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Canada's Olympic Team


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Torino Canada's 4th place :

Charles Hamelin - short track skating - 1500m

Marc-Andre Moreau - acrobatic skiing - moguls

Paul Boehm - skeleton - individual

Maelle Ricker - snowboard - cross

Erik Guay - alpine skiing - super-g

Kelly Vanderbeek - alpine skiing - super-g

Francois Bourque - alpine skiing - giant slalom

Helen Upperton/Heather Moyse - bobsleigh - two places

Becky Scott - cross-country skiing - sprint

Eric Bedard - short track skating - 500m

Lueders, etc... - bobsleigh - four places

And few 5th place (Thomas Grandi, Genevieve Simard, Joannie Rochette, Kyle Nissen, Kristina Groves, Amanda Overland, Jasey-Jay Anderson, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Arne Dankers)

It's possible I forgot some names.

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I think Canada will probably match the same amount of medals (12) they won in Athens. Possibly 2-3 more than that amount or less that amount. I don't know what to think of our Olympic team this year. Can someone give me an overview of what us Canadians can expect from our athletes this summer in Beijing?

five months ago I made a prediction in another thread :

http://www.gamesbids.com/forums/index.php?...t=0&start=0

At that time, I have not considered taekwondo. So had a possibilty of two more medals.

Plus, there's also a possibility for triathlon.

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Torino Canada's 4th place :

Charles Hamelin - short track skating - 1500m

Marc-Andre Moreau - acrobatic skiing - moguls

Paul Boehm - skeleton - individual

Maelle Ricker - snowboard - cross

Erik Guay - alpine skiing - super-g

Kelly Vanderbeek - alpine skiing - super-g

Francois Bourque - alpine skiing - giant slalom

Helen Upperton/Heather Moyse - bobsleigh - two places

Becky Scott - cross-country skiing - sprint

Eric Bedard - short track skating - 500m

Lueders, etc... - bobsleigh - four places

And few 5th place (Thomas Grandi, Genevieve Simard, Joannie Rochette, Kyle Nissen, Kristina Groves, Amanda Overland, Jasey-Jay Anderson, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Arne Dankers)

It's possible I forgot some names.

Those 4th and 5th place finishes will most likely move into the medal range in Vancouver thanks to Own the Podium.

Just imagine if half of those 4th place finishers medaled, we would have been #1 on the medal tally.

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Canoe/Kayaking

K1-500m Men's - Gold

K1-1000m Men's - top 3

C1-500m Men's - top 5

Cycling

Mountain Biking Women's - top 5

Diving

Men's 3m Syncro - top 3

Women's 10m Syncro - top 3

Men's 3m - top 3

Alexandre Despatie has withdrawn from the 10m competition

Women's 3m - top 5

Women's 10m - top 10

Gymnastics

Women's apparatus - top 3 (I think high bar)

Men's apparatus - top 5 (floor, vault, parallel bar)

Women's trampoline - top 5

Rowing

Men's 8 - top 3

Men's LW 4s - top 5

Women's Quad sculls - top 5

Taekwondo

Men's 80kg - top 3

Women's 49kg - top 3

Wrestling

Women's weight classes - top 5

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Don't we have that gymnast who is one of the tops in the world in Rhythmic Gymnastics as well? I forgot her name.

tops in the commonwealth and in the Pan Ams, but not against the Russians, Belorussians, Israelis, Bulgarians, Ukrainians. She finished 9th at the last world championships, about 12 points behind the Russian winner.

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I'm late this morning for the taekwondo's tournament, So I don't have time to elaborate now. I will do it when I'll be back tonight.

Just quickly, when I read yesterday what I wrote few months ago, some of my prediction are no more accurate and will change.

For exemple, I didn't know about the Kyle Shefelt very serious injury. He will try to be at Beijing, but I seriously doubt that he will be at the same level he was at Athens. (but we never know, remember Silke Laumann story in rowing)

Also, I heard that we have very good chance in one of the yachting category.

Enough for this morning, I have to go. The rest later tonight.

And I hope tonight when I will log on this site that I will read good news for Canada at the Baseball tournament.

