear TV voices yammering on ad nauseum, though it must be pointed out the CBC hosts Ron MacLean and Peter Mansbridge were respectful throughout, only interjecting when they felt the need to offer something informative that was needed to enhance the story (a side note: CBC is using the host broadcast feed, which will make for many a shot of a person in the stands that makes a viewer think 'who the hell is that?').
Had to move up to a regular TV here, though, to see the lighting of the Olympic flame, which signals the Games have truly begun. We've seen this done in many unique ways over the years (remember Cathy Freeman in the water at Sydney 2000, or the archer at Barcelona 1992?) but seeing Chinese gymnastics hero Li Ning (a six-time medallist in Los Angeles in 1984) traverse the length of the Bird's Nest on a trapeze might just have been an all-time topper.
The final verdict?
If the Opening Ceremony is any indicator about what's to come, we are in for an extraordinary two weeks in the Orient.
Let the Games begin, indeed!
*****
An on-site perspective from CBC blogger Bernice Chan that's worth a read. She was at the Bird's Nest for the Opening Ceremony.
*****
They were having great fun on ESPN Radio earlier today, chiding NBC for promoting "the Opening Ceremony tonight" on the The Today Show this morning — while said event was actually going on live in Beijing.
Thought it was only us Canadians who noticed such things.
A whopping $100 million, it's been said, went into the Opening Ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. And the guess here is that one heck of a lot of it was poured into the fireworks the lit up the smoggy skies in the city of 17.4 million that is playing host to these Summer Games.
An interesting view of it all on this end. Woke up this morning and watched the first couple of hours of the big show at home on my HDTV, and what a stunning way to take it all in. These are the first-ever all-HD Olympics and we can hardly wait to see what the next 17 days bring from all the various venues in Beijing — many of which are truly a sight for the eyes (especially after the sun goes down).
Off to the office, then, where I caught a good chunk of the Parade of Nations on CBCSports.ca (shhhh!). The feed aired with no commentary, which brings a couple of thoughts to mind: On the one hand, it was a bit fun to feel the the sights and sounds the same way the 91,000 at National Stadium (a.k.a. the Bird's Nest) did today.
Some might even suggest it's a bonus to not hear TV voices yammering on ad nauseum, though it must be pointed out the CBC hosts Ron MacLean and Peter Mansbridge were respectful throughout, only interjecting when they felt the need to offer something informative that was needed to enhance the story (a side note: CBC is using the host broadcast feed, which will make for many a shot of a person in the stands that makes a viewer think 'who the hell is that?').
Had to move up to a regular TV here, though, to see the lighting of the Olympic flame, which signals the Games have truly begun. We've seen this done in many unique ways over the years (remember Cathy Freeman in the water at Sydney 2000, or the archer at Barcelona 1992?) but seeing Chinese gymnastics hero Li Ning (a six-time medallist in Los Angeles in 1984) traverse the length of the Bird's Nest on a trapeze might just have been an all-time topper.
The final verdict?
If the Opening Ceremony is any indicator about what's to come, we are in for an extraordinary two weeks in the Orient.
Let the Games begin, indeed!
*****
An on-site perspective from CBC blogger Bernice Chan that's worth a read. She was at the Bird's Nest for the Opening Ceremony.
*****
They were having great fun on ESPN Radio earlier today, chiding NBC for promoting "the Opening Ceremony tonight" on the The Today Show this morning — while said event was actually going on live in Beijing.
Thought it was only us Canadians who noticed such things.
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