In Defence of Pierre Lueders

As someone who rode to Olympic gold for Canada with Pierre Lueders, Dave MacEachern believes his old partner gets a bad rap.

Although the two had their share of battles during their competitive days, MacEachern said he grew to appreciate Lueders over the years and was upset to see the way he was portrayed in yesterday’s story in the Star , detailing his personality clash with top Canadian brakeman Lascelles Brown, who refuses to push for him.

“Pierre, love him or hate him, he is the best damn thing that’s ever happened to this sport in Canada,” said MacEachern, a bobsleigh commentator for CBC Sports. “And I’m really proud of all the stuff we did together. It was an amazing ride.

“For me, I think it’s such a positive thing. Pierre’s going to his fifth Olympics. He’s got probably 27 World Cup victories, a gazillion other accomplishments, 90something World Cup medals. I just hate to see such a positive thing being dragged down by something that should be resolved by numbers.

“Put you feelings in your briefcase and go to work. If the team doesn’t recognize the situation and put the top driver with the top brakeman, then that’s the problem.”

MacEachern goes on.

“The funding comes from results. And if it wasn’t for Pierre, the funding wouldn’t be there. Yeah, he’s a bull. But he’s a bull that’s really good at what he does. He can win. People take different approaches. I was a baby of 11 and Pierre was a first generation Canadian, one of two kids. We were polar opposites. I couldn’t understand this guy for the world. After our first Olympics together, I just decided to embrace Pierre.”

As a fierce competitor, MacEachern can’t understand why Brown is potentially giving up a shot at an Olympic gold medal. MacEachern was the brakeman with Lueders when they tied with Italy for gold at the 1998 Nagano Games. Brown won a silver with Lueders in the two-man event at the 2006 Turin Olympics, but they've since had a serious falling out.

“At the end of the day, I wasn’t there to make a longlasting friendship with a group of guys,” said MacEachern. “I was there to win an Olympic gold medal. I would expect if someone’s training the way you have to train to be the top brakeman on the Canadian team, that he’d be training for an Olympic gold medal and you get on the fastest bus that’s going to get you there. And in my opinion, that’s Pierre Lueders.

“I can’t imagine not wanting to win an Olympic gold medal. I know Robert Esmie and Bruny Surin and Donovan Bailey and Glenroy Gilbert didn’t have a lot in common, but they got the stick around the track and won an Olympic gold medal.”

But Brown told the Star that friendship is more important to him than an Olympic medal.

“That’s awesome,” said MacEachern. “That’s a very admirable trait and quality to have. But I would love to see them win a gold medal. If he’s (Lascelles is) that good, with a properly structured four-man sled, Pierre could win two medals.

“I don’t think Pierre’s going to comment on this story. I don’t think he’s going to comment on anything Lascelles says. He’s moved on and if Lascelles doesn’t want to push him, I think he’s going to try to find athletes as good or better than him to push him. That’s hopefully what he’s done.”

Sliding into the Season: You can watch the World Cup men's and women's skeleton season opener on live streaming today from Park City, Utah, on the CBC Sports website. First run begins at 10:50 a.m. 

It should be interesting to see how Michelle Kelly fares after being reinstated Tuesday night following a disqualification for manipulating her runners that originally cost her a spot on the World Cup team and put her career in jeopardy. Read a story about Kelly from today's newspaper here.

Remembrance Day and Auntie Mickey

 

This is May Gillman -- my Auntie Mickey -- and she served over in London during World War II.

She is among a special group of veterans featured in this tremendous article in the Star by Nancy J. White.

She was an Air Force Paymaster and was buried amid the rubble in a dance hall for three days when a German buzz bomb hit. She sang to keep her spirits up.

She's still singing.  Amazing, amazing lady.  We love her so much.

Mr. Colbert, Meet Canada’s New Complaints Commissioner

Canada cheating to win medals at the 2010 Winter Games? Doping with beaver musk? Being labelled as “syrup suckers” and “Saskatch-e-whiners with frosty sphincters”?

These are among the allegations levelled last week at Canada by funnyman Stephen Colbert on his popular late night show.

You can check it out here in its entirety here on the Comedy Network (the juicy stuff starts at about the 5:45 mark).

Olympic speed skating champion Joey (I Will Not Turn The Other) Cheek went as far as calling the limiting of access to 2010 facilities to other nations leading to the Games “a dick move.” Of course, conveniently forgetting the U.S. did the exact same thing at the 2002 Salt Lake Games.

Well, Canada is not taking this lightly.

