Catching up with kayaking legend Caroline Brunet

Caroline Brunet chuckles heartily at the question.

She's just been asked if it bothers her at all that she was never an Olympic kayaking champion, despite winning 10 world titles and countless medals. She won two Olympic silver and a bronze in a brilliant career.

“Is that a real question or what?” laughs Brunet over the phone. “Of course, it bothers me. Of course.”

Brunet was inducted last Friday into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame during a gala ceremony in Montreal. That she showed up at the Bell Centre was quite something. She intensely dislikes such events. She showed up because Marcel Aubut, who helped her throughout her career, made the request.

Brunet may be reticent, but she still has so much to offer. She was a hard core athlete, someone who pushed herself to the limit to get the most out of herself. She's always been straightforward and was not afraid to butt heads with the establishment.

“I miss training,” said the 41-year-old from Lac Beauport, Que. “I think it was the best part of my life. I'm not missing it all that much that I can't go on with my life. But I realize how good of a life it was.”

She now works part-time as a lab technician, doing V02 max tests and testing lactate threshold in non-athletes, while studying kinesiology.

“Here, the highs are not as high but then the lows are not as low,” she said. “The goals are never as specific as the ones I had when I was an athlete. Since I was a kid, all I wanted to be was an athlete. It's hard to see myself not being an athlete. I would have to say that's the challenge here. I have to be someone else than what I always wanted to be.”

Brunet was a keen TV spectator during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, but she's picky about her sports, choosing to watch only the long track speed skating, cross country skiing and alpine skiing. For the first time, she experienced a bit of idol worship, watching 37-year-old Clara Hughes finish up her speed skating career with an Olympic bronze medal.

“That has never happened. There's never been an athlete I've been inspired from,” said Brunet. “I always think 'They could have worked harder. Or they could have done better.' That sounds very terrible to say that. But here, at 40 I'm becoming a groupie, I never thought that would happen.”

Brunet ended up writing an email to Hughes, telling her that her attitude of focusing on getting the ultimate performance from herself in a race rather than being consumed with the results really touched her – to a point.

“It helps somehow to have a different perspective on my past of the races I wished I'd won, but at the same time I'm really not her,” said Brunet. “I don't think in that way. I was focused only on winning. So, of course, I'm disappointed I didn't win.”

Flagbearer in the opening ceremonies at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Brunet is passionate about kids being given a fair chance in sport. She said during her Hall of Fame induction speech that she believes the Olympic rings should be in every gymnasium in the country as inspiration for the kids.

“It's not where you come from that should decide whether you're going to be an athlete or not; it should be only your will,” she said.

She believes kids should be exposed to many different sports in school and that an Olympics could be held at the end of every school year.

“We need to make sure we don't lose any talent and all the kids have a fair chance,” she said. “Right now, if you think about it, the only way a kid can make a career out of sport is if his parents pushed him or helped him towards the sport or he was lucky.”

Brunet considers herself lucky. She would never have become a star kayaker had she not live right by a lake. Her sport of choice these days is road cycling.

Brunet seems to have a lot of ideas about helping youth in sport so perhaps it would be a good fit if she got a chance to channel her energy in that direction under her longtime mentor Aubut, now president of the COC.

It's clear as she says good-bye to a journalist who covered her throughout her career that she's still looking for a new outlet for her sporting passion.

“Don't ever forget how fortunate you are to be doing something you love and you can do it the rest of your life," she said. "It's so hard for an athlete because the only reason we stop is our body can't function anymore. Whatever job people can love to do, it's their passion, and they wouldn't want to be doing something else and they can do it til the day they die, I envy those people.”

(Photos by Canadian Press)

Sport symposium in Cambridge hopes to leave Footprints

It's quite an eclectic group that will be involved this Saturday in Footprints, a symposium in Cambridge, Ont., that will explore the value of sport to society.

Among the guests are double Olympic swim champion Alex Baumann, now in charge of Own The Podium, CBC radio host Paul Kennedy, Phil White, the co-founder of the Cervelo bike company, singer/songwriter Dan Hill, Canadian jazz violinist Anne Lindsay and Commonwealth Games chef de mission Marty Deacon. I'll be involved in the discussion as well.

