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.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