Deeply chagrined and embarrassed at being called out by Colbert, Canada has appointed an official complaints commissioner to deal with this serious assault on its integrity, not to mention the maligning of the merits of beaver musk. (BTW, the Saskatchewan Frosty Sphincters would be a helluva hockey team name.)

Anyway, after a long search, Canada has even decided to dip into its own ranks of Olympic athletes for its new 2010 complaints commissioner.

Meet Olivier “Ollywood” Rochon, a 20-year-old sparkplug and up-and-coming freestyle aerialist (Featured last week in the Star).

We’ve been able to obtain footage of Rochon training for his new duties at the end of last season in Thailand at a pub featuring Muy Thai boxing.

That’s him in the red trunks in the headgear going against a professional Muy Thai boxer. (Yup, that's really him.) This guy is going to be great in this role. He can take a lot of punishment and never stops coming.

Syrup suckers, eh.

2015 Pan Am Games Needs A Strong Ombudsman

As one of its first acts in organizing the 2015 Pan Am Games, Toronto needs to appoint an effective and unfettered ombudsman.

These projects are way too rife with opportunists and nepotism -- not to mention a whole lot of other “ists” and “isms” -- and it’s critical that the committee that runs this project to not only be seen to do the right thing but TO DO the right thing.

There’s a lot of skepticism about the Games and every decision taken has to be made with the best interest of the city, sport, kids and athletes at the forefront, not personal interests or ambition.

Please send along any suggestions as to who you think would fit the bill. I'm sure those running the 2015 Pan Ams would appreciate the help.

One person who comes to mind from personal experience is Doug Hamilton, an Olympic rowing bronze medalist and world champion who is now a successful lawyer. He was Rowing Canada’s high performance director during the glory days of Marnie McBean, Silken Laumann and Derek Porter during the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.

He got involved because the rowing program was a mess at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where he last competed. He did it all as an unpaid volunteer and declined to travel to events because he knew the coaches and athletes didn’t need him there to do their jobs. In other words, he definitely was not there for personal glory.

He was heavily involved in Toronto’s unsuccessful bid for the 2008 Olympics -- the athletes and others who worked with him sang his praises. Again, it was all unpaid volunteer work. He was part of the 2015 Pan Am bid, but apparently walked away because he found too many people with their own agendas.

Sounds like a perfect ombud to me – if he would take such a role. Also sounds like the kind of guy some people involved with the Games might not want around.

A Touch of Klassen: There was a very good sign that speed skater Cindy Klassen is on the right path in her difficult comeback from double knee surgery at the World Cup in Berlin this past weekend, her first competition in nearly two years.

Klassen was paired with Christine Nesbitt on Sunday in the women’s 1,500 metres and she stuck right with her teammate off the start, which is usually Nesbitt’s strong suit at that distance. Nesbitt thought she wasn’t going fast enough because she hadn’t put more distance between herself and Klassen after one lap, but she’d underestimated her teammate.

Nesbitt wound up winning by nearly a second and a half, while Klassen was a solid ninth in the race.

“To be honest, she’s way further ahead than I expected her to be at this point,” said Nesbitt.

Sweet Ride: The Canadian speed skating team takes about an eight-hour bus ride from Berlin to the Netherlands today for the next World Cup, but it should be a sweet one.

The medalists at the Berlin World Cup all got big chocolate bears on the podium along with their medals and flowers. Nesbitt and teammate Britanny Schussler, third in the 1,500 metres, planned on cracking open the hollow bears on the bus ride to share with their mates.

Blurring Lines: The Globe and Mail has an article on Olympic ambush marketing, always an interesting topic. The only thing they forgot to mention is that the Globe is the “official” newspaper of the Olympics.

Wonder if that has any effect on all their fawning coverage of the torch relay, in which nine members of the Globe – including Phillip Crawley, publisher and ceo; John Stackhouse, editor-in-chief and prominent columnists Roy MacGregor, Stephen Brunt and Gary Mason – are carrying the Olympic torch.

Blurred lines, indeed.

"I can't wipe the smirk off my face" -- Priscilla Lopes-Schliep

Here’s how some of Canada’s top athletes reacted to the news of Toronto’s Pan Am win:

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, Whitby, Olympic bronze medalist. and world championship silver medalist hurdler

“I’m excited. I can’t wipe the smirk off my face. It’s going to uplift sport in Canada. You’re going to have a lot of people excited, you’re going to have a lot of people joining in. It’s going to bring the community together, I believe. You bring in something big like that and it’s going to get more people involved and it’s going to have a positive domino effect. When something’s positive, it rolls off and it keeps going.”