The event is being hosted for Run for Life and takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the University of Waterloo's School of Architecture in Cambridge. The cost is $45 and includes lunch and a noon hour concert. (More details available here)

John Carson, the guiding force behind Run for Life and the man who helped bring Usain Bolt to Toronto last summer, has been putting together the program for the event with Kennedy, who will use material for the event as part of a show for CBC Radio One's Ideas.

“We're trying to get the side-door, back-door stories that might not always be as evident,” said Carson. “Ultimately, I'm also interested in tying the culture, the music, academia to the whole discussion. That's where Paul Kennedy comes in. He's run 20 marathons in the past.

“It was hilarious talking to Paul because he said 'Whenever I pitched a sports idea to (legendary Ideas host) Lister (Sinclair), he wanted to know the parabolic curve of the baseball as it's hit out of the SkyDome. Paul said 'Hell no, Lister, I want to talk hot dogs and Paul Molitor.”

The role of the media will be discussed as well.

“I think despite the fact there's so much energy in sports, there's some pockets that are stuck in a bit of a vacuum.” Carson said. “I think media's part of that, too, because if you aren't big news, you aren't news. Just like the economic haves and have-nots, I think there's some events and organizations, individuals and sports that become haves and have-nots.

The plan is to do Footprints as an annual event with a different focus each year.

“We kind of have a pulpit to swing at stuff and we're apoliticial and march to our drum,” said Carson.

There will be two different discussions in the morning as the participants are broken into two groups. One will look at three sub-topics: The convergence of sport, business and technology. Leadership in amateur sports. Getting your sport on the map in the new digital landscape.

The other group will be looking at arts and dance and music. There will be a painter on site, there will be a student who has done their thesis on building a soccer stadium in Buenos Aires and how sport brings people together.

From the two morning groups, they will grab ideas and give them to Kennedy to give him a direction to carry the final 90-minute session.

Georges Laraque: Paying It Forward

It's not often this blog ventures out of Olympic sport – it is an Olympic blog, after all – but we're making an exception for NHL enforcer Georges Laraque, an interesting guy who is profiled on the front sports page of the Star today.

It was a wonderful interview Laraque did recently with Bernard St-Laurent on CBC's C'est La Vie that prompted me to seek him out while in Montreal last week.

Laraque is involved in a number of causes, many of which are outlined in today's story. But when asked about what is a pro athlete's obligation to give back to society, he believes it should be a personal decision.

“The reason I say that is you know how every team once a year then do a mandatory hospital visit,” Laraque said. “Everybody has to go. I've been a player in the NHL for 12 years now and there's too many times I've seen where players come in the room, they don't want to be there, they look at their watch, the body language, you can tell.

"And the kids in the beds are smart, they see that and that's worse. It's better than you don't come. I never said anything, but if you look at your watch and you don't want to be there, then why are you there? It makes it worse. You make him feel like a piece of crap.

“So how can we say you've got an obligation to do this and do that? It's not in everybody to do this. And if it's not in them, let them be at home. If people feel good about staying at home, making their money, then it's good for them. Maybe they do something else that's good. But it's not for us to judge and tell them what they should do do.”

Here's a repeat of a quote from the story. The reason it's being repeated is it's one of the neatest things I've ever heard a professional athlete say.

“At the end of the day, nobody cares how many Stanley Cups you won or how much money you made, they're going to look and say 'What has he done with his notoriety in the city he played in?'” Laraque said. “People who make $20,000 a year, they buy tickets and they spend $500 for a night, the tickets, the parking, the hot dogs, and they have no money but they scream their lungs out and they go back to work the next day and that's maybe the only game they can afford their whole life.

“What do you do for those people to show your appreciation to them? Me, that's how I want to be remembered. Not the guy who beat up so many people. At the end of the day, it's just a game and we're entertainment for people to watch. Nothing else. We're not better than anyone. The real heroes should be doctors, nurses, people who save lives.”

