Eight is Enough For Torch Relay Lake Crossing

Among the more dramatic moments on the first day of the Olympic torch relay in Canada will be this afternoon when the Canadian gold medal rowing eight from the Beijing Games help ferry it across Elk Lake, their training grounds.

The first member of the team to handle it with will coach Mike Spracklen, whose hard-driving style has been lighting a flame under Canada’s rowers for some time now.

The crew has a special guest in Derek Porter, a member of of the 1992 Olympic champion eights crew and a silver medalist in single sculls at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Porter is filling in for Ben Rutledge, who is away on a trip with the UBC rowing team. The guessing here is that he’s also being employed to make sure that his buddy Jake Wetzel, a member of the 2008 champion crew who runs on his own unique internal clock, shows up for the gig on time.

The torch will be held by coxswain Brian Price, a cancer survivor, and they will stop in the middle of the lake, where it will be passed from Kyle Hamilton in the stroke seat all way down the boat until it is handed off to a junior crew to take it to Eagle Beach, where it will be passed to beloved Elk Lake junior coach Aalbert Van Schothorst.

Other members of the Canadian Olympic champion eight are Kevin Light, Malcolm Howard, Dominic Seiterle, Andrew Byrnes and Adam Kreek.

Here's a reminder of what that crew was about:

 

A Vote For John Ryan: Upon reading about the controversial issue of the CTV torchbearers, Brian Coughlin wrote in with a vote for someone he believes has been "grossly" overlooked for the honour.

“I realize that there are many persons deserving of the honour, and they just can't pick everyone, but this person I'm sure most would overwhelmingly say ‘yes’ to,” wrote Coughlin.

“John Ryan is an amazing story. He has resided in Whistler since 1987, is a paraplegic as a result of a car accident in 1994, and is one of the most successful realtors in Canada. He is an amazing athelete, and caring individual.

“In 1999, John embarked on the Regeneration Tour, where he handcycled across Canada to raise money and awareness for spinal cord research. He successfully completed this feat, from Cape Spear Newfoundland to Whistler , and raised over $1.2 million. He was awarded the Order of Canada, and presently sits as the Chair of the John and Penny Ryan Foundation.”

The CTV torchbearers issue has drawn attention outside of Canada with the U.S.-based website The Faster Times also entering the debate: “Canadian Media Types Shill For The Vancouver Olympics.”

The Curious Case of Michelle Kelly

On first glance, it seems a harsh decision: Skeleton racer Michelle Kelly bounced from any chance at the 2010 Olympics for manipulating the steel runners on her sled at a selection race.

But Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton (BCS) felt they had little choice but to leave Kelly off the team for the upcoming international races – and thus end her Olympic hopes -- if they wanted to maintain their credibility with their atheletes.

Make no mistake, this was no small misdemeanour in their sport. Like Formula One, skeleton has its rules when it comes to equipment to try to ensure a level playing field. Manipulating your runners is akin to mechanical doping. It doesn’t matter if you did it on purpose or not, the infraction is there.

It would have been easy for BCS to pretend it didn’t happen. They wouldn’t be the first national federation to turn a blind eye. And in the case of Kelly, they’re dealing with a former world champion considered to have medal potential for the 2010 Winter Games. But they had to know not dealing with the infraction in a forthright manner could mean losing the rest of the team, which had followed the rules.

The international governing body’s (FIBT) guidelines states the markings on a steel runner cannot be altered in any way. The markings, which the FIBT stamps on the uniform steel sold to make runners, were reduced and/or missing on Kelly’s runners.

It’s really out of the ordinary for something like that to happen – and Kelly had reportedly already been warned about another set of runners not being legal before the race.

But does the punishment fit the infraction? There doesn’t seem to be uniform penalties laid out in the FIBT rules. Rules offences can draw anything from a fine to the loss of a licence to compete in FIBT events. In the BCS rules, it seems similarly vague, with a wide range of options for what are considered "major infractions.

That will be for the appeals committee which is being formed to hear Kelly out to decide. She is understandably distraught, saying her world has been turned upside down, but has offered no explanation yet.