“I remember growing up and seeing all these athletes on TV and wondering ‘How cool would it be if I could do that. It kind of escalated from there and my dreams became reality. To have it in your backyard, oh, it’s going to seem all that more real. It’s almost like you can reach out and touch the athletes and be part of it, whether the younger generation’s volunteering or they’re just there to watch and have a good time.”

Adam van Koeverden, Oakville, Olympic and world kayaking champion

“It’s a huge opportunity. How we embrace that opportunity is to be determined. Canada has always said we need a reason to provide infrastructure. This is kind infrastructure in Toronto and surrounding area is long overdue. There’s no better sort of impetus to provide it.”

“Kids will look up to the athletes that are competing and look up to the Pan Ams as a big celebration of sports excellence in our city and surrounding community. It will have a big impact on grassroots sport, not just in the generation of kids who are going to watch but also in the next generation of kids who will use the facilities that they’re going to create. “I think the legacy of a multi-sports games is the test of the success, not just the country’s medal count at that given Games. I think the long-term impact and the use of those facilities and the infrastructure is a real test of whether or not it was a success.

“Calgary was a great success. How many Olympic champions were generated out of the infrastucture that the Calgary Games provided athletes in Canada with? I don’t know if I can say the same thing for the Montreal Olympics. I don’t know if there was anything left behind for the athletes to really take advantage.

”I’m in Banff, Alberta, right now, sitting and watching the snow fall. I drove Canada Olympic Park today (in Calgary) and the Nordic Centre in Canmore. Countless Olympic medalists have come out of those facilities and they wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t those Games.”

Perdita Felicien, Pickering, former world champion and world champion silver medalist hurdler

“There is no sports infrastructure in the GTA. That’s what I’m most excited about. If you think about the facilities that I even train at (at York University), they’re not up to par, they’re not world class at all. I think 2015 is going to force the government to provide facilties that hopefully are going to have a lasting legacy for decades and decades to come. And then bring in more interest and more opportunities for us to host the world. Hopefully, this will lead to a Summer Olympics or a Commonwealth Games.”

Felicien thinks she might still even be competing

. “Brigitte (Foster-Hylton) plans on defending her world championship in 2011. I’m laughing out of pure respect, because it kind of sounds funny. I think she will be 37 or 36. So it’s not inconceivable for me to think about 2015. And the fact that Toronto is hosting it, hey, it would be parallel to Glenroy (Gilbert) and Donovan (Bailey) going out at the 2001 worlds in Edmonton. It would be great to go out in the Pan Am Games at home. Whether or not I’ll be there, I really don’t know. But it’s definitely something to think about and it definitely is tempting. But this is my 29-year-old self talking.”

Ohenewa Akuffo, Brampton, Olympic wrestler and world championship bronze medalist

“It’s going to be amazing for the country and the city, because we get to host another international Games. We’re just going to be hosting the Winter Olympics and now we get a summer component of an equally huge Games. I believe Toronto’s up for it. You think about the international things that come through Toronto, the different festival and events. Why not a sporting one? Everybody wants to come to Toronto. Everyone’s going to be excited to get the opportunity to compete in Toronto. I think it’s going to ignite the sports community. It’s going to bind the country together.”

Pan Am Vision For Kids A Heartening One

As someone who’s passionate about Olympic athletes and sport, one would think I’d be excited about the prospec of Toronto possibly getting the 2015 Pan Am Games when they’re awarded today.

And I am. But I’m also a bit nervous. Because if these things aren’t well run, they can be a total disaster, both financially and in other ways, for a host city.

One thing that gave me some hope when bid leader David Peterson came to the Toronto Star recently to talk to the editorial board was the picture he painted of facilities like the proposed swimming complex having Michael Phelps doing laps in one pool and a bunch of kids frolicking in the other.

Now, unless he’s even more of a wunderkind than we’ve already seen, Phelps won’t be a competitor by then. But that concept of having the infrastructure created for the Games serving the youth and public in Toronto is the most exciting aspect of the bid.

We do need facilities really badly in this city – yes, for high performance sport but much more importantly for the kids and the community. With the right vision and people involved – which is never a certainty with these things – then the possibility for something really special is there.

I saw that at the Richmond Olympic Oval in June, where our top speed skaters like Cindy Klassen and Clara Hughes and Kristina Groves, were training on and off the ice in the stunning building, while parents and kids were also enjoying the facilities. I’ve seen the same thing at the Olympic Oval on the University of Calgary campus.

But the Richmond Oval won’t be a speed skating facility post Olympics because it’s not sustainable as such. It will be a community centre – and an incredible one at that. It's smart planning.