Laraque was greatly influenced as a young kid by reading a book his sister had featuring stories on people who'd made a difference, including Jackie Robinson. Laraque was facing a barrage of racial taunts as the only black player in his league in Tracy, Que., an industrial town an hour from Montreal. He identified strongly with Robinson.

Laraque had never heard of Willie O'Ree, the first black player in the NHL with Boston because no one talked about him them. Laraque was determined to be hockey's first black player.

“What I was reading was me as a kid. But him it was baseball. Me, it was hockey. So I started accepting it. This is normal. This is what it takes for me to be in the NHL. I thought one day I could be in a book like him but for hockey. So I started picturing myself being the first black player in hockey. It was like 'Jackie did it, I can do it.'”

Celebration of Canadian Olympians a big league affair

MONTREAL – The look of awe on their faces during the Olympic parade on Ste-Catherine Street on Friday was something to see.

We're talking about the gobsmacked Canadian Olympians on the floats here, not the enthralled fans.

The athletes wore the same look after the evening gala dinner Friday that featured such performers as Sarah McLachlan and Tom Cochrane donating their services and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame induction of past greats Caroline Brunet, Susan Auch and Bruny Surin.

They were impressed – and rightly so. Many who were reluctant to come because they're still exhausted from the season were thrilled they did.

It was first class all the way. Incoming Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut has a reputation as a showman for a reason. It was a celebration worthy of the kind of show the athletes put on at the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Aubut made the absolute right call in inviting all the athletes to event, not just the medalists. They all deserved to be there and the extra camaraderie generated will only help build momentum towards the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. (That's Alex Bilodeau and Maelle Ricker on the stage at the gala above, CP photo)

Among those bowled over by the whole atmosphere was freestyle aerialist Kyle Nissen.

“I've been struggling with continuing on or retiring, trying to make the decision,” said Nissen, who had a tough Olympics, finishing fifth after he was leading following the opening round of the final. “I was like 'Man, if I could do this every couple of years, I think I'd keep with the sport for sure.' It was pretty special.”

Cross country skier Sara Renner was similarily entranced, but not enough to come out of retirement.

“In Vancouver, I really fell in love with Canada again,” she said. “We've had so many events since and I fall in love every time with the country and its people and its generosity and their love for athletes. It's really overwhelming.”

Make no mistake about it, though, Aubut is going to be centre stage during his reign. He never left it Friday night at the gala at the Bell Centre. As the new Hall of Famers came up, Aubut would declare them officially inducted as if he were the Pope annointing someone. He's got enthusiasm and flair, but it could get old pretty fast, as no doubt some former Quebec Nordiques fans could attest.

But there was one bush league move on a day that was mostly big league.

Among those riding in their own antique car in the parade was new ceo Jean Dupre and new COO Chris Overholt, unveiled in their new posts at a news conference Monday in Toronto.

What's up with that?

The event was about the athletes. Most of the athletes were on big floats together, including a number of Olympic and Paralympic gold medalists. Crikey, if they're not going to give that spot to the athletes, at least give it to the coaches, not a couple of suits.

The COC was asked on Friday for the rationale on how Dupre and Overholt rated their own vehicle – they've yet to respond.

What's disconcerting is that the new leadership of the COC would believe they deserved their own car. That's not the kind of thinking needed in moving this thing forward.

Mercy Please: Ben Mulroney was the host of the gala. Okay, we know CTV owns the rights through the 2012 London Olympics, but how much of this should we be subjected to? How about using Rod Smith from TSN? He narrated several of the superb videos put together on the Hall of Fame inductees. You could listen to Smith doing play-by-play of the Speech from the Throne on CPAC.

Like a Rolling Stone: Olympic skeleton champ Jon Montgomery was asked about why he was made a hero for grabbing a pitcher of beer while the Canadian women's team were criticized for the beer and cigars incident after their gold-medal victory. Among his theories: “Mick Jagger would catch flak for smoking inside and he's undoubtedly the biggest rock star on earth.”

Canadian Olympians get Stanley Cup-style parade in Montreal

MONTREAL -- On a street where the likes of Lafleur, Richard and Cournoyer have paraded before adoring locals with the Stanley Cup, it was the turn of Montgomery, Rochette, Bilodeau and their teammates to feel the love.