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Just to keep baseball up-to-date

Germany 0 - 2 Taipei

Australia 10 - 5 Canada

South Africa 1 - 2 Spain

Korea 6 - 1 Mexico

Germany 4 - 3 South Africa

Spain 5 - 14 Korea

Taipei 5 - 6 Canada

Australia 4 - 7 Mexico

Next match day

Korea vs. Germany

Canada vs Spain

Mexico vs South Africa

Taipei vs Australia

Standings

Korea 4-0

Canada 3-1

Taipei 3-1

Australia 2-2

Germany 2-2

Spain 1-3

Mexico 1-3

South Africa 0-4

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My predictions (part one)

Track and Field

While the main focus will be at the 110m hurdles with entire China behind Liu Xiang, USA will again dominate the medal standing leaving the long distance race to kenyan and ethiopian.

The main event, the 100m dash will be with no competition the Asafa Powell affair.

For Canada, few serious medals contenders :

- Perditia Felicien at the 100m hurdles (if she not repeat her Athens midsaventure)

- Gary Reed at the 800m (he came very close to grab the gold (he got the silver) at the Osaka 2007 World Championship

- Jon Brown at the marathon (canadian citizen since 2005, he finished fourth at Sydney and Athens under the Great Britain colors)

- Tyler Christopher at the 400m

Of course, all the qualifier will not be confirm until the Windsor Ontario event (from July 3th to July 6th)

My optimist prediction for Canada : one gold, one silver and one bronze

Swimming

Two main focus at the pool : every race for Michael Phelps who will definetelly become the most gold decorated olympian of all time, and also every race involving Laure Manaudou (France) and her rival Federica Peligrini (Italy) after their "boyfriend story" and also the huge (nude pictures scandal)

Australia and USA as usual will dominate the medals standing.

For Canada, the former australian head coach, a canadian, is now back in Canada. Since his arrival, the canadian team improve a lot.

We used in the past to have a lot of succes at the pool (Alex Baumann, Victor Davis, Mark Tewksburry, etc...) but no gold since Barcelone. Best results was a silver and 3 bronze at Atlanta and Sydney (Marian Limpert and Curtis Myden) and absolutelly nothing in 2004.

That will change in Beijing with few potential medals in relay and some individual by :

- Audrey Lacroix

- Mike Brown

- Brent Hayden

My optimist prediction for Canada : 0 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze

Gymnastic Artistic

The usual countries will dominate again, Romania, Russia, USA and of course China with the home crowd advantage.

Canada got their first ever medal in Athens with Kyle Shewfelt (gold at the floor) (and judges stole him a bronze one at the vault)

Kyle was injured seriously then. He's recovering and will make the team for Beijing. But, I seriously doubt that he will be able to deliver the same performance he did four years ago. Like I wrote two days ago, we all remembered the Silke Laumann story in rowing who made a tremendous return after a very serious injury. Is the story will be repeat again for Kyle ? I'm hoping a lot for him because he trained so hard.

Women ? Best hope is Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs but she will be far for a medal

My optimist prediction for Canada : 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (but my heart will be with Kyle)

Boxing

At the moment, only one canadian got his ticket for Beijing, Adam Trupish (69kg).

Two or three more will probabbly be able to join him after the second Olympic Boxing Qualification tournament wich will be held In Guatemala from April 23th to April 30th

I will be very surprised if Canada grab a medal at Beijing.

We have few good results in the past. Last gold was Lennox Lewis 20 years ago.

We are doing very well in the professional scene. We have actually two World Champions (both from Montreal) one in the IBF and one in the WBA (and we came very close to get a third one, also from Montreal few weeks ago. And another from Montreal , a fourth one, is currently in second place in his category and will have a chance in a near future to fight for the title)

My optimist prediction for Canada : 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (best results will be if we reach the 1/8 Finals)

I will continue for the others sports tomorrow

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Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs is a world championship medalist, so it is possible. Going into Athens Shewfelt was also a bronze medalist from the previous world championships.

I know those facts.

I thing she will make the top eight in maybe two apparels.

I really hope for her a medal but the competion will be at a very high level and the podium will be extremelly hard to reach.

