It's A Wrap ...

We as a nation wrestle with such issues of whether it makes sense to financially support our Olympians, whether it’s really important to win Olympic medals, but every time the Games roll around it’s reinforced that there is a great value in all of this.

And, yes, the medals are important, but in the end it’s the mettle that counts. And Canadian athletes have that in spades.

As 1984 Olympic canoeing gold medalist Larry Cain pointed out in an email, “The shame of it all is that the amazing performances like Dylan Armstrong's, Mike Brown's and the other 4th and 5th place finishes go unappreciated by far too many.”

It’s true. Just imagine how any of us would feel to be the fourth or fifth best in the world at something. It’s a perspective that’s important to have.

(Photo at right: Coxswain Brian Price rides on rowing eights captain Kyle Hamilton's shoulders ... The athletes deserve a gold medal for having the guts to wear those godawful pants. The uniforms were abysmal. The COC and HBC better get their act together for 2010.)

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree: Spent more time talking to the parents of Olympians during the leadup to these Game than ever before. What great people. The pushy, overbearing hockey parent is one stereotype of a sporting parent. The Olympic parent, for the most part, seems to break that mould.

Thanks for sharing your stories: Chuck Hayden (swimmer Brent Hayden), Lien Chao (shooter Avianna Chao), Beata Bokrossy (kayaker Adam van Koeverden), Madeleine Turcot-Hall (canoiest Thomas Hall), Rob Sweetland (triathlete Kirsten Sweetland), Mary Reed (runner Gary Reed), and Elaine Christopher (runner Tyler Christopher). My apologies to anyone I’ve left off the list.

A Keen Observer: Canadian speed skater Kristina Groves was among a large group of Winter Olympians who were keeping a close eye on Beijing. She was one of several we checked in with who provided her observations on the Summer Games …

“I was so impressed by the Canadian team,” Groves wrote in an e-mail. “All of those who fared well or perhaps not, were so honest, well-spoken, genuine and driven. I think Kyle Shewfelt's interview with Ron Maclean on CBC was really wonderful - you could really sense how much he'd grown through his experience and I think his comments about how this experience contrasted with his win in Athens were very insightful.

“I was inspired by Eric Lamaze; learning more about his life story, where he came from and what he was able to accomplish, and how he was motivated to win for Canada was really great. He faced a lot of adversity in his career and was up against a tough crowd within his sport and persevered in the end.

“It was really interesting to watch as an informed spectator. Having been there and experienced it myself, I found myself reliving certain experiences I've had that others were going through there and it was a good reminder of all the lessons I've learned over the years.

“I think for many Canadians watching Adam van Koeverden go through what he did was pretty amazing. You could almost feel what he was feeling as he was so honest with the media and also at a complete loss. I found myself thinking that he will grow from this and be better for it next time around.

“One thing I was reminded of was that no matter who predicted what, or how many wins an athlete had prior, or how much was expected, the unexpected always prevailed, and always will, which is what makes the Olympic Games so captivating.

“It's a good reminder leading in to 2010, to remember that relying on expectations and previous results can be poisonous unless you deal with everything the right way, which can be different for everyone. Keeping a level head, and knowing that no matter how good you may have been before the Games, nothing counts anymore except this one chance, one match or one day, and this is why we always see favourites falter and unknowns skyrocket - the Games are a different beast altogether.

“Of course it was great to see the obvious happen as well, like the rowing men's eights win when they were expected to and pull through under pretty heavy pressure.”

Groves is certainly one to watching heading to 2010.

And That’s A Wrap … from Beijing. It’s been quite a ride. Stay tuned for the road to Vancouver/Whistler.

Alcohol Meat Buddies and Great Eights ...

My story the other day on the bronze-medal win in the women’s lightweight double by Tracy Cameron and Melanie Kok ended with the anecdote about Cameron playing mini Olympics with older brother Troy as a kid.

“We had a thing where when the other person would win, there was a medal presentation and you had to stop and raise the other person’s hand and declare them world champion,” Cameron said. “And I HATE it because I was always the one raising his hand. Finally, we’d have to call my Mom in and she’d have do the medal presenting.”