She is not only appealing her disqualification, but the decision by the Canadian coaches not to give her the sixth and final spot on the team that was left to their discretion.

“Traditionally, that type of situation is for if a bear jumps out and grabs somebody on the track,” said Don Wilson, the BCS ceo. “They are for unfortunate circumstances that perhaps someone has no control over.”

Kelly situation is indeed unfortunate, but make no mistake about it -- she did have control over it.

Olympic Champ Carol Huynh's Great White North Adventure

(Olympic wrestling champion Carol Huynh wrote this journal about her recent adventure spreading the gospel of wrestling, hard work and believing in yourself in the Great White North)

By Carol Huynh

An early morning and four flights later I was stepping off the plane in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. And no, it was not white. In fact it was a sunny day and a palette of autumn colours painted my surroundings. I was greeted by Nanook (a polar bear) who had made friends with a taxidermist and Steve Baryluk, the orchestrator of this Northern tour.

I had been looking forward to this trip and I was not disappointed. Steve and his girlfriend, Cindy Kasook, gave me a quick tour of the town of Inuvik before heading to the high school to do a presentation. After speaking to the school about wrestling and a few of the key factors that I attribute my success in sport to, I was able to lead a practice for the Delta Demons Wrestling Club - lots of promising young athletes!

That evening I was treated to dinner with Steve and his family and as an after dinner treat I was able to watch a bit of square-dancing at the local community hall. It was a lot of fun to see the Gwich'in and Inuvialuit elders of the community leading this fast-paced (and confusing!) dance. I was much too shy to join in and pretty certain I'd mess up the steps anyway!

The following day, Steve and I were off to Tsiigehtchic, a tiny little community with an even tinier school that taught 23 kids from kindergarten to Grade 12. We crossed the mighty Mackenzie River in a ferry to get there and did so again to get on the road to Fort McPherson. Speaking to these young kids was such a privilege for me because it reminded me of my own hometown of Hazelton, BC.

In hopes of spotting the thousands of caribou migrating and hungry grizzlies looking to fatten up before their long sleep, Steve and I decided to drive south on the dirt and gravel Dempster Highway over the Yukon border to reach the marker for the Arctic Circle. Unfortunately, the only caribou I saw was being gutted in the back of a pick-up truck by a couple of Aboriginal hunters nice enough to let me take a few pictures! Slightly macabre, but interesting in its own right.

Early the next morning I was on a tiny little plane making the jump over to Tuktoyaktuk, or just "Tuk" to the people who reside in this area. I had a bird's eye view of tundra polygons and the ancient round hills called pingos that are created in permafrost. The core of a pingo is made of solid ice. The second-highest pingo in the world lies just outside of Tuk.

Upon arriving in Tuk, we were greeted by Steve's friend Frank Pokiak, a kindly Inuvialuit man who had lived in the community all his life. He took us on a tour showing us the sights of Tuk and regaling us with stories of exposed graves, polar bear attacks, and beluga whale sightings.

After a dip in the Arctic Ocean (ok, it was just my finger), Frank took us to his home where his wife, daughter and grandkids fed us a feast of traditional foods: muk tuk (whale blubber) dipped in hp sauce, whale meat, salted frozen fish (5-year old grandson Anthony's favourite), smoked fish, dried goose, and caribou soup - delicious!

I am a fortunate individual to have been able to experience some of the cultural nuances of the Inuvialuit people. The importance of family and community was largely apparent, which really emphasized one of the main messages I try to convey to young people: The path to reaching my dream was made possible by surrounding myself with people who supported me and truly believed in me. After four school presentations and three wrestling sessions, I was on my way back home to Calgary.

Lueders Goes the eBay Route to Raise Funds

Pierre Lueders is offering a unique opportunity to ride with him in his bobsleigh all the way to the 2010  Vancouver Olympics.

Lueders has put up an advertising spot on the back of his two- and four-man Canada 1 sleds for sale to the public on eBay in a bid to seek more funding for his bid for a third Olympic medal next February in Vancouver.

He is also seeking a corporate sponsor for a more prominent spot on the side of both sleds. 