But, gymnastic is not a sport I follow a lot (compare to others). I don't pretend to be a gymnastic specialist and I will be more than happy if you're prediction is better than mine ;)

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I know those facts.

I thing she will make the top eight in maybe two apparels.

I really hope for her a medal but the competion will be at a very high level and the podium will be extremelly hard to reach.

But, gymnastic is not a sport I follow a lot (compare to others). I don't pretend to be a gymnastic specialist and I will be more than happy if you're prediction is better than mine ;)

Also I think you are over-estimating Shewfelt's injury. I think we will be able to compete at a high level, but moreso on vault then floor.

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Also I think you are over-estimating Shewfelt's injury. I think we will be able to compete at a high level, but moreso on vault then floor.

I will be more than happy if I'm wrong with Kyle's injury since I got tickets for almost all Gymnastics Finals sessions.

I didn't have the chance to see a lot of canadian medal in the severals finals I attend. (only one gold, Donovan Bailey in 1996)

My predictions for others sports ? Not tonight, I just arrived from a huge wine tasting session (I thing I'm over the 0,08 limit :P ). I will try tommorow.

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Baseball news

Canada beat today Spain 11-0

games remaining :

March 13th

Australia | Spain

Germany | Mexico

Canada | Korea

South Africa | Chinese Taipei

March 14th

Spain | Mexico

South Africa | Australia

Chinese Taipei | Korea

Canada | Germany

So, my prediction for the final standing : (win - lost)

Korea 7 - 0

Chinese Taipei 5 - 2

Canada 5 - 2

Australia 4 - 3

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My predictions (part two)

Wrestling

Canada won one medal in the last four Olympics (Thue - silver - 1992) (Sissaouri - silver - 1996) (Igali - gold - 2000) and (Verbeek - silver - 2004)

Story will change in Beijing with more than only one medal, mostly from the women's team :

Tonya Verbeek will be back again in the podium (even if she didn't perform well at the last World Championship in Baku with the 9th place). Gold for her ? Why not, but I prefer to be more conservative and predict her a silver.

Martine Dugrenier who won silver three years in a row at the World Championship at the 67kg, will now compete in the 63kg after big effort to loose enough weight. At least a silver, but huge chance for gold

Others like Carol Huyinh, Ohenewa Akuffo, Lyndsay Rushton have good chance to all reach the quarters of finals and depending of the draw we can even expect a bronze among them (probabbly Carol).

For the men in greco, only Ari Taub will maybe reach the eights of finals but without going further

In men free style, lots of qualifiers but no medal contender except maybe the "old" Guivi Sissiaouri who can take advantage of his huge experience. No gold but maybe a bronze or him. Travis Cross is probably the only one other canadian who will reach the quarters of finals.

My prediction for Canada : one gold, two silver, one bronze

Beach Volleyball

Beach Volleyball is definitevelly the sport I follow the most (specially the women competition :lol: ). Principally due to my implication in the Montreal's tournament those last three years. I became very close of many players.

Two women's duo, Lessard-Maxwell and Cooke-Martin who should normally get easily their ticket for the Olympics will have a lot of difficulty to get the precious points needed in the ranking because of the decision of the gouverment to cut the subvention for volleyball (remember, Montreal lost his tournament in the SWATCH World Cup Tour this summer because of that decision. And also the withdraw of the World League (indoor) for the same reason). If they don't find a sponsor, they will not be able to pay all the expenses to travel in the different city around the world where the tour stop. For the men, this money problem will not affect the duo Cadieux-Heese, but maybe the one of Leinemann and Van Huizen.

Speaking of those two mens duos. Yes, in the stadium in Chaoyang Park (I will be there 6 times), I will proudly wear the game worn shirt that Mark Heese gave to me at last year Montreal's tournament. He's one of the nicest guy I had the chance to meet in sports. And Mr. Van Huizen one of the funniest (having been assigned at the warmup court those two last year, I had the chance to saw few times his unforgetable Hulk Hogan imitation)

To return to the prediction, if the four teams make it to Beijing, no more than a 9th place can be expect.