The sad part is that the Olympic Oval in Calgary, which is a huge part of the reason we’re a world power in the sport, is in danger of shutting down. It not longer looks financially viable.

The legacy fund there has taken a big hit and there’s much concern about the future – the speed skating team had to battle to have it open for much needed training this summer (more on this issue in a future post).

Peterson says there is a plan already in place to manage the facilities in Toronto. He also talked about plans to have kids participate in all kinds of Pan Am tournaments leading to the Games and giving out all kinds of free tickets to youth through different programs, as well as other initiatives. He seemed passionate about it.

The Pan Ams are a different kettle of fish. These aren’t the Olympics. It’s a B-rated – and sometimes C or D-rated affair – when it comes to attracting the top athletes. But that’s not what it’s all about.

As Peterson stated: “It’s worth what you make it. It’s worth nothing or it’s worth everything.”

Won’t quibble with that. Here’s hoping Toronto gets the nod and the city does this thing up right – for the kids and the community. We need this kind of athletic boost.

"Ollywood" A Product of OTP Program

Olivier “Ollywood” Rochon, featured in today’s Star, is a product of a development program backed by Own The Podium and headed by former Canadian aerials ace Nicolas Fontaine.

Rochon was originally a gymnast on the junior national team and a hopeful for the 2012 London Olympics. He was also a moguls skier on the weekend with a regional club, but still managed to finished third at junior nationals. He was at one point third ranked nationally in gymnastics and moguls skiing.

But then he had stress fractures on both wrists and spent the summer with both writsts in casts. He was told by a specialist he’d need surgery and that he’d be in casts for a year with another year of rehab after that. It forced him to give up on gymnastics.

Fontaine heard about this through the Quebec sports grapevine and recruited him for the 2010 Own the Podium program he was running. Rochon jumped his first summer of water ramp training with both wrists still in casts.

Rochon remembers seeing the aerialists train when he was a young moguls skier and thinking they were nuts.

“I was maybe 13 and I saw some of the aerial guys jumps and I was like ‘Wow, these guys are crazy. I don’t think I’ll ever be doing that in my life.’ A couple of years later, here I am doing it. It’s pretty funny.”

Here’s a video of Rochon in action last season:

World Cup-veat emptor: Let the watcher beware

The concept of World Cup-veat emptor – let the watcher beware – was mentioned in today’s front-page sports page piece in the Toronto Star, kicking off the 100-day countdown to February’s Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The idea is just because someone gets on a World Cup podium doesn’t mean they’re a serious Olympic medal contender.

That’s one of the big problems in Canada. An athlete’s medal chances often get built up way out of proportion, too often by an ill-informed media, and then people feel a big letdown and take it personally when they don’t win a medal.

We saw that in Beijing when Canada got off to a slow start – which was not unexpected by those that knew the strengths of the team – and everyone started panicking that first week. Some in the media – The Globe and Mail, comes to mind – came out with the now treadworn ‘Canada is a bunch of choking dogs’ story.

It turned out nothing was wrong – the rowing team hadn’t even competed for a medal nor had Simon Whitfield when those alarm bells were going off -- and the Canadian team went on to have one of its best Summer Games ever.

The danger of over-hype is greater than ever with a home Olympics, especially with Canada never having won gold as a host.

So it makes no sense when Sports Minister Gary Lunn comes out – as he did when the torch was lit in Greece -- and tells the Globe that “Our athletes, they are on fire in every single discipline and there is not going to be a dry eye in the country.”

That might be true about the eyes, but "on fire in every single discipline"?

If only that were true. Unless Own The Podium's Top Secret program really has something up its sleeve -- like the ability to clone Austrians and Norwegians -- we don’t have much of a ski jumping team (unless he can get the IOC to let the women in) and we’re nowhere in both nordic combined and biathlon. Canada's made big strides in cross country skiing and luge, but still have to be considered longshots right now.

No doubt, Canada has a strong team overall, but it doesn’t need to be oversold at this point. The World Cup season needs to unfold and in 100 days we’ll start finding out where Canada really stands.

Last Chance To Ride With Lueders: The ebay auction to get your name on the back of Olympic champion Pierre Lueders’ two- and four-man sleds – and to get to ride with him next year in the four-man -- is in its final hours. The bid is currently at $2,550.

Crawford Petitions VANOC for Ace Announcer

Chandra Crawford wants the atmosphere at the Olympic cross country ski races to be unlike anything the spectators have experienced before.

