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Canada's Olympic Team


taichi

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Anybody with sense knew Adam would choke unfortunately for him. Being the flagbearer not just in the ceremony but for the MEDIA and CBC's constant babbling about his assured Canadian successes gave Adam no room for his own preparation because he was thinking about his country's reception more than what he wanted to do. He was basically the only mass name-known athlete going in, so of course he feels additional pressure. In flatwater events people who are able to repeat are few and far between. Peak fitness and performance isn't tied to a particular age group and there isn't just one or two overwhelmingly dominating nations. Perfect situations for a barrage of unusual performances and chances to end up somewhere completely unexpected. After all it is something that happens in a matter of moments and nearly anything can happen. Having a sunburn or a slight headache can mean coming in dead last.

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And all we need is 2 medals for this to be our third best olympics, and 3 more to crack 20 medals for only the third time in our olympic history. If Canada can remain strong in the sports we medal in, while building a stronger team in Swimming and Athletics, we could crack 30 medals in 2012.

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Gold is way more important and in that sense we are just as bad as Sydney and Athens, and Atlanta had 22 but only 3 gold.

Hopefully Marie-Helen Premont can win a gold for Canada tonight.

Tonight

Marie-Helen Premont - Women's Cross Country Mountain Biking

Adam van Koeverdan - Men's K1-500m

Gary Reed - Men's 800m

Me thinks 1G, 1S, 1B hopefully, Reed has looked strong.

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Gold is way more important and in that sense we are just as bad as Sydney and Athens, and Atlanta had 22 but only 3 gold.

As I mentioned earlier, 3 gold seems to have become Canada's natural number. Seoul. Atlanta. Sydney. Athens. And (for the moment) Beijing. Those recent games match the London 1908, Stockholm, and Antwerp games. We've only had 4 Olympics with more. And we've had 5 with none, including the most important Olympics in Canadian history: Montreal.

If we want to become a serious sporting power, we need to focus on summer sport the way we have focused on winter sport. We didn't make as much of the opportunity as we should have, but we have improved since hosting in Montreal. There is stronger competition out there from many nations...Australia, China, Korea in particular. But we do need to share the winter focus and success with the summer athletes.

After all, if things were a little different 7 years ago, we'd be watching things on fold from the Toronto Waterfront.

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But since 2004 there has been a dramatic increase in funding and there is going to be another dramatic increase from now until 2012. I think we should expect 20 to 25 medals in London.

I think Canada is moving in the right direction in most sports.

We need to concentrate on cycling, gymnastics, aquatics, athletics, canoe/kayaking and rowing and have funding available when we produce a Karine Sergerie. Those sports represent more than half of the events and are ones that there has been strong Canadian performances in previously. We need to concentrate the money on fewer sports and not fund everything. We need to following the Australian model.

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I think consistency seems to be a problem: the first week produces very little or no medal performances; the second week is the complete opposite.

I just looked at the medals table, with only 2 days of competition to go. Gold medal wise, it sits on 17th place; overall medals, it sits at 13th spot. If Canada does win another gold medal tomorrow or Sunday, it would jump 3 places, according to the most reputable ranking most of the world recognizes with gold medals won. It will be so amazing, if Canada somewhat manages to get a top 10 finish in the end in this regard.

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Adam went out too fast and ended up 2nd. His interview afterward basically proved my assertion that he choked because of media pressure. He was overly emotional and apologetic. Clearly he wasn't in any mental shape to race and relied on pure physical force to stay in when he started to drift halfway for silver. Too bad for him. Maybe the next few flagbearers can be people who aren't 'supposed' to win? :P

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