Two months after they thrilled a nation with their exploits at the 2010 Vancouver Games, the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic teams got to see that the country has not forgotten their efforts.

More than 150,000 lined Ste-Catharine Street to cheer a parade featuring more than 150 Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including the lion's share of the country's medal winners. It wasn't just because they know this is close to a Stanley Cup parade as they'll get this year.

“It's good to know your country loves you,” said freestyle aerialist Veronika Bauer of Toronto. “It was a nice way of telling us.”

They treated the athletes like rock stars. Moguls skier Alex Bilodeau, who ended Canada's gold medal drought at home, Jon Montgomery, gold medalist in skeleton, and figure skater Joannie Rochette, who captured hearts with her heroic bronze after his mother's sudden death, all needed police escorts to leave the rally at the end as eager fans pushed up against barricades for autographs.

“The energy we felt in Vancouver and Whistler is every bit as present here today as it was out there,” said Montgomery. “I said if you left your door this morning with a frown on your face, it wouldn't be long before you were downtown and smiling from ear to ear. This is incredible. It's an unbelievable feeling.”

Montgomery had a flag in his hands instead of a pitcher of beer as he led the parade on foot, but that didn't stop people from reminding him of his famous Games moment.

“There's been a few 'Hey Monty, where's the beer?' comments or 'Can I buy you a pitcher?' My usual answer is 'By all means, help yourself.'”

The crowd had all the elements, little kids in their strollers getting a break from the daycare, shouting school girls, parents who'd pulled their children out of school for the day, and plenty of senior citizens, some using walkers to get there.

Isabelle Boucher let her daughter Juliette, 9, and son Jeremy, 12, play hooky to watch the festivities and also expected to merit a parking ticket for her trouble.

“We had to come,” said Boucher. “We wanted to show our appreciation. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was all worth it.”

The Canadian athletes were gobsmacked by the turnout. Some of the athletes rode in antique cars or convertibles, while others were on floats. They were high fiving the fans, signing tons of autographs and taking pictures of the crowd and themselves in order to preserve the moment.

“I rode with Scott Niedermayer and and I said 'This is as close to a Stanley Cup parade as it's going to get for us (the women's team),'” said women's team captain Hayley Wickenheiser. “You just don't expect to see six, seven rows of people lining the streets like we had. But you realize the impact Vancouver had on all of Canada.”

Niedermayer, a member of four Stanley Cup winners, was duly impressed.

“It's the best parade I've ever been a part of,” he said. “We didn't really have a parade in Anaheim; we had a rally. And in New Jersey, we just had rallies and a short parade.”

Olympic bobsleigh bronze medalist Lyndon Rush got emotional seeing the reception teammate Shelley-Ann Brown of Pickering, a silver medalist, got from some admirers.

“I saw this group of what looked like young Jamaican girls and they were standing in a group and when they saw Shelly Ann come, they went (itals) insane (itals),” said Rush. “And they ran after the float. I was like tearing up. When you see this young Jamaican girls identifying with a winter athlete, obviously a role model – and there couldn't be a better role model than Shelly Ann – I think that that's awesome. I was touched by it.”

Moguls skier Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau provided a neat take on the spectacle.

“Here we see the television spectators who came down to the street and told us how much we made them vibrate and live great emotion.”

They got to live it for another day.

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(All the pictures were taken by ace CP photographer Paul Chiasson, a former top level figure skater. The photo at the top is of short track speed skaters Tania Vicent (L) and Marianne St-Gelais)

Hockey team captains Wickenheiser and Niedermayer ride together

 

Snowboarders Mike Roberts, Michael Lambert and Palmer Taylor

 

Alex Bilodeau, Joannie Rochette and some interloper aka the city mayor.

Brunet, Surin and Auch a real Olympic triple threat

 

 MONTREAL – Not sure if it was by design that kayaker Caroline Brunet, sprinter Bruny Surin and speed skater Susan Auch are being inducted as athletes into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame together tonight as part of a big gala evening.

But it makes a lot of sense.

