TORONTO —
The International Olympic Committee reiterated that the Tokyo Games will go as planned on Tuesday, despite a sports world that has screeched to a halt.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to cut a swath across the planet, some Canadians called the IOC’s message tone deaf.
In a lengthy post on Twitter, Canadian women’s hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser said no-one can know at this point whether the Olympics will or should be cancelled.
“To say for certain they will go ahead is an injustice to the athletes training and global population at large,” said Wickenheiser, a six-time Olympian and member of the IOC Athletes Commission. “We need to acknowledge the unknown.”
In a communique released Tuesday, the IOC said it remains “fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and with more than four months to go before the Games there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counter-productive.”
But as the novel coronavirus outbreak continues to wipe out Olympic qualifying events, shut down training facilities, and close borders around the world, there are countless question marks around the Games, which are scheduled to open July 24.
“From an athlete perspective, I can only imagine and try to empathize with the anxiety and heartbreak athletes are feeling right now,” Wickenheiser wrote. “The uncertainty of not knowing where you’re going to train tomorrow, as facilities close and qualification events are cancelled all over the world would be terrible if you’ve been training your whole life for this.
“BUT — the crisis is bigger than the Olympics. Athletes can’t travel plan. Sponsors and marketers can’t market with any degree of sensitivity. I think the IOC insisting this will move ahead, with such conviction, is insensitive and irresponsible given the state of humanity. We don’t know what’s happening in the next 24 hours, let alone the next three months.”
The Canadian Olympic Committee sent an open letter to its athletes on Tuesday night saying the organization supports the move by the IOC and hopes for the Olympics to proceed in July, “but our hope needs to be put in context.”
“We do not know what will happen in the next 24 hours, no less the next four months, and that is the reason there need not be a definitive decision today about any changes to the plans to hold the Olympic Games,” said the COC letter.
In its statement, the IOC encouraged athletes to continue to prepare for the Games. Easier said than done, though.
In track and field alone, the first three meets of the prestigious Diamond League series have been cancelled, along with traditional season-openers in the U.S. such as the Florida Relays and Penn Relays.
“It’s kind of like unfathomable right now to be honest … end of June we all want to be in the shape of our lives so we can get on this team, which we don’t even know is actually going to be a thing,” Canadian triple jumper Caroline Ehrhardt, whose husband Taylor is a decathlete, said in a phone interview.
“Of course I don’t want to outright say that I want to see the Olympics postponed because obviously that’s going to have a lot of repercussions … there’s a lot of people who have already qualified and have worked their entire lives for this.
“But at the same time, I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that if there’s no meets leading up to the trials to actually qualify — and right now nobody even has the opportunity to train — I don’t think it would be the worst thing in the world if they were postponed.”
But Canadian wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos, an 11-time world champion, called the IOC’s statement “pretty fair.”
“No-one knows what will happen in the short or long-term, but we do still have some time, so while we do, lets plan for the best and re-access if needed,” Lakatos said in a direct Twitter message to The Canadian Press. “All athletes are in the same situation, it’s not ideal, but it is fair. Para/Olympians are used to dealing with uncertainties and challenges, and we will overcome this as well.”
The IOC’s statement comes the same day Japan’s soccer federation announced Kozo Tashima, the vice-president of Japan’s Olympic Committee, had tested positive for coronavirus, which has infected more than 180,000 people around the world, and killed more than 6,500.
Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo said he wants the country to host perfect Olympics and Paralympics “as proof that the human race will conquer the new coronavirus.”
But track athlete Charles Philibert-Thiboutot echoed Wickenheiser in saying the IOC’s messaging in these unprecedented times aren’t well-received. Philibert-Thiboutot, one of Canada’s premier middle-distance runners, said his thoughts were with small business owners and others struggling.
“Those people are the ones that are really taking a beating,” he said. “When you’re aware of that, all these people that have businesses, people who will be laid off … and then the IOC is just kind of like, ‘We’re still going to have the Games,’ I just think it’s insensitive at this point.
“There are things much greater than that. And for the health and safety of anyone, I don’t think it’s very considerate on their part. (Athletes) are struggling, but there a lot of people out there struggling more than we do.”
I’ve given this a lot of thought, and over the past few days my perspective has changed. I was voted to represent and protect athletes. As an IOCAC member, 6x Olympian and Medical doctor in training on the front lines in ER up until this week,these are my thoughts on @Olympics : pic.twitter.com/vrvfsQZ1GO
CALGARY – The Calgary Flames have re-signed defenceman Ilya Solovyov and centre Cole Schwindt, the NHL club announced Wednesday.
Solovyov signed a two-year deal which is a two-way contract in year one and a one-way deal in year two and carries an average annual value of US$775,000 at the NHL level.
Schwindt signed a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $800,000 at the NHL level.
The 24-year-old Solovyov, from Mogilev, Belarus, made his NHL debut last season and had three assists in 10 games for the Flames. He also had five goals and 10 assists in 51 games with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and added one goal in six Calder Cup playoff games.
Schwindt, from Kitchener, Ont., made his Flames debut last season and appeared in four games with the club.
The 23-year-old also had 14 goals and 22 assists in 66 regular-season games with the Wranglers and added a team-leading four goals, including one game-winning goal, in the playoffs.
Schwindt was selected by Florida in the third round, 81st overall, at the 2019 NHL draft. He came to Calgary in July 2022 along with forward Jonathan Huberdeau and defenceman MacKenzie Weegar in the trade that sent star forward Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
KING CITY, Ont. – Oman scored 10 runs in the final over to edge Nepal by one wicket with just one ball remaining in ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 play Wednesday.