After Tracy climbed the Olympic podium, Troy gladly raised Tracy’s hand. (The photographic evidence is here.)

On Cloud Eight: The Canadian men’s eight are not only Olympic champions on the water, but you’d be hard pressed to find a classier bunch of guys anywhere. Truly, a great bunch of role models.

Well, it was not hard to figure out why upon meeting some of their parents out at the Shunyi course.

Not only was there the physical resemblance in many cases, but their warm and genuine manner was certainly familiar from the kind of treatment a Toronto Star reporter and photographer got from the rowers and coach Mike Spracklen during a week long visit to their training base in Victoria in April.

Here, you see Ben Rutledge’s Dad being interviewed by the CBC’s multi-talented Nick Purdon. Can’t remember Mr. Rutledge’s name but he does have a good sense of humour. “Do you think this will help the Leafs?” he asked after the gold-medal win.

Alcohol Meat Buddy: Got a chance to grab some supper the other night (Don’t tell the bosses … Ended up working til 2:30 a.m., anyway … I know, start the violins.)

Anyway, I digress. Phil Morrissette, a young McGill student who has studied Mandarin for four years and is working as a volunteer for the organizing committee, was kind enough to be our tour guide once again. He took some of us to a wonderful Chinese restaurant, where he shared a story about how Chinese men have friends that they go out with regularly to drink a lot of beer and then eat meat skewers.

The name for these friends, said Phil, translates as “Alcohol Meat Buddy.”

Did Dylan Armstrong Get Jobbed?

LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR

Canada's Dylan Armstrong pushes his way toward a new Canadian shot put record at the Beijing Olympics on Aug. 15, 2008. He finished fourth.

There's a bit of a buzz in Canadian circles here that shot putter Dylan Armstrong might have got jobbed in the measurement of the throw that left him one centimetre short of the podium.

There are those in the Canadian camp who believe that this video on YouTube shows a track and field official stepping on the indent that Armstrong’s throw made and, instead of measuring it properly, cost Armstrong about 20 centimetres.

The video is a little grainy and while it may remain a talking point over the web, Athletics Canada officials decided the original measurement was clearly correct after they studied high definition footage yesterday at the CBC studio here.

Armstrong finished fourth with a Canadian record toss of 21.05 metres, one centimetre behind bronze medallist Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus and five centimetres behind American silver medallist Christian Cantwell. Poland’s Tomas Majewski won the gold.

Unveiled: David Calder’s Remarkable Comeback

Canadian rower David Calder had some 15 family members in the crowd here on Saturday when he and Scott Frandsen captured Canada’s first medal of the Olympics, a silver in men’s pairs. Among those was his cousin James Brotherhood, who played a critical role in his remarkable comeback.

Brotherhood, as part of his masters program in sports physiology, designed the program that helped Calder return successfully to the sport after a three-year absence.

“Without his science background, I wouldn’t be here,” said Calder, holding his 4-year-old daughter Mira afterwards, a silver medal around his neck . “I would have just ignorantly tried to work as hard as I could, right? And that wouldn’t have been the smart thing to do.

“He really kept the throttle on, but he told me when I need to back off and when I needed to recover. That was the first time that I took a scientific approach to it.”

Calder had only 13 weeks to get ready for the team’s Olympic training camp, which began Oct. 1.

“If we had waited any longer, I think it would have been pretty tough, if not impossible,” said Brotherhood, milling around with ecsatic family members. “The transition he made over such a short time is unbelievable and a lot of that has to do with his amazing genetic gifts. It’s already shown. He’s a three-time Olympian now. He has it. It was just a matter of getting him where he needed to be as fast as possible. He listened to the science and it got him here.”

A paper Brotherhood wrote on the program can be accessed here. His mark for the project?

An A+, of course. Nice work, James!

Chuck In China: Winding up the Wind Down ...

Here we have a heartfelt post from our faithful correspondent, Chuck Hayden, father of Olympic swimmer Brent Hayden. It’s been great having Chuck doing some of my work for me, because he’s been providing us with a seldom heard from viewpoint, the parent. No doubt, he’s been charming the Chinese with his folksy and genuine manner.