There are a lot of parallels between the trio, which could have formed one helluva hockey line with Auch's speed on the blades, Surin's power and Brunet's smarts and toughness.

For one thing, they were real figureheads for their sports when there was not a lot of depth in the ranks. Sure, Canada is a powerhouse in long track speed skating now. But Auch's silver medal in the 500 metres at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics was the only medal for Canada in the sport back then. She was later overshadowed by Catriona Le May Doan, the only Canadian to win back-to-back Olympic gold medal. But Auch won consecutive Olympic silver medals, which is a remarkable feat in itself. She's also still very involved in the sport as a volunteer.

Surin had the misfortune of bursting onto the scene right after Ben Johnson. There was huge skepticism when he ran a 10.14 at the Canadian trials in 1989 after abandoning long jumping for sprinting. He handled it all amazingly well and carved out a great career with two world silvers and Olympic relay gold. His greatest asset may have been his sense of humour. He should be in the Hall alone for having one of the most endearing laughs in Canadian Olympic history.

Brunet had so much passion and commitment. She was uncompromising in trying to be the best athlete she could be, even if that meant butting heads with her federation. It was a shame at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was when her final was held in gale force conditions and she got beaten by an Italian who later showed up on a doping list. She won so many world titles, but the lack of an Olympic gold probably kept her from getting her due, not that she ever cared about that.

Another thing that links these three is perserverance and longevity. They were at the top in their sports for about a decade, perhaps a bit longer.

Hard to find three more worthy inductees.

Also being inducted are Paul Poce, a pioneer on the Toronto and Canadian running scene, late Canadian Olympic boss Carol Anne Letheren, Olympic official Walter Sieber and former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed.

Don't come looking for Samaranch tributes here

The tributes to Juan Antonio Samaranch are arriving fast and furious with the passing of the former International Olympic Committee boss. 

But there won't be any coming from this corner.

It's probably the cynicism that comes from nearly three decades of watching the IOC. You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger group of self-serving and self-interested individuals on the planet.

And Samaranch was their leader for 21 years, longer than it should have been because he dodged the mandatory retirement age of 75 by finagling himself another term.

One of the IOC members who greased the skids for that move was Congo's Jean-Claude Ganga, a man later dubbed the “human vacuum cleaner” after he'd collected more than $300,000 in bribes for himself and family during the Salt Lake bribery scandal.

Yes, that scandal was on Samaranch's watch, forcing the IOC to expel 10 members. Forcing being the operative word. They wouldn't have done it without media and public pressure.

It's the same when it came dealing with the doping problem. Samaranch had his head in the sand for decades. He kept saying it wasn't the IOC's issue because they only saw the athletes every four years.

When things blew up on a grand scale in the late '90s with the Tour de France scandal and a number of other prominent doping cases, what was Samaranch's first move? He called for a dramatic reduction in the banned drugs list in an interview with a Spanish newspaper.

That showed his true view, but his comments created such a furor that the IOC had to stage a doping summit in Lausanne to make it look like they were serious on the issue.

Among those Samaranch bestowed the Olympic Order on during his reign was reviled Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and East German president Erich Honecker and East German sports boss Manfred Ewald, the architects of a steroid-ladened regime.

Samaranch's facist past has also been well documented by muckraking journalist Andrew Jennings. Perhaps, it cost him the Nobel Prize he so desperately sought.

At the end of his days, Samaranch self-serving ways were evident once again when he made a brazen play using his failing health to try to get IOC members to vote for Madrid last year to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. The old guy had clout. Madrid surprised everyone by knocking Chicago and Tokyo, but lost Rio.

There's still a Samaranch on the IOC these days. He got Juan Antonio Jr. a seat on the gravy train when he had no business being there.

So excuse me if I excuse myself as everyone rushes to credit Samaranch with among other things saving the Olympics from financial ruin when he took over in 1980.

They leave one thing out of the equation – the athletes. It is the sporting spectacle they provide that has put the Olympics on a firm financial footing, not any brilliance on Samaranch's part.

Kershaw and Crawford in town to help Share the Road

Anybody out on the roads these days knows it's a dangerous place. Olympic cross country skier Devon Kershaw knows that too well.