 “We just thought it would be a good way to engage Canadians, obviously with the Olympics coming up, just a different way of getting people interested and excited about the Games,” said Lueders.

“It’s about getting someone maybe in Badger, Nfld., or in Whitehorse in the Yukon who wants to support our team and wants to have their name on TV in the World Cup season. … It’s not about the money. We started the bid at $50. It’s to get people excited and involved.”

The highest bidder in the auction also gets to ride with a friend in the Canada 1 four-man sled the year following the Olympics. In addition, they get an autographed photo of Lueders and get to choose an Alberta school to get a visit from the Olympic gold and silver medalist after the Games.

Lueders described the chance to slide in the Olympic sled as being like a bobsleigh fantasy camp.

“You can sit and slide with the same guys you see on TV,” he said. “It’s not something every sport can offer. If you live in PEI, you can’t come to Calgary and jump off the ski jump. You can slide in the same sled, on the same track with at least two guys from the Olympic four-man sled. That’s a pretty unique opportunity.”

The unique bobsleigh auction idea is another gem from Olympic public relations ace Chris Dornan, who appears to be channeling Mr. Haney of the classic series Green Acres.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the auction winner come from Europe, where Lueders has tended to have more of a following, including his own fan club in Germany.

This is the first time Lueders has been involved in something of this nature. He’s generally a low-key, gruff character who has handled much of the funding of his past bobsleigh campaigns by finding sponsors on his own.

The ads have to removed, though, for the Olympics because of the rules regarding advertising at the Games.

Ski Team Launches Fundraiser: Also looking to raise some much needed funds, Alpine Canada launched with the help of Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk a new initiative called Win2010.ca.

Alpine Canada is offering 3,000 memberships at $100 apiece that include a two-year subscription to Ski Racing Canada magazine and access to all of its digital and e-newsletter materials, as well as one in four chance to win 700 prizes valued at $250,000. The money will be used to fund costs associated with housing and feeding the national ski team athletes at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Melnyk bought the first 300 memberships for family and friends.

The prizes include an all-inclusive trip for two to the Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing Resort with members of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, Miele dishwashers, tires provided by Continental Tire, Panasonic televisions, computers, skis, national team apparel and more.

CTV Torch Issue Still Burning

A few last thoughts – at least for now, anyway – on the controversy involving CTV’s decision to use 27 spots it was given by RBC in the Olympic torch relay to promote their coverage by awarding them to their own broadcasters, or “Canada's Olympic storytellers” as they’re calling them.

Almost all the reaction has been strongly opposed to this move – see comments on this blog and such media critics as the Star’s Chris Zelkovich, William Houston ("A media embarrassment") andthe strong comments on his new blog, and Bill Brioux ("Where there's smoke there's an Olympic-sized Laflamme"). The Star also ran an editorial yesterday ("CTV debases the torch.").

Many people involved in the Olympic scene have expressed their concern to me privately, as have some people working for CTV (privately again, of course).  It'd be interesting to hear what journalism professors have to say about it, too.

Hard to imagine anyone putting it any better than colleague John MacKinnon of the Edmonton Journal, who wrote in to say:

The job is to report on the Olympic movement, not be a slow-jogging cheerleader for it.
The torch relay has become one big sis-boom-bah conga line. But pre-Beijing, it was something rather more serious, and newsworthy.
How would a journalist have reconciled lugging the torch with a riot breaking out beside him or her?
It should be beyond the pale for any serious journalist.

One thing that those who don’t have a problem with it have said is ‘Why make such a big deal? It’s only 27 spots out of 12,000?’

Well, if the torch wields the power that those who believe in it so much claim it does – and CTV is chief among those in its coverage of the torch relay, which ramps up Friday when it arrives in Victoria – then every torchbearer has a potential influence to inspire.

Athletes, young and old, a dedicated volunteer or coach, a parent who has woken up at 6 a.m. to drive their kid to practice and given them support in so many ways, those are the people who are going to inspire the Canadian public and others watching the torch relay. Not the Group of 27 “Canadian Olympic storytellers,” no matter how hard the CTV execs try to spin this by saying they're doing us a favour. 