Enough from me. Take it away, Chuck …

"Winding up the Wind Down, or Erratic Errata"

All -- and I do mean "all" -- of the medals you see being won at these wonderful Beijing Olympics have been bought and paid for by their home government's funding. There is no such thing any more as the clerk/weekend athlete who trains in their off hours and achieves anything at the Olympics. Eddie the Eagle has left the building!

All of our relatives and friends believe that chasing around the world in support of our sons & daughters is a holiday and part of the good life, and wonderful holidays. There is not much which could be further from the truth.

I have met with parents and family of all levels of upper and lower world-class elite athletes from around the world, and we all have things in common: We all worry about how our kids will do. It is unshakeable, we try to look for the positive. We bleed for our kids when things go poorly (which for everyone, they do at times. For some, the media just doesn't report on it. Other times, it is a media feeding frenzy.)

We all know that the good is mostly overlooked, or celebrated for a short time. Vultures are always waiting to pounce.

In the swimming world, at least, our kids are not playing on a level playing field. No, I am not talking about the availability of the new technologies in swim suits. The prevalence of performance enhancing drugs is common and becoming more prevalent all the time. Canada, thank God, is clean!

The highs are high and the lows are so low.

Athletes "scratching" from events: This is always a coaching/administrative decision. Swimming in Canada has always emphasised relays over individual performances. I guess that's the 'Canadian Way', but it is not the athlete’s decision.

I would like to thank Randy Starkman and the Toronto Star for this opportunity to put my two cents out there. I would also like to thank those of you who took the time to read. My opinions, and they are only my opinions and experiences, are not those of Randy or The Star.

These athletes are not resting on their laurels. They are already preparing for the World Championships in Rome next year, the Commonwealth Games, 2010, in Mumbai, India, the World Champs 2011 in Shanghai, and the next Summer Olympics in London, England in 2012.

And, a last note: Please support these fine young men & women who, yes, love their chosen sports, but who give up so much to compete for and hope to bring glory to the country they love so deeply: Canada. They are the best of the best!

Thank you all for your time,

Chuck

(Chuck, I hope this doesn't mean you're gonna stop writing. I got more than a week left at this thing! -- Randy)

The Universal Game: Cops and Robbers

It’s the universal game, cops and robbers.

Walking down a hutong, one of the narrow alleys around China, there were four young boys running around the other night, taking aim at each other with mostly homemade guns, put together with carboard and tape.

The lads were kind enough to stop and pose for a picture. These are the kind of toughs you don’t mind running into in an alley. They said a friendly “bye” in English after checking out the picture for themselves and nodding their approval. Everyone here seems to have at least a word of English.

Not One to Miss a Photo-Op: When the Canadian team marched into the stadium here for the opening ceremonies, the cameras (at least on TV here) panned over to International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound and former Canadian track athlete Charmaine Crooks.

The thinking of some current and former Canadian athletes familiar with Crooks is that she positioned herself there, knowing that’s where the cameras would go. It may or many not be true, but it says a lot about the perception of Crooks, who has done a great job of riding on the Olympic gravy train since her competitive days ended. It’s hard to find a Canadian athlete who feels she’s there for them.

Of Malcolm and Mats ... The Search for Sundin

The world champion Canadian men’s rowing eight has a self-imposed media blockout in the drive for an Olympic gold medal, but Malcolm Howard is making one notable exception.

“The only thing I’m checking on the Internet is whether Mats Sundin has signed with Vancouver yet,” said Howard, a huge Canucks’ fan who lives in Victoria. “Every morning, I’ll just go on tsn.ca/nhl, nothing else there, just like ‘Oh, no Sundin news,’ okay, sign off, unplug it, that’s it.”

Howard, considered a real phenom in rowing a key cog in the eight, believes Sundin would be a huge boon for his beleaguered Canucks.

“I think he could bring a lot of leadership and that little bit of a scoring touch that we need and it will move the Sedins into a more comfortable role, not having all the pressure on their shoulders and having a guy like that can help push the rest of the team,” he said.

