For Savege it's a medal like mom's
Triathlete glad she chose Pan-Am Games over New York ITU stop
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Jill Savege knew her mom had been to a Pan-Am Games.
It's one of the reasons she came here.
"I knew she'd been in the first Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg in 1967 in basketball," said Savege. "And I knew she'd won an international medal somewhere. But she'd never showed it to me. She's so humble. It's in a box in the basement somewhere.
"I never put it together that the medal was from the Pan-Am Games until I read the bio here,'' she said of Vale Savege winning a bronze - the first team sport medal Canada had ever won at a Pan-Am Games.
"The first thing I'm going to do when I get home is find that box in the basement, get that medal out and get a plaque made up with my Pan-Am Games medal and her medal and put it on the wall.''
Savege won gold in the triathlon here yesterday.
It was tempting for her to be in New York yesterday instead of here. It was tempting, other than the swim-in-the-Hudson River part, to go to the highest profile ITU World Cup event ever held, through the streets of Manhattan and through Central Park with big-time crowds, media and money.
SAVEGE CHOSE WELL
Simon Whitfield is a Games guy and he couldn't resist. Whitfield loves and thrives on the multi-sport environment and used it for all it was worth to win Olympic gold in Sydney and Commonwealth gold in Manchester. But he was there, not here.
Savege chose here.
And her dip in the choppy Caribbean Sea and tour around third-world neighbourhoods here in an event with no prize money, was priceless.
"I'm so pleased,'' she said.
"I came to have a Games experience and it was everything I dreamed it could be.
"New York was very tempting. But when I made the Pan-Am Games team, I couldn't turn it down. I couldn't say no. It's something I always wanted.
"To be here and win gold is better than anything I've ever dreamed about.
"It was the right decision for me.''
Whitfield, who wasn't here, was the reason Savege was.
"Simon made a huge impression on me, watching him win the gold at the Olympics in Sydney. And the way he talked about the experience at the Commonwealth Games, too ... I love hanging around him and how he is so proud to compete for Canada. I just had to come here.''
There was also the little matter of qualifying for the Olympics.
Savege's win here was worth a quota spot for Canada for Athens. But not necessarily for herself.
"When Sharon Donnelly won the Pan-Am spot for Canada in Winnipeg in 1999, that meant she got to go to Sydney. It doesn't work that way this time around,'' Savege explained.
But who is kidding whom here? Savege went into this race ranked No. 4 in the world and may come out of it ranked No. 2 or No. 3. This sealed the deal. She's going to Athens. But all of that was secondary on the day, she says.
"Being in the village with all the other athletes, to me, was just awesome. To me it almost seemed like a Hollywood movie set out in the middle of the Dominican Republic.''
The event itself wasn't quite so idyllic.
The swim part was a blast for the former competitive swimmer out of Penticton, B.C.
"The ocean had big swells and was kind of breaky. You kind of had to dive through the swells. It was fun," she offered.
"I came out of the water where I wanted to be, tagged on second to Sheila Taormina,'' she said of the world's No. 3 ranked triathlete out of the U.S., who finished second to Barb Lindquist in the American sweep of the Edmonton World Cup stop on the ITU tour a month ago when Savege, determined for a home-country success, blew a tire and ended up with a DNF.
ROAD CONDITIONS WERE GOOD
"The course was pretty flat. There was one little hill. But the road conditions were pretty good,'' she said. "The difficulty was the heat here. I didn't miss many opportunities to grab water along the way to stay hydrated.
"The other problem was it was me against two Americans and after two laps on the bike, I had to be careful. But I've raced against them a lot the last five weeks and I was confident. In the run Sheila had me about 10 seconds down but I knew in heat like this she wouldn't be able to hold that.''
In the end Savege won the race, which began at 7:30 a.m., in 1:58.29 with Taormina second in 2:00.12 and Becky Gibbs-Lavelle of the U.S. third in 2:00.36.
"I think it'll be a big benefit for me at the Olympics to have been here and had this experience. A lot of the conditions here are going to be very much like Athens.''
That said, she's happy to be headed home from here today.
"I've been travelling for five weeks since that World Cup race in Edmonton. And I can't wait to get home, go down in the basement and find my mom's Pan-Am medal and make up that plaque to put on the wall.''