Got this email from a reader whose daughter Emily competes in the Special Olympics. She sounds like a very worthy candidate to carry the torch:

Emily represented Canada in Shanghai at the 2007 World Summer Games. She won 5 gold medals for Canada in Rhythmic Gymnastics. She is actively training and is very fit. Her present goal is to qualify for the 2011 Summer Games in Athens. We have e-mailed the torch run on 3 occasions to see if Emily could be a torch bearer. We live in Acton and offered Emily's participation in any sections between Toronto to Hamilton. Perhaps the automatic e-mail response did not work so we sent another contact this week when we saw an ad that said runners were still needed. I would be happy to support Emily in any way that is needed. She is still available if there are spots. What a thrill to represent Canada and give our Olympic athletes our support and draw public awareness to this International event! Thanks for your interest in Special Olympics! It has changed our family's lives. Sincerely, Dave Boycott

Not saying that CTV has taken a spot from Emily in the Olympic torch relay, but these are the kind of worthy candidates who should be carrying the torch instead.

With their actions, CTV becomes a worthy winner of the Sunnyside Hardware Tool of the Week Award.

Canada on Right Side of “Racin’ Dixon Line”

The Canadian men’s ski team was on the right side of the “Racin’ Dixon Line” today in Austria.

Robbie Dixon, who appears on the cusp of taking his racing to the next level, placed an impressive 16th in the men’s giant slalom in Soelden, Austria. J.P. Roy got his season off to a great start with a ninth for Canada, while Francois Bourque was 28th and in the World Cup points in his first race back after missing a season with a knee injury (The top 20 score points.)

What was significant about this result for Dixon was that he’s a downhill and super-G specialist and had never cracked the top 30 in a World Cup giant slalom before. He posted the second fastest time in the second run – just 1/100th behind Swiss winner Didier Cuche – to vault from 28th after the first run.

Dixon was able to take advantage of a nice, smooth course as one of the first starters in the second run (they go in inverse order from where they finished in the first). The course deteriorated a lot for later racers because of mild conditions.

“There’s a couple of ways to approach it,” said Canadian coach Paul Kristofic. “You can sort of take a more cautious approach and say ‘Yeah, I’m going to go for some points here,’ or go full out and take advantage of the clean course and really try to put you run down.

“That’s what he did. He wasn’t holding back. You can see what he’s capable of now. Everyone’s seen it in training. You just need an opportunity – and he took it.”

Dixon said he was thinking “attack” all the way down the hill. The Canadian men’s team has put a lot of emphasis on giant slalom training – even for the speed guys like Erik Guay and Manuel Osborne-Paradis – and the early indications are that it’s paying off.

“Giant slalom is probably one of the toughest events of all of ‘em, definitely sort of the platform,” said Dixon. “If you can ski well in g.s., you can really take that over into super-G and downhill. That was one of the main goals of the summer was to concentrate on g.s. for everyone, even Manny and Erik.

“With g.s., you can really go anywhere. A lot of guys improved. I think it will really help when we move towards super-G and downhill for Lake Louise.”

There Are People Who Make The Olympics Special

There was quite a bit of reaction on yesterday’s CTV torch bearers post. Read the comments if you get a chance, they're quite interesting. Also had many people in the Olympic community tell me they totally agreed with me -- off the record.  These things are pretty tough for those in the fray, unfortunately.

But the ridiculousness of 27 “media celebrities” carrying the torch really struck me yesterday afternoon when I attended a Special Olympics event to celebrate the launch of a book commemorating the 40th anniversary of the movement in Canada.

Looking at the volunteers, coaches, athletes/kids in that room, I thought ‘These are exactly the kind of people who should be carrying the torch.’

One of the readers, Nigel, posted a request for contacts at CTV and RBC where he could provide feedback on the issue.

For RBC, it’s Matt Gierasimczuk, media relations manager, Royal Bank of Canada, 416-974-2124 or matthew.gierasimczuk@rbc.com

For CTV, contact Dan Zaiontz at dan.zaiontz@ctv.ca

-----

Duff Man Delivers: Olympic skeleton champion Duff Gibson not only pulled off his promised feat as part of the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s A Dare to Remember, but he more than doubled his fundraising target to pull in more than $19,000 for the cause. (They are still accepting donations.)