Kershaw's girlfriend and former national teammate Sophie Manarin was killed on a training ride on her bike in Sudbury on June 3, 2001.

The Share the Road Cycling Coalition is holding an evening with Kershaw and Olympic cross country champion Chandra Crawford on Wednesday at Granite Brewery and Restaurant at 245 Eglinton Avenue East. It's $40 a ticket, which includes appetizers and a beer ticket, with all proceeds going to Share the Road. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

Devon and Crawford will be talking about their Olympic adventures. Kershaw will undoubtedly relive his incredible and agonizing 5th-place finish in the men's 50-kilometre race (as depicted by Bernie Weil's photo here – don't worry, Devon will clean up for this event.)

They will also be talking about the importance of “sharing the road” and the work of the coalition, whose founder Eleanor McMahon will be in attendance. The event begins at 6:30 with the formal part starting at 7:15 p.m.

Kershaw organized a Share the Road Ride with coalition founder Eleanor McMahon last summer in his hometown of Sudbury to honour Manarin. Share the Road Rides have been held in Burlington since 2006, in memory of McMahon’s husband and former OPP Sergeant Greg Stobbart, killed on a training ride on June 6, 2006.

Dupre skates into ceo post at Canadian Olympic Committee

Speed Skating Canada director general Jean Dupre is expected to be announced today as the successor to Chris Rudge as ceo of the Canadian Olympic Committee.

New COC president Marcel Aubut will be making the appointment at a downtown Toronto news conference this morning. He is also expected to name a new Chief Operating Officer to replace Lou Ragagnin, a longtime COC employee who recently resigned.

More changes are expected as Aubut puts his stamp on the COC. The flamboyant former owner of the NHL's Quebec Nordiques is staging a flashy $1,250-a-plate Hall of Fame gala induction dinner this Friday in Montreal on the same day a parade is being held for athletes through the downtown streets on the same Stanley Cup route used by the Canadiens.

Dupre's promotion comes as no surprise to Olympic watchers as he lobbied hard for Aubut to get the president's job in last year's COC election. Rudge announced his resignation last week after stewarding the COC through an incredibly successful 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The Canadian speed skating team has enjoyed some great success under Dupre's leadership of more than a decade, as he helped build up a strong core of sponsors and the team has led Canada in Olympic medals, although the 2010 Winter Games did not turn out quite as well as they'd hoped.

Dupre also worked for Cross Country Canada previously and had a stint in the front office of the Edmonton Oilers.

Although Dupre takes over from Rudge, it's not expected to be quite the same job. Unlike previous COC president Michael Chambers, Aubut is expected to be hands-on and have control of the major decisions.

B2ten program expands to 2016 Olympics and $20 million

The athlete support group B2ten is morphing into B2sixteen.

What that means is they're committing through the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, planning to raise $20 million from Canadian businessmen and companies, and expanding their mandate to also help summer athletes, develop coaches and support staff.

With a budget of $3 million, B2ten had a significant impact in helping a group of about 20 winter athletes for the 2010 Vancouver Games, including Olympic champions Alex Bilodeau and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and speed skater Christine Nesbitt.

They didn't provide direct funding to athletes, but rather helped out in other areas, getting them access to extra coaching, physiotherapy or sports psychology. The idea is to decrease the stress on athletes and increase the support.

J.D. Miller, one of the founders with Olympic moguls champion Jenn Heil and her coach/boyfriend Dominick Gauthier, said they believe they can help in developing coaches and service providers to the Canadian system.

“We've learned that you can't achieve long-term athletic excellence in this country – or any other country – without the coaching and service provider excellence to underpin that,” said Miller. “We think there are a number of areas where we can be helpful in developing coaches and developing cells of service providers in different cities of high quality, therapists and trainers who can plug into the system.”

Miller said they met recently with Own the Podium executives Alex Baumann and Anne Merklinger to talk about ways they could be supportive.

“We're going to continue to find ways where we can contribute, top up or give value added services to the system,” said Miller.

Athletes wanting to be part of the program will be able to apply over the next few months.