Justyn Knight says he loves his country and didn’t mean any disrespect, but he and other athletes are struggling to understand why the Canadian Olympic Committee made a bold decision Sunday to pull its team out of the Tokyo Games this summer.
Hours before the COC announcement, the International Olympic Committee revealed a self-imposed deadline of mid-April to consider postponing the Olympics, set to begin July 24, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I don’t have a problem with the Olympics being postponed until 2021,” said Knight, who met the Tokyo qualifying standard in the 5,000 metres last June and was excited for a chance to make his Olympic debut in 2020. “The problem I have is that Canada is the only country that voiced that opinion.
“I love Canada and I understand (the COC’s) decision is for (the) well-being of (its athletes) but why the rush? There could be a vaccine or cure that’s found. Spontaneously, although it’s very unrealistic, maybe everybody recovers. We don’t know what next week entails.”
I support my country no matter what. However I believe each athlete should make their own decision in regards to dealing with a matter like this. There is no rush.
Knight, who noted he and other Canadian athletes were not given a heads-up from the COC about its announcement, learned via text message from someone around 10 p.m. ET on Sunday as he was heading to bed.
The Toronto native immediately logged on to Twitter and saw the increasing volume of tweets.
Disappointment sets in
“It was very emotional,” Knight, who lives and trains in Charlottesville, Va., as a member of Reebok Boston Track Club, told CBC Sports. “I didn’t sleep at all. My main thought was wondering if the world is going to fix this problem. I’m putting my faith in the scientists and high levels of government hoping they’ll figure out a vaccine or cure.”
WATCH | COC says athletes won’t attend Olympics if held in 2020:
CBC Sports’ Jamie Strashin discusses the Canadian Olympic Committee’s decision to refuse to send athletes to the Olympics if they do go ahead as planned, instead calling for a one year postponement. 3:58
The 23-year-old said he spoke with five or six Canadian athletes on Sunday night who shared his frustration with the COC’s quick decision-making.
Canadian hurdler Sage Watson also took to Twitter shortly after the COC announcement and stated she believes in the safety of Canada but thought the decision was premature.
Later, she mentioned it was “sad” the decision had to be made for the athletes and added, “Do we not have patience to wait a few weeks?”
We need to put our attention on to this pandemic not athletics. Those decisions can wait. The IOC needs to postpone the games, but countries dropping out and not standing together upsets me. We need to make this decision as a WORLD not separate countries. Put our world first.? <a href=”https://t.co/iBErExvWov”>pic.twitter.com/iBErExvWov</a>
Marnie McBean, Canada’s chef de mission for Tokyo 2020, told CBC News on Monday the COC wasn’t comfortable waiting three more weeks for the IOC to act, saying “we would have had to ask our athletes to figure out how to train (with no events in the near future).”
Seyi Smith, chair of the COC, said the organization needed to act fast after “hearing stories of athletes still continuing to train outside, even though we were getting directions from our prime minister (Justin Trudeau) and (Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer) Dr. (Theresa) Tam to stay inside and social distance yourself. It didn’t look like it was a safe situation for athletes to be doing their part to reduce this pandemic.”
Canadian Justyn Knight claimed the top spot in the men’s 3,000m race at the Millrose Games from New York City. 2:13
“I do understand what (McBean) is saying,” said Knight, who won three NCAA titles during his four years running at Syracuse University. “I’m in Virginia and able to find trails and be completely isolated. But if I was back in Toronto, I wouldn’t have anywhere to run because Toronto is a hot (spot) for this pandemic.
Getting creative with training
“Whether athletes can train or not, (pulling) them out of the Olympics isn’t going to make a difference on what (the IOC) is doing. I’m sure people are still going to be training because you can’t go from training to dropping everything. We’re going to find a way to do something.”
“The IOC is supposed to have a non-biased opinion and hold the athletes’ health over everything else,” continued Knight, who set a Canadian indoor record in the men’s 1,500 in February. “If it is able to live with its decision, has done its due diligence and deemed (an Olympics) being safe (to start July 24 or later this year) I find it weird that wouldn’t be safe by (the COC’s) standards.”
Watson, in a recent interview with chatnewstoday.ca in her hometown of Medicine Hat, Alta., was hopeful the Olympics would be held this year, “but I think it could change at any minute.”
Canadian Sage Watson’s time of 54.32 sets a Canadian record and books her a spot in 400m hurdles. 3:48
The 25-year-old, who ran under the 55:40 Olympic standard last July and three weeks later won Pan Am gold in Peru, is back home at her family ranch and getting creative with her training while in self-isolation after returning from the United States.
“I’m still doing the same workouts,” she told chatnewstoday.ca, “but I’m doing them here on my gravel road at my ranch. I actually put together a little gym in our shop outside on our ranch.”
For Knight, he has taken precautions for weeks to stay healthy and leaves his apartment complex before 7 a.m. for his morning run so he doesn’t come across other runners.
“Everybody in the complex is taking things seriously,” said Knight, who missed the Olympic standard by 1.36 seconds in the 5,000 ahead of the 2016 Games in Rio. “A lot of older people live here and I’ve become friends with a lot of them. I’ve been obeying the rules, staying in my apartment and not going out, unless it’s to the grocery store or running on my own. I don’t meet with my teammates.
“I can wash my hands, wear a mask, wear gloves and social distance myself but it’s kind of in God’s hands to help us get through this now.”
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