Gibson and several of his fellow fire fighters and friends each carried a 20-litre jug of water approximately 12 kilometres from Canada Olympic Park in Calgary to his older son’s Gedion’s school.

Gibson and his wife Jen adopted two young boys, Gedion and Taye, from Ethiopia last year and have asked that the funds they raise be used in that region.

Gibson got the idea for his dare watching a documentary on television that showed a young girl who every single day of her life walked two hours to a well and filled up what appeared to be a 20-litre container of water.

His fundraising goal was $7,500. One generous couple who chose to remain anonymous doubled that total once he reached it.

Among those doing the walk with Gibson was Olympic speed skating champion Clara Hughes, fresh from the World Cup trials in Richmond. Hughes also chipped in a donation -- she gave $10,000 to Right To Play after her Olympic win in Turin -- wisely chose not to lug the 20 litres of water.

“I can’t carry that much weight right now because I probably wouldn’t be able to skate for two months,” Hughes told Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald.

Here’s a cute video of Gibson and his sons leading up to the big trek:

------

AKSEL BEATS IT: Speaking of cute videos, you’ve got to hand it to Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, one of the top skiers in the world who wasn’t afraid to poke fun at himself by filming this Michael Jackson tribute with some teammates during a training camp in Portillo, Chile.

Svindal is a great friend of the Canadian team and was training with them at that camp in Chile. So the question lingers: Where is the Canadian ski team music video?

Canadians tend to be a shy bunch. Take our video today on Cindy Klassen. When we asked her if she did any imitations, she sheepishly admitted she did one of her pet budgie.

After much prodding, she still couldn’t bring herself to do it – on or off camera.

She just wouldn’t budgie!

(Better leave on that note)

Olympic Torch: Sacred Symbol or CTV Marketing Tool?

CTV put out a news release yesterday that 27 of their “storytellers” (translation broadcasters) are going to carry the Olympic torch as part of the cross country relay. Pardon me if I can’t get excited about that.

In fact, it strikes me as being totally counter to the spirit everyone associated with the Olympic torch relay loves to espouse, not to mention journalism ethics.

The CTV Group of 27 – ranging from Brian Williams to Ben Mulroney to Stephen Brunt of the Globe and Mail – are basically jumping to the front of the line ahead of the Canadian public, not to mention all the worthy Canadian Olympic athletes present and past who aren’t going to get or be offered that opportunity (See speed skater Kristina Groves’ story).

They’re getting that chance because Olympic sponsor RBC is bestowing it upon them. It’s all part of the CTV-led Olympic broadcast media consortium’s game plan to use all the platforms available to them to market themselves and the Games.

Fair enough. But don’t spoon feed us all this stuff about how special and sacred the Olympic torch is as it gets lit today amid much pomp and pageantry in Olympia, Greece, and then go right ahead and use it as a crass marketing tool.

Okay, Brian Williams carrying the torch is understandable. The guy’s been the face of Olympic TV coverage forever. Carolyn Waldo, Olympic champion synchro swimmer turned broacaster, is another worthy candidate in the Group of 27.

But Ben Mulroney? Michael Landsberg? Local CTV broadcaster Ken Shaw?

Perhaps they don’t have a choice in the matter. Perhaps this is a CTV edict. Maybe they’re embarrassed by it.

Surely, they’re thinking: What’d I ever do to deserve to carry the torch?

No journalist should be carrying the torch. Coca Cola offered me that opportunity two months ago. First off, Coca Cola? Should I be accepting a perk like that from a big Olympic sponsor? Second, I’m a reporter. Covering the Olympics is my job. Do I deserve special privileges for it? (Good piece here by former Olympic rowing medalist turned journalist Alison Korn)

Can’t imagine taking that opportunity ahead of an Olympic athlete, who sweats so hard for it, all the volunteers in sport who gives so much, or a little kid who could be inspired by it.

Read this story today about freestyle skier Kyle Nissen carrying the torch as a little tyke who had to have help lifting it and had to use tape to hold up the official sweatpants they gave him.

