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.
Showing posts with label Los Angeles 1984. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Los Angeles 1984. Show all posts
Friday, August 22, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Lightning Bolt Strikes Twice
So what did you do on your 22nd birthday?
If you're Usain Bolt, you run the fastest 200 metres of all time on the biggest stage in the world. And then have 91,000 of your newest admirers serenade you with renditions of 'Happy Birthday to you ...'
Some story to tell your kids someday about your Beijing Olympics experience, isn't it?
None of us will soon forget the scene that unfolded at the Bird's Nest stadium this morning, as Bolt, well, bolted through the final of the men's 200 metres in an astounding 19.30 seconds — chopping two one-hundredths of a second off the record set by American sprint star Michael Johnson at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
(so much for that Games record book. Bolt, you'll earlier recall, earlier removed Canadian Donovan Bailey's name from the Olympics annals with a 9.69-second clocking for the 100 metres).
It's also the first time a male sprinter has completed the 100-200 double since Carl Lewis at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Nobody until now, though, has done it with two world records.
The latest jaw-dropping performance had CBC's crew scrambling for new superlatives.
"He does the impossible and makes the impossible look easy," said track analyst Dave Moorcroft.
CBC's Mark Lee, who's distinguishing himself rather well in his first go at Olympic track and filed, called the Jamaican sensation "totally unstoppable" (and did you even notice who crossed the line second and third?).
Track pundits, some of whom scoffed at Bolt for celebrating too soon at the end of the men's 100 (and perhaps giving away the chance to lower that standard even further), had wondered just what Bolt could do if he ran full out to the finish. They've got their answer now. With an exclamation point or three.
And the sport, and these Olympics, have a new hero to embrace, a joyful young lad who's had the time of his life in Beijing. So, too, have the adoring fans at the Bird's Nest and around the world.
"This is the new face of track and field and this sport can use a young man like Usain Bolt," said Lee. "He's put a friendly face on track and field. He has brought a fraternity to track and field."
Added CBC analyst Michael Smith: "He's still a boy. He's having fun."
Bolt wasn't about to let his critics spoil any of that.
"Come on, man," Bolt said when presented with some of the criticism by CBC's Elliotte Friedman. "If you see you're going to win, you're going to celebrate. If you see you're going to be Olympic champion, you're happy."
Wait until he gets home to Jamaica. We're guessing there's a whole lot of happy going on there.
*****
Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps?
The debate's already raging over at CBC's Olympics website about who's the biggest star of the Beijing Games. We know who wins south of the border ... and in Jamaica, for that matter.
If you're Usain Bolt, you run the fastest 200 metres of all time on the biggest stage in the world. And then have 91,000 of your newest admirers serenade you with renditions of 'Happy Birthday to you ...'
Some story to tell your kids someday about your Beijing Olympics experience, isn't it?
None of us will soon forget the scene that unfolded at the Bird's Nest stadium this morning, as Bolt, well, bolted through the final of the men's 200 metres in an astounding 19.30 seconds — chopping two one-hundredths of a second off the record set by American sprint star Michael Johnson at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
(so much for that Games record book. Bolt, you'll earlier recall, earlier removed Canadian Donovan Bailey's name from the Olympics annals with a 9.69-second clocking for the 100 metres).
It's also the first time a male sprinter has completed the 100-200 double since Carl Lewis at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Nobody until now, though, has done it with two world records.
The latest jaw-dropping performance had CBC's crew scrambling for new superlatives.
"He does the impossible and makes the impossible look easy," said track analyst Dave Moorcroft.
CBC's Mark Lee, who's distinguishing himself rather well in his first go at Olympic track and filed, called the Jamaican sensation "totally unstoppable" (and did you even notice who crossed the line second and third?).
Track pundits, some of whom scoffed at Bolt for celebrating too soon at the end of the men's 100 (and perhaps giving away the chance to lower that standard even further), had wondered just what Bolt could do if he ran full out to the finish. They've got their answer now. With an exclamation point or three.
And the sport, and these Olympics, have a new hero to embrace, a joyful young lad who's had the time of his life in Beijing. So, too, have the adoring fans at the Bird's Nest and around the world.
"This is the new face of track and field and this sport can use a young man like Usain Bolt," said Lee. "He's put a friendly face on track and field. He has brought a fraternity to track and field."
Added CBC analyst Michael Smith: "He's still a boy. He's having fun."
Bolt wasn't about to let his critics spoil any of that.
"Come on, man," Bolt said when presented with some of the criticism by CBC's Elliotte Friedman. "If you see you're going to win, you're going to celebrate. If you see you're going to be Olympic champion, you're happy."
Wait until he gets home to Jamaica. We're guessing there's a whole lot of happy going on there.