Howard’s not alone on the team in his love of the Canucks. He’s joined by Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C., and Kevin Light of Victoria.

“I think Kyle and Kevin are about 700th on the season ticket waiting list,” said Howard. “They don’t know how much they went down on the list after this last season, which is perfect with those guys retiring (after the Olympics). Hopefully, they’ll get their season tickets.”

(Some members of the team visited with family after winning their opening heat today. Above, we see coxswain Brian Price of Kingston, Ont., with wife Robbie and daughter Brianna.)

Photo by Dr. Mike Wilkinson

Bent Jensen in good (and sometimes large and fuzzy) hands.

Dedicated Doc: Dr. Mike Wilkinson, the Canadian team rowing physician, is doing a remarkable job in looking after the team’s needs and taking care of lightweight rowing coach Bent Jensen, who has pancreatic cancer and is getting chemotherapy here.

Jensen was in hospital today as part of his regular treatment. It’s all part of an energy management plan to keep the world renowned coach working with his crews. He receives regular medication to control his nausea and gets regular blood tests done to make sure the chemotherapy is progressing okay.

Wilkinson, who took the picture of Jensen with the Games mascots at a local hospital (featured on the right) is director of medical services for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

He was the chief medical officer for the Canadian team last year at the Pan Am Games in Brazil, where he made a name for himself not only for his dedicated care of the athletes but also for his salsa moves.

Chuck In China -- Our Man on the Scene

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

Hayden clan getting their feet wet in Beijing - especially Brent, pictured above as he prepares for competition.

Our faithful correspondent Chuck Hayden, father of world champion swimmer Brent Hayden, has arrived on the scene in Beijing, making his “Chuck In China” missives even more official.

His insightful look into the life of a parent of an Olympic athlete has been a great addition to this blog. The fact it means less work for me is just an added bonus. His son Brent begins competing here Tuesday in the men’s 100-metre freestyle heats.

We’ll let Chuck take it away …

Here’s my latest edition of "Chuck in China" or "The Blog from the Smog."

On the daily weather in Beijing, they refer to the weather as being “overcast” and I suppose it is. It's overcast with a one to two kilometre thick by several hundred kilometre wide pall of smog. How do you tell the difference between smog and cloud?

"Taste"! (Reminds me of a joke about thermometers, but that's for another time).

We landed on Thursday and could not see the tops of buildings, or clearly across the oh-so-wide boulevards. You can feel the smog on your skin, in your nostrils and taste it in your mouth.

Anyone with breathing or respiratory problems must be having a time of it. If you do have those, don't come to Beijing.

Also, the temperature is rather warm. At street level with the crowds, the temperature must be about 95 F. (Sorry, I don't do Celsius.)

But, if you just refer to it as being "warm,” it doesn't seem so bad. Everyone is sweaty, and when greetings are exchanged , the hugs and handshakes are 'slick'

There is also big police and military presence, which is to be expected. But, they are not intrusive. They are there to establish a 'presence', and to set up barricades and shut down many main roads and thoroughfares to allow for the many official pre-Games functions.

Makes getting around Beijing a real pain, but everyone is hopeful that these incidents will decrease or disappear once the Games themselves get underway.

But something I was not prepared for was the people. Oh, the people! The people of Beijing are wonderful. They are at once hospitable, friendly, helpful, love to have they and their children’s pictures taken with us foreigners.

Our host cannot do enough for us. But he is not the only one. Everyone we have had any interaction with has been a joy from to waiters to taxi drivers. I was prepared to be swarmed and run over on the sidewalks, and the opposite is true.

Yes, there are literally hundreds of thousands of others sharing the sidewalks and boulevards with us, but they move deftly around you. There is no rudeness or pushiness. And I do not believe this is because of their "hospitality classes." I believe they are among the friendliest people in the world. Everywhere we have gone we have been treated so very well.

Oh, and for our first meal here, we went out for Chinese food with our host and family. Eight -- count ‘em eight -- very large dishes of fresh, hot steaming food, plus a couple of large beers and sodas came to a whopping 137 yuan, or about $23 Cdn

If I had shown my compound key card, it would have been 88 yuan. And, NO TIPPING! And the service was gracious and prompt.