Be hard to reconcile taking the torch out of his hands.

Greggs Could Teach IOC A Thing Or Two -- or Ten

Interesting contrast with two Olympic stories on the front of the Toronto Star sports page today – one on the allegation Jacques Rogge cut a secret deal with China that benefited both sides in 2001 and also a feature on the Gregg family.

The Greggs represent all the good that sport can be about, the kids putting so much into chasing their athletic dreams but the parents never putting the athlete before the person.

The Rogge/China claims – if true and Dick Pound is candid enough to say he could see such a thing possibly happening – represent the distasteful backroom politicking that seems to always trump what’s best for sport.

But back to the Greggs. It was so enjoyable talking with Randy and Kathy Gregg (see pic), him a former NHLer and two-time Olympian and her a two-time Olympic speed skater.

In an era where the pushy sports parent gets held up as the norm, they’re a breath of fresh air and could certainly be role models in this area, turning out very fine athletes but even better people.

Randy Gregg has a ton of great anecdotes about his children’s formative sports years, including one about the time one of his son’s baseball teams didn’t have enough players and he had to recruit his youngest daughter Sarah and one of her friends to help out. She was eight at the time.

Sarah was playing shortstop and runners were on first and second when the ball was hit to her. She picked it up and went to tag the runner moving from second to third. The umpire called the little boy out.

But Sarah went up to the umpire and said “But I didn’t touch him.”

Randy Gregg had awe in his voice as he recounted this story.

“Now do I really care whether we got that little boy out or not or do I really care whether my daughter understands enough at eight to know that fair play, respect for the opposition, respect for the umpire, is going to carry her much farther than any sort of home run or double play,” said Gregg.

“We don’t have to be going to the Stanley Cup or going to the Olympics to have great experiences in sport. My daughter was eight years old and she showed me some maturity and an attitude towards sport that I didn’t see at much much higher levels when I played hockey.”

More maturity and a much better attitude than we see from IOC members, too.

Sara Renner Wants Your Help In Saving The Planet

One would think Canadian cross country skier Sara Renner would have enough on her plate – training full tilt to get back on the Olympic podium in Vancouver, raising a young daughter with former alpine skier Thomas Grandi – without taking on the task of saving the planet, too.

But on Saturday, Oct. 24, Renner and Grandi will be leading a hike in their scenic town Canmore, Alta., as part of a world-wide movement to help stem the climate crisis. That day has been designated as International Day of Climate Action by the environmental group 350.org.

“To me, Oct. 24 is the second most important day in my life aside from the Olympics,” said Renner, silver medalist with Beckie Scott in the team pursuit at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Renner and Grandi will be leading the “Canmore Climate Crusaders” in a three-kilometre walk from the Civic Centre to Quarry Lake and some climbers plan to unfurl a huge 350 banner on an adjacent mountain.

The number 350 is considered the safe level in parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide for the global planet. Scientists say that CO2 levels now stand at 387.

Renner is in the midst of a heavy training period, having just returned from a three-week altitude camp in Mammoth, Calif., but said she wouldn’t miss a chance to promote this cause.

“That’s the one thing that I’ve given my time to,” said Renner, who got to attend a speaker’s course put on by climate change guru Al Gore a few years ago. “It’s not time that I worry about. It’s time that gives me a little bit of sense of purpose.”

Renner is also involved with David Suzuki’s Play It Cool program, as well as Clean Air Champions.

“Part of the hypocrisy of being an athlete and caring for the environment is that we travel so much,” she said. “Travel is really not a good thing to do. So the Play It Cool program is to encourage athletes to carbon offset their air travel. But as an athlete, I feel if I have a voice and I can do well I will use my voice to be a champion for the environment. To me, that’s just something I was really passionate about.”

Renner will do a short public talk at 10:15 a.m. mountain time and the walk begins at 10:30. People are being encouraged to make their own banners, paint their faces, wear Halloween costumes and decorate their bikes and dogs, too. The best 350 banner wins a day or cross country of alpine skiing with Renner and Grandi, a two-time World Cup giant slalom winner who retired last season.

Some other Oct. 24 actions across Canada can be seen here.