For the women, Juliana-Larissa (Brazil), Kerry Walsh-Misty May Treanor (USA) and Xue-Zhang Xi (CHN) will reach the podium (but maybe not in that order). The only serious competion being the other USA duo of Branagh-Young.

Unfortunelly, because of the rule of maximum two team per country, the duo of Talita and Renata from Brazil will exclude the duo of Leila and Anna-Paula. Leila is my preferate (with Nila Hakedal of Norway)she also gave me her game worn top last year (but I will not wear it :rolleyes: )

Among my preferates you can also add both of the Greek duo Karadissiou-Arvaniti and Renata wich I have the most fun to talk to.

(But the title of the cutiest girl of the tour go without hesitation to canadian's Isabelle Rancourt)

For the men, Brazil, Brazil and the rest.

Emanuel and Ricardo for the gold without hesitation.

Ounce again, the two team per country rule will exclude the most spectacular player and most popular guy from the tour, Harley.

In fact, Brazil have four duos who are strong enough to finished 1-2-3-4. And that even if their country obliged some of them to change partner. (wich is not the case for women)

The 2005's combination of Harley and Benjamin, if not dismanteled, will probably be the team to beat in 2008.

Instead, Harley (and his partner Pedro) will be forced to watch their compatriots Emanuel-Ricardo and Fabio Luiz-Marcio Araujo win the gold and silver on TV

The chinese team Xu-Wu with the advantage of the home crowd should grab the bronze with hard competion from the USA duo of Rogers-Dalhausser, austrian Gosch-Horst and german Klemperer-Koreng

Lots of good friends in the men side wich I hope to have a chance to chat with in Beijing outside the tournament.

My prediction for Canada : 0 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze

Enough for tonight. Next time Rowing, Cycling, Taekwondo and few others

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Canada has qualified in baseball. We have 4 teams qualified, Men's baseball, field hockey and water polo and women's softball. Our next hope is the women's football team.

In Athens we had Men's baseball, women's softball and waterpolo.

In Sydney we had men's and women's basketball, men's field hockey, women's softball, and women's water polo.

So if Canada qualifies in women's football we will have as many teams as we did in Sydney.

Edited by Faster
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Canada has qualified in baseball. We have 4 teams qualified, Men's baseball, field hockey and water polo and women's softball. Our next hope is the women's football team.

In Athens we had Men's baseball, women's softball and waterpolo.

In Sydney we had men's and women's basketball, men's field hockey, women's softball, and women's water polo.

So if Canada qualifies in women's football we will have as many teams as we did in Sydney.

Also there is men's basketball, but highly unlikely. Canada drew one of the best possible groups and should go 2-0 in the group stage if they play well.

If all goes by ranking than the men's tournament should go like:

Group 1

1. Greece

2. Brazil

3. Lebanon

Group 2

1. Germany

2. New Zealand

3. Cape Verde

Group 3

1. Canada

2. Slovenia

3. Korea

Group 4

1. Puerto Rico

2. Croatia

3. Cameroon

Greece should beat New Zealand

Germany should beat Brazil

Canada should beat Croatia

Puerto Rico should beat Slovenia

Greece should beat Canada

Germany should beat Puerto Rico

Greece should beat Germany

Puerto Rico should beat Canada

So even with ranking and the best possible draw Canada could have, I still don't see them qualifying.

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Also there is men's basketball, but highly unlikely. Canada drew one of the best possible groups and should go 2-0 in the group stage if they play well.

If all goes by ranking than the men's tournament should go like:

Group 1

1. Greece

2. Brazil

3. Lebanon

Group 2

1. Germany

2. New Zealand

3. Cape Verde

Group 3

1. Canada

2. Slovenia

3. Korea

Group 4

1. Puerto Rico

2. Croatia

3. Cameroon

Greece should beat New Zealand

Germany should beat Brazil

Canada should beat Croatia

Puerto Rico should beat Slovenia

Greece should beat Canada

Germany should beat Puerto Rico

Greece should beat Germany

Puerto Rico should beat Canada

So even with ranking and the best possible draw Canada could have, I still don't see them qualifying.

How many of these teams can qualify? 2 or 3?

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