For that to happen, the 2006 Olympic cross country sprint champion is convinced announcer Kjell Erik Kristiansen has to be part of that mix.

Kristiansen is renowned in cross country skiing, kind of a Foster Hewitt of his ilk. As a stadium announcer, he brings the races alive even for those who don’t know a ski pole from a telephone pole, injecting enthusiasm, a sense of humour and an incredible knowledge of the athletes.

Considering that the crowds for the Olympic races in the Callaghan Valley will be full of newbies, a guy like Kristiansen is worth his weight in gold.

That’s why Crawford has been petitioning the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) to let Kristiansen be a stadium announcer for cross country ski races during the 2010 Games, as he was at the last two Winter Olympics and at the 1994 Games in his native Norway.

VANOC has told her Kristiansen is not available because they have him doing biathlon instead.

But Kristiansen has always done double duty on sports at the Winter Olympics -- and even triple duty -- plus there are no scheduling conflicts between biathlon and cross country during the Games.

 

“I think we should get him for as much as we can,” said Crawford. “It would be such a bummer (not to get him) because you want it to be a success, you want the atmosphere to be the off-the-wall.

“I guess I just care about our home Olympics, I care about the production of it, I care about it being a great time and I care about nordic skiing being an amazing event. That’s why I ended up being entangled in it.”

But VANOC says they don’t want Kristiansen to be spread too thin. John Aalberg of VANOC said they have set up announcing teams for each venue so they’re not relying too much on any one person.

“I wish we could put Kjell Eric at every competition in the park because he’s capable of that. He could do all all three stadiums,” said Aalberg. “But it’s not prudent to depend on individuals. That’s why we’ve put together teams.”

Kristiansen is not satisfied with VANOC’s logic, given that he’s done three sports at a single Olympics in the past without any issues. He’s also really tired of everyone in the cross country community coming up and telling him they can’t believe he won’t be behind the mic during the races in Whistler.

“Of course, I want to do cross country because that’s what I’ve always been doing – since before the war,” said Kristiansen, who has done over 400 World Cup races. “I have done every day every time and that hasn’t been any problem. I have been announcing 20 years and have left my work one day because of sickness. And we have people who can step in.”

Aalberg couldn’t recall the full name of the fellow who will announce the cross country events. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. He said this guy has done the last two Winter Paralympics and apparently has done some cross country announcing for Eurosport. He is apparently from Denmark, not a noted cross country power.

“The problem for us – and that is something they don’t know in VANOC – is that the Danes don’t have any tradition in the sport,” said Kristiansen.

 “It’s like somebody coming from Africa and commentating on curling in Canada. They can know a lot, but the traditions are different and it sounds … different. I won’t use any other words.”

Kristiansen’s voice is the one athletes will hear on loudspeakers all the way to the Olympics, including the final World Cup stop in Crawford’s hometown of Canmore, Alta.

Someone referred the other day to these Olympics being “micromanaged.” This is a perfect example of that.

Kristiansen is acknowledged to be the best, he's done the last two Winter Games. Why not use him as much as you can? He’s more than up to the task, has proven he can do it at past Olympics. An athlete who’s been a great ambassador for her sport is imploring VANOC to use the guy. It’s not like she hasn’t got other uses for her time, so it must mean a lot.

Why make it so complicated? Let Kristiansen do as many cross country races as he can -- even Aalberg acknowledges he's the best -- and have a qualified backup to help him out.

The fans -- and athletes -- will thank you for it.

Celebrities Wield Their Brushes For Olympians

 

They could have titled this fundraiser for Canadian Olympic athletes: So You Think You Can Paint.

It turns out that many of the celebrities and former Olympians wield a pretty mean paintbrush and you can check it out for yourself tonight at the Canadian Athletes Now Fund’s “Celebrating Canadian Talent Art Exhibit in support of Canadian Athletes.”

Yup, that’s a mouthful.

Among the famous Canadians who took part in this initiative are Roberta Bondar, Chantal Kreviazuk, Randy Bachman, Ron MacLean and Colin Mochrie – will be on hand tonight at 7 p.m. at the Jane Roos Gallery at 108 Berkeley St. in downtown Toronto for the final flurry of bidding.

The painting above, entitled Whistler, was done by Minister of Defence Peter MacKay after a visit there this past summer.

Silken Laumann shows a real artistic knack here.

And you gotta tip your artist’s beret to Roberta Bondard for this effort.

Thought Ron MacLean would try to recreate one of Don Cherry's suits in a Picasso-like effort, but he went for something much simpler.

Check out the rest here.

You can RSVP at events@janeroosgallery.com

You can also bid online here.