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Let the Canadian soccer team carry the flag

- August 11th, 2012

LONDON – One of the traditions in the closing hours of the Olympic Games is speculating about who will get the chance to carry Canada’s flag at the closing ceremony.
It’s a big honour accorded to an athlete who has done something special in the Games.
Sun Media’s poll shows 80 percent of those who voted wanted Christine Sinclair, the captain of Canada’s women’s soccer team to carry the flag.
Her three-goal performance against the U.S. in that heartbreaking seminfinal loss was one of the great Olympic performances in Canadian history.
When asked about being the flagbearer the other day, Sinclair said:

“I’ve heard about it and if it was to happen, it would be the hugest honour,” she said, “but I’d want my teammates right there with me.”

That’s a great idea.
The soccer team became the first Canadian team to win a medal in the Summer Olympics since 1936 (though I don’t know why they don’t consider the men’s and women’s eight in rowing a team).
Given what the soccer team accomplished and the way they captured Canada’s attention, why not let the team carry the flag?
The could pass it around like they do the Stanley Cup.
Though knowing the IOC, there might be a rule against common sense.

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Diana Matheson cracks them up

- August 10th, 2012

LONDON – She’s the Paul Henderson or Sidney Crosby of the Canadian women’s Olympic soccer team.
Little Diana Matheson (she can’t be five feet tall) is also funny.
Some of the players were available to the media Friday morning and one of the questions was about what kept each of them going through the down times of the Canadian program (they finished last in the World Cup last summer).
The women were very articulate in explaining their motivations.
“It was the drive to see how good we could get personally, how good we could get as a team. I think (coach) John (Herdman) and his staff was a huge part of that and helped us get better in ways that we didn’t even know we could get better. It’s been a really fun journey and it’s an amazing group. Just being together as much as possible,” said Matheson, before deadpanning: “and having no other career plans.”
That brought a laugh from everybody in the room.

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Off to Old Trafford

- August 6th, 2012

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Old Trafford, source: Wikipedia

LONDON – I thought I had made my only life visit to Manchester when I travelled in and out of there to cover The Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes before the Olympic Games got underway.
Now I’m heading back there this morning on the train to cover the Canada-USA semifinal in women’s soccer and I’m pumped.
One of the stars of the game is going to Old Trafford, the iconic home of Manchester United.
I was having breakfast with colleague Steve Buffery this morning and he was telling me he went on a tour of Old Trafford when he was here for the Commonwealth Games a few years ago.
He said some of the people on the tour were crying when they had a chance to visit a place they had only seen on TV.
I’ve never been a big soccer guy – I pretty much only pay attention to the big world events – but having a chance to visit a stadium like Old Trafford will be a treat.
What would be the sporting venue you would want to visit?

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Canada’s big eight celebrate with the real Big Mac

- August 2nd, 2012

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Photo from Rowing Canada

LONDON – The Canadian men’s eight delivered an inspired performance Wednesday in winning Canada’s first silver medal of these Olympic Games.

These guys train like maniacs for six days a week for most of the year for just a couple of races. They must have the worst practice-to-compete ratio of any sport.

These guys are beasts. There’s so much sacrifice for those six minutes.

So, after months of dedication building up to these Games, you can’t blame them for a little post-victory indulgence. The boys wolfed down £140 worth of fast-food after their silver performance Wednesday.

It’s a one-off celebration (kids, eat your vegetables).

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Photo from Rowing Canada

They also crossed paths with tennis legend John McEnroe, who’s working as a commentator here.

That made it a Big Mac double for the eight.

Now many of them will now get to move into the Athletes Village and enjoy the Games.

It’s well-deserved.

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Not all the action is on the water at Olympic regatta

- July 31st, 2012

ETON DORNEY, ENGLAND – There’s plenty of excitement here at the Eton College Rowing Centre.

Oh yeah, there’s races on the water, too.

One of the interesting sidelights is the coaches on their bikes following the races on the banks of the Olympic basin. During one race Tuesday, I counted three dozen people on bikes jockeying for position as they pedalled along, screaming encouragement.

As you might expect, there are wrecks with people pedalling along pretty fast – a men’s eight covers the two kilometres in under six minutes – with their attention divided.

Canadian coach Ken Wu went into the bushes Monday – twice.

“I saw him go headfirst into the bushes and I saw his legs flapping,” said Canadian high performance director Peter Cookson. “I stopped and said, ‘Kenny are you okay?’ because I didn’t want to miss the race.’ He waved and said, ‘I’m fine.’”

Cookson tries to make the two-kilometre ride every time there is a Canadian boat in the water.

That meant three trips Tuesday, luckily without incident.

“It can be scary. The faster the boat, the scarier it is, of course, because you get into a peloton and people are watching the race and not really watching where they are going. There are a lot of wheels that touch,” said Cookson.

“There’s sorts of crazy stuff that happens along there. People taking split times and watching the race. They have all sorts of things they are trying to do which is why accidents happen. I don’t do that. Sometimes I’ll take (stroke) rates, but I always make sure I’ve got nobody too close behind me or too close in front of me. Most of our coaches are pretty good about that so we don’t cause any problems.”

Canadian coach Terry Paul brought his own bike with him, but BMW supplies bikes to the coaches.

“They’re quite nice,” said Cookson.

Wonder if there’s a damage deposit?

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