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Scott Stinson: With Tokyo Olympics call, Team Canada may have shamed IOC into doing the right thing – National Post

Published

4 years ago

March 23, 2020

It is difficult to describe in words what an Olympic medal means to an amateur athlete.
Instead, there are scenes.

On the side of a mountain in Korea in 2018, four Canadian lugers won a silver medal and exploded with joy, erasing four years of pain that had come with a fourth-place finish in Sochi.

“No words,” Tristan Walker said moments later. As he spoke, his teammate Justin Snith stood next to him, shaking silently as he wept.

At an arena in Rio de Janiero, when Erica Wiebe had wrestled the match of her life to win gold. She held up a Canadian flag, fell to her knees, and buried her face in the middle of the mat. There were tears there, too.

At a different mountain in Korea two years ago, it was Mikael Kingsbury, the greatest moguls skier in history, who let out a huge yell as he crossed the finish line with a perfect run. He had a closet full of trophies and honours, but the relief that winning his first Olympic gold brought absolutely emanated from him that dark, cold night. Not winning would have been unbearable.

“I don’t have any words right now,” he said.

These are the things that Team Canada had to consider when it made the decision, announced late Sunday night, that it would not send its athletes to the Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo if they were held as scheduled in 2020.

It was the right decision, as the world reels from the effects of the coronavirus, and it was a brave one, coming only hours after the International Olympic Committee announced that it would wait four more weeks before deciding on a postponement. The Canadian Olympic Committee said, effectively, that it could not wait. Expecting its athletes to continue training right now “runs counter to the public health advice which we urge all Canadians to follow,” it said. This is absolutely true, and it is the part of the IOC’s wait-and-see approach that is so untenable.

Silver medalists Alex Gough, Samoa Edney, Tristan Walker and Justin Snith of Canada celebrate during the Medal Ceremony for the Luge – Team Relay Competition on day seven of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Medal Plaza on February 16, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea.

Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

But Canada’s was also a brutal decision. The COC was on the way to qualifying its largest-ever team for a Summer Olympics, as an operation that was transformed into a medal-winning machine over the past decade-plus continued to churn out potential podium finishers. Even if the Tokyo Olympics are pushed back a year, which is the desired outcome for Team Canada and which offers the least amount of disruption to normal training schedules, it is a plain fact that some of the athletes who had worked for four years toward a peak in July of 2020 will not necessarily be able to reach the same peak in July of 2021. For some, the Olympic dream will be lost. Injuries will happen. Life will happen. Teams will have to weigh if the composition of their rosters 16 months from now should be the same as they would have been in July. For the Paralympics, the difference a year makes can be even more stark. Some athletes have degenerative conditions, and their competitive windows can close fast. A delayed Paralympics could mean no Paralympics at all.

Canada’s Hayley Wickenheiser (L) and Natalie Spooner celebrate with their gold medals after their team defeated Team USA in overtime in the women’s ice hockey final game at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, February 20, 2014.

REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

This helps explain why Team Canada did not come to this decision lightly. It was on March 17, less than a week ago, that the COC offered qualified support of an IOC statement that it was too early to consider changing the date of the Tokyo Olympics. Some high-profile athletes took the IOC to task, among them Canadians Hayley Wickenheiser and Mark Tewksbury, both retired legends, and over the ensuing few days the folly of the IOC’s waiting game became all the more evident. Health authorities here and around the world are stressing the importance of staying home to help break the transmission of COVID-19, a practice that is directly at odds with training for an Olympic Games. Gyms are closed, pools are closed, tracks are closed. Italy is on total lockdown, Germany is banning groups larger than two, and many other countries, including ours, could be moving in that direction. What is a would-be Olympian to do in those circumstances? Hurdle chairs in the kitchen? Throw a javelin off the balcony?

Team Canada, once just happy to be there, has rightly developed a swagger over the past decade

The delay is the only answer. Even allowing for the possibility of rapid global change that gets the virus under control in the coming months, it is the present day that is the problem. Training is unsafe. Expecting athletes to pretend otherwise is foolish.
Canada was out in the lead, but others are certain to follow. The Australian Olympic Committee has since told its athletes to stop training for a 2020 Olympics, and the American track and swimming federations, two pillars of its Olympic teams, have said the United States should push for a postponement. Countries like Brazil and Norway, who had each advocated for a date change, will make their ultimatums more concrete. The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, said on Monday that a date shift for an Olympics that he no doubt wants to be part of an economic recovery, could be “unavoidable.”

And so, in the end, it will be the International Olympic Committee that finally comes around and admits the obvious. The record will show that Canada had to shame them into doing the right thing.

Team Canada, once just happy to be there, has rightly developed a swagger over the past decade. It won no medals with this decision, but it should be proud just the same.

Postmedia News

sstinson@postmedia.com

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Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

Published

3 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

Published

4 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

Published

4 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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