Kaleemullah, the No. 11 batsman who goes by one name, hit a four with the penultimate ball as Oman finished at 223 for nine. Nepal had scored 220 for nine in its 50 overs.
Kaleemullah and No. 9 batsman Shakeel Ahmed each scored five in the final over off Sompal Kami. They finished with six and 17 runs, respectively.
Opener Latinder Singh led Oman with 41 runs.
Nepal’s Gulsan Jha was named man of the match after scoring 53 runs and recording a career-best five-wicket haul. The 18-year-old slammed five sixes and three-fours in his 35-ball knock, scoring 23 runs in the 46th over alone when he hit six, six, four, two, four and one off Aqib Ilyas.
Captain Rohit Paudel led Nepal with 60 runs.
The 19th-ranked Canadians, who opened the triangular series Monday with a 103-run win over No. 17 Nepal, face No. 16 Oman on Friday, Nepal on Sunday and Oman again on Sept. 26. All the games are at the Maple Leaf Cricket Ground.
The eight World League 2 teams each play 36 one-day internationals spread across nine triangular series through December 2026. The top four sides will go through to a World Cup qualifier that will decide the last four berths in the expanded 14-team Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Canada (5-4) stands second in the World League 2 table. The 14th-ranked Dutch top the table at 6-2.
Oman (2-2 with one no-result) stands sixth, ahead of Nepal (1-5).
Canada won all four matches in its opening tri-series in February-March, sweeping No. 11 Scotland and the 20th-ranked host Emirates. But the Canadians lost four in a row to the 18th-ranked U.S. and host Netherlands in August.
Canada which debuted in the T20 World Cup this summer in the U.S. and West Indies, is looking to get back to the showcase 50-over Cricket World Cup for the first time since 2011 after failing to qualify for the last three editions. The Canadian men also played in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 tournaments, exiting after the group stage in all four tournament appearances.
The Canadian men regained their one-day international status for the first time in almost a decade by finishing in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier Playoff in April 2023 in Bermuda.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
PENTICTON, B.C. – Rick Tocchet has already warned his Vancouver Canucks players — the looming NHL season won’t be easy.
The team made strides last year, the head coach said Wednesday ahead of training camp. The bar has been raised for this year’s campaign.
“To get to the next plateau, there are higher expectations and it’s going to be hard. We know that,” Tocchet said in Penticton, B.C., where the team will open its camp on Thursday.
“So that’s the next level. It starts day one (on Thursday). My thing is don’t waste a rep out there.”
The Canucks finished atop the Pacific Division with a 50-23-9 record last season, then ousted the Nashville Predators from the playoffs in a gritty, six-game first-round series. Vancouver then fell to the Edmonton Oilers in a seven-game second-round set.
Last fall, Jim Rutherford, the Canucks president of hockey operations, said everything would have to go right for the team to make a playoff push. That doesn’t change this season, he said, despite last year’s success.
“The challenges will be greater, certainly. But I believe the team that we started with last year, we have just as good a team to start the season this year and probably better,” he said.
“As long as the team builds off what they did last year, stick to what the coaches tell them, stick to the system, stick together in good times and bad times, this team has a chance to do pretty well.”
Some key players will be missing as Vancouver’s training camp begins, however.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced Wednesday that star goalie Thatcher Demko will not be on the ice when the team begins it’s pre-season preparation.
Allvin did not disclose the reason for Demko’s absence, but said the 28-year-old American has been making progress.
“He’s been in working extremely hard and he seems to be in a great mindset,” the GM said.
Demko missed several weeks of the regular season and much of Vancouver’s playoff run last spring with a knee injury.
The six-foot-four, 192-pound goalie has a career 213-116-81 regular-season record with a .912 save percentage, a 2.79 goals-against average and eight shutouts across seven seasons with the Canucks.
Allvin also announced that veteran centre Teddy Blueger and defensive prospect Cole McWard will also miss the start of training camp after each had “minor lower-body surgery.”
Vancouver previously announced winger Dakota Joshua won’t be present for the start of camp as he recovers from surgery for testicular cancer.
Tocchet said he’ll have no problem filling the holes, and plans to switch his lines up a lot in Penticton.
“Nothing’s set in stone,” he said. “I think it’s important that you have different puzzles at different times.”
The coach added that he expects standout centre Elias Pettersson to begin on a line with Canucks newcomer Jake DeBrusk.
Vancouver inked DeBrusk, a former Boston Bruins forward, to a seven-year, US$38.5 million deal when the NHL’s free agent market opened on July 1.
The glare on Pettersson is expected to be bright once again as he enters the first year of a new eight-year, $92.8 million contract. The 25-year-old Swede struggled at times last season and put 89 points (34 goals, 55 assists) in 82 games.
Rutherford said he was impressed with how Pettersson looked when he returned to Vancouver ahead of camp.
“He seems to be a guy that’s more relaxed and more comfortable. And for obvious reasons,” said the president of hockey ops. “This is a guy that I believe has worked really hard this summer. He’s done everything he can to play as a top-line player. … The expectation for him is to be one of the top players on our team.”
A number of Canucks hit milestones last season, including Quinn Hughes, who led all NHL defencemen in scoring with 92 points and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s top blue liner.
Several players could once again have career-best years for Vancouver, Tocchet said, but they’ll need to be consistent and not allow frustration to creep in when things go wrong.
“You’ve just got to drive yourself every day when you have a great year,” the coach said. “You’ve got to keep creating that environment where they can achieve those goals, whatever they are. And the main goal is winning. That’s really what it comes down to.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