Yes, it's rather warm, the lines are long, as are the roads, but the Chinese people are making this a wonderful experience for our family.

Now to try to not make ourselves ill fretting about Brent's events.

Badminton: The Universal Language

Canadian badminton ace Anna Rice’s Mandarin is pretty much non-existent, but she’s found a way to communicate at the Beijing Games.

“Every taxi ride, the driver usually doesn’t speak any English but if I say some of the names of the Chinese players and do a little pretend swing, they understand what my sport is,” said Rice, of North Vancouver.

There’s a deep appreciation for her sport here, which she also discovered when she was interviewed by a Chinese radio reporter and she said “he knew more about me than any reporter from a radio station in my home province would.”

“The only way to compare it is the way we know everything about hockey, they know everything about badminton. They really respect what we’re doing on court to a deeper level because of a lot of them play themselves.”

Rice has been really impressed by the friendliness of the locals and their deep desire to help the Games be successful, but said the security types have been a little overzealous in putting tape over logos on their equipment and clothes at the Games.

“I wrote on my blog they were literally down to my underwear taping over the Fruit of the Loom,” she said. “Even a coach had to tape up the logo on his shirt.”

Making A Difference: We’ll attempt to give a little shout out here and there to those unheralded sponsors who support unheralded athletes while knowing they’re not going to get a ton of advertising out of it.

Rower Tracy Cameron of Shubenacadie, N.S., who is a medal contender in the women’s lightweight double with Melanie Kok of St. Catharines, said she wouldn’t have been able to keep going without the help of longtime sponsor Midnight Oil Exploration Ltd. and Daylight Energy of Calgary.

“I think in the Olympic year a lot of sponsors hop on board, but this company has been there for me right from the very beginning when they didn’t know whether I was going to make it or not,” said Cameron.

“The only reason I’ve been able to compete is because they’ve backed me financially. Otherwise, the amount for carding per month from Sport Canada would barely cover my student loan payments.”

Hangin' in the Hutongs ...

Got a chance to do some touring of somehutongs today with Olympic speed skating champion Clara Hughes and her CBC broadcasting partner Mark Connolly.

Our guide was McGill University student Phil Morissette, a 21-year-old who's working as a volunteer for the Beijing Organizing Committee. He's been studying Mandarin for four years now and the guy's a real ace. (That's Clara and Phil on the right)

Hutongs are the narrow streets or alleys that are formed by the traditional courtyard residences all over Beijing. The neighbourhoods where these alley ways exist are usually referred to as hutongs.

We had a lot of offers from the bicycle rickshaw drivers to take us around, but we stayed on foot.

(Dad seems happier about this picture than the kid.)

Hughes, who is still in pretty much full training mode here for the 2010 Winter Olympics, managed a brief workout in one of the parks, where they've got some pretty neat equipment. Apparently, it's the elderly who get the most use out of it.

Here's what Hughes had to say on her first impressions of Beijing:

"It's really surprised me and impressed me mainly with the people and the energy I feel from the people. They're just pretty happy people and a great sense of humour and they really are welcoming the world here and that's what I feel like.

"I know there's a lot of issues and there's a lot of things I don't agree with with the Chinese regime. But there's also a lot of good qualities and points that I don't think we get in North American and the western world.

"I have a window into that world because my coach Xiuli Wang is from Harbin, from the north of China. Xiuli's been with me for nine years and I think I have a better sense of the Chinese culture and their quirky sense of humour.

"They're really fun people. They're really serious and really intense and I think you have to be to get ahead and to be competitive in anything with 1.3 billion people. But they also have a really funny side and I'm seeing it here and just how proud people are and how much it means for the volunteers to be part of this. Also, I feel we're really being welcomed here. That's a really good feeling."

Speaking of sense of humour, there was some pretty good Chinglish on the menu when our ever capable guide directed us to a restaurant where we were able to enjoy a traditional Chinese hot pot. Among the items was "obese beef," "aftertaste sausage," and "cube roll of moo cow." Doesn't matter what they call it; it was awesome.