*****
Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps?
The debate's already raging over at CBC's Olympics website about who's the biggest star of the Beijing Games. We know who wins south of the border ... and in Jamaica, for that matter.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Silver Salute For Captain Canada
The ninth time really was the charm for Ian Millar.
But amidst the celebrations with Jill Henselwood, Eric Lamaze and Mac Cone — who combined to bring Canada a silver medal in team showjumping, the country's first medal of any colour in that event in 40 years — it was a bittersweet time for the 61-year-old Olympic veteran lovingly known as Captain Canada in the equestrian world.
Millar, if you didn't know, competed with a heavy heart at these Beijing Games. Cancer took away his wife, Lynn, earlier this year, but Millar felt her every step of the way at the Shatin Hong Kong Olympic equestrian venue.
"This one's for Lynn," a teary Millar told reporters after the Canadians had dropped a dramatic jump-off to the U.S. for the gold. "I had an angel riding with me, that's all I can say."
With a record nine Olympics under his belt, going all the way back to Munich 1972 (it would be an even 10 save for the boycotted Moscow Games of 1980), Millar had accomplished just about everything in the sport that has been his life. All that was missing was an Olympic medal and there were two earlier close calls, in Seoul in 1998 and Los Angeles four years earlier, when Canadian showjumping teams finished fourth both times.
There was no denying the riders wearing the red maple leaf this time.
"What a team," Millar told CBC's Erin Paul in the moments after the silver had been clinched. "I've been on many fine teams but this was real fine, this one."
Call it one of the greatest testaments to perseverance ever.
"I remember back in the early '70s when I had a disastrous Grand Prix, my wife, Lynn, said to me, 'Don't worry, you're going to be a late bloomer,' " said Millar. "That's what she said to me and I've always held that thought. And so the Olympics don't go well and I'd say, 'Lynn said I'm a late bloomer. I'll go to the next one.'
"And sure enough, guess what happened? I bloomed."
Millar might not be done yet. He has spoken of the dream of riding with his two children, Jonathan and Amy, at the London 2012 Games. It isn't beyond the realm of possibility.
But before then, here's one more honour Millar deserves. No matter what happens the rest of these Games in Beijing, the Canadian Olympic Committee should hand the flag to our grandest Olympian of them all for Sunday's closing ceremony.
Nobody would be prouder to do it for Canada, a country he has always represented with the utmost of pride.
And for the "angel" who has been his biggest fan and inspiration every step of the way.
But amidst the celebrations with Jill Henselwood, Eric Lamaze and Mac Cone — who combined to bring Canada a silver medal in team showjumping, the country's first medal of any colour in that event in 40 years — it was a bittersweet time for the 61-year-old Olympic veteran lovingly known as Captain Canada in the equestrian world.
Millar, if you didn't know, competed with a heavy heart at these Beijing Games. Cancer took away his wife, Lynn, earlier this year, but Millar felt her every step of the way at the Shatin Hong Kong Olympic equestrian venue.
"This one's for Lynn," a teary Millar told reporters after the Canadians had dropped a dramatic jump-off to the U.S. for the gold. "I had an angel riding with me, that's all I can say."
With a record nine Olympics under his belt, going all the way back to Munich 1972 (it would be an even 10 save for the boycotted Moscow Games of 1980), Millar had accomplished just about everything in the sport that has been his life. All that was missing was an Olympic medal and there were two earlier close calls, in Seoul in 1998 and Los Angeles four years earlier, when Canadian showjumping teams finished fourth both times.
There was no denying the riders wearing the red maple leaf this time.
"What a team," Millar told CBC's Erin Paul in the moments after the silver had been clinched. "I've been on many fine teams but this was real fine, this one."
Call it one of the greatest testaments to perseverance ever.
"I remember back in the early '70s when I had a disastrous Grand Prix, my wife, Lynn, said to me, 'Don't worry, you're going to be a late bloomer,' " said Millar. "That's what she said to me and I've always held that thought. And so the Olympics don't go well and I'd say, 'Lynn said I'm a late bloomer. I'll go to the next one.'
"And sure enough, guess what happened? I bloomed."
Millar might not be done yet. He has spoken of the dream of riding with his two children, Jonathan and Amy, at the London 2012 Games. It isn't beyond the realm of possibility.
But before then, here's one more honour Millar deserves. No matter what happens the rest of these Games in Beijing, the Canadian Olympic Committee should hand the flag to our grandest Olympian of them all for Sunday's closing ceremony.
Nobody would be prouder to do it for Canada, a country he has always represented with the utmost of pride.
And for the "angel" who has been his biggest fan and inspiration every step of the way.
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.
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