Keep an eye on Canada's high hopes
Divers lead medal contenders for Athens Olympics
By STEVE SIMMONS -- Toronto Sun
Memo to Canadian Olympic watchers: We are not the synchronized swimming nation we once were.
This is distressing information to be aware of less than six months prior to the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympics.
Once upon a time, we kicked synchro butt. We wore makeup and nose plugs like nobody. We waved happily from podiums. Just not for this Olympics. Not anymore.
Now, we've become a nation of divers -- and this has nothing to do with Bill Barber.
Among the names that will be most prominent in August are Alexandre Despatie and Emilie Heymans. Heymans won a silver medal at the Sydney Games. Despatie and Heymans are both defending world champions, both with the ability to win more than one medal in Greece.
They will be among the Canadian athletes most watched in Athens. A Canadian Olympic team which will head to the Games with high hopes but not necessarily high expectations. An Australia website already has predicted that Canada will win 16 medals this summer.
That is a figure the Canadian Olympic Committee probably would take right now, no questions asked. The Canadian Olympic focus has changed in recent years. Instead of allocating funds to all sports and all athletes and trying to be everything to everyone, the COC supports fewer sports and fewer athletes with more dollars: All in trying to upgrade the Olympic programs.
The plan is new, however. And unlikely to make a difference at the coming Games. Canada won 14 medals in what was deemed a disappointing Sydney performance in 2000. Bettering that number in Athens in August, considering the circumstances, seems more unlikely than likely.
Daniel Igali, who won gold in wrestling on the last day of the Sydney Games and is impossible not to love, may not be in Athens. He has three basic problems. He is coming off complicated neck surgery, which has prevented him reaching the training level he would want. He has yet to qualify for the Games (and should but doesn't get a free ride). And his weight class has been altered which would make life difficult enough even if he was completely healthy.
Just getting to the Games may represent victory enough for Igali. Winning almost seems out of the question.
Judo medallist and longtime world contender Nicolas Gill has similar health concerns. He has been rehabbing an injured leg for months now and there is no indication whether he will be able to compete in Greece.
And returning, but in a different state, is gold medal triathlete Simon Whitfield, who since winning in Sydney has become something of a target in his sport. With triathlons becoming almost team events, where fellow countrymen run interference for each other, Canada is hoping to qualify a second triathlete, just to open some holes for Whitfield.
So where, aside from diving, will the Canadian medals come from?
All eyes will be on Perdita Felicien, the 100-metre hurdles champion from Pickering who emerged a la Donovan Bailey with a world championship gold medal almost out of nowhere. Now, there's hope Felicien can do the Bailey thing and win her event at the Games.
Felicien, high jumper Mark Boswell and a 4 x 100 relay team coached by Glenroy Gilbert appear to be the track and field medal hopes.
Rowing produced five medals in Sydney and is expected to be in that ballpark again -- but the competition is so fierce internally it is impossible to know who will be in which event.
And, there actually is a Canadian male gymnast with a chance. Kyle Shewfelt of Calgary has won medals at the world level.
Of course, we wouldn't be Canada if we weren't able to cash in on the Olympic sports that don't exactly make their way to the front pages. We do obscure sports about as well as anybody.
We have, informed sources say, one heck of a women's wrestling team and this is the first Olumpics for the sport. Medals are expected there. There also is fencer Sherraine MacKay and taekwondo athlete Dominique Bosshart, who won a bronze at Sydney and may be the least-known medal winner in Canadian history. Karen Cockburn won a bronze medal in Sydney in women's trampoline and is the 2003 world champion.
And others will emerge -- someone always does -- with a story you didn't know, and a medal you didn't expect. That is so much the charm of the Olympics.
It's still the best two weeks in all of sport.
KEEP AN EYE ON
Other Canadian medal contenders to watch in Athens this summer:
BOXING
- Jean Pascal, light heavyweight
- Andrew Kooner, bantamweight
CANOE/KAYAK
- David Ford, canoe slalom
- Caroline Brunet, 1000m
- Adam van Koeverden, K-1, 1000m
BASEBALL
- Men's team managed by Ernie Whitt
TENNIS
- Daniel Nestor and partner TBA in men's doubles
CYCLING
- Alison Sydor, cross country
WOMEN'S WEIGHTLIFTING
- Maryse Turcotte
WOMEN'S WRESTLING
- Christine Nordhagen
- Carol Huynh
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
- John Child and Mark Heese
