I had the pleasure of being part of the group of British Columbia amateur sport boosters that gathered Jan. 10 at Sport BC’s head office in Richmond to vote on the finalists for the 46th Annual Athlete of the Year Awards.
As always, the jury was faced with a high-quality crop of athletes of all ages and abilities (and from all regions) from which to choose. The winners will be announced March 8 at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond.
Athlete with a Disability, presented by the Province of British Columbia
Braedon Dolfo (Langley, BC) – BC Blind Sports Athletics
David Scott Patterson (Vancouver, BC) – Swimming
Michelle Stilwell (Nanoose, BC) – Wheelchair Athletics
Coach of the Year, presented by Canadian Sport Centre Pacific
Anatoliy Bondarchuk (Kamloops, BC) – Athletics
Peter Lawless (Victoria, BC) – Wheelchair Athletics/ Handcycling
Bruce Wilson (Victoria, BC) – Soccer
College Athlete of the Year
Li (Melody) Liang (Burnaby, BC) – Badminton, Douglas College
William Quiring (Abbotsford, BC) – Volleyball, Columbia Bible College
Preston Tucker (Vernon, BC) – Volleyball, UBC Okanagan
High School Female Athlete of the Year, presented by Scotiabank
Georgia Ellenwood (Langley, BC) – Athletics, Langley Secondary School
Alexandra McCawley (North Vancouver, BC) – Field Hockey/Basketball/Rugby, Carson Graham Secondary
Emily Oxland (North Vancouver, BC) – Volleyball, Handsworth Secondary
High School Male Athlete of the Year, presented by The Province
Sunny Dhinsa (Abbotsford, BC) – Wrestling, WJ Mouat Secondary
Adam Keenan (Victoria, BC) – Athletics, Lambrick Park Secondary
Reiner Theil (West Vancouver, BC) – Basketball/Football, Vancouver College
Junior Female Athlete of the Year
Shirley Fu (Burnaby, BC) – Table Tennis
Jisoo Keel (Coquitlam, BC) – Golf
Emily Schmidt (Victoria, BC) – Diving
Junior Male Athlete of the Year, presented by Triple O’s
Curtis Lazar (Vernon, BC) – Hockey
Kevin Kwon (Pitt Meadows, BC) – Golf
Filip Peliwo (North Vancouver, BC) – Tennis
Master Athlete of the Year
Christa Bortignon (West Vancouver, BC) – Athletics
Margaret Hudson (Port Alberni, BC) – Badminton
Stephanie Keifer (Vancouver, BC) – Triathlon
Official of the Year, presented by MyBackCheck.com
Jim Mitchell (Abbotsford, BC) – Wrestling
Terry Mosdell (Surrey, BC) – Lacrosse
Wayne Van Osterhout (Victoria, BC) – Rowing
Senior Female Athlete of the Year
Paula Findlay (Victoria, BC) – Triathlon
Amanda Gerhart (Vancouver, BC) – Wrestling
Rebecca Marino (Vancouver, BC) – Tennis
Senior Male Athlete of the Year, presented by TELUS
Dylan Armstrong (Kamloops, BC) – Athletics – Shot Put
Ryan Cochrane (Victoria, BC) – Swimming
Vasek Pospisil (Vancouver, BC) – Tennis
Team of the Year, presented by the TEAM 1040
Surrey United (Surrey, BC) – Soccer
TWU Men’s Volleyball (Langley, BC) – Volleyball
UBC Women’s Volleyball (Vancouver, BC) – Volleyball
University Athlete of the Year, presented by the Vancouver Sun
Helen Crofts (West Vancouver, BC) – Athletics, Simon Fraser University
Jacob Doerksen (Langley, BC) – Basketball, Trinity Western University
Shanice Marcelle (Vancouver, BC) – Volleyball, University of British Columbia
Friday, January 13, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Coach sounds off on international bobsled fed
Canada’s skeleton team remained in the Altenberg world cup in the former East Germany, but the bobsledders withdrew from racing because of coach Tom De La Hunty’s safety worries.
“In my mind they should have cancelled the race,” De La Hunty said on a Jan. 6 media conference call, the day after Canada 2 pilot Chris Spring was seriously injured in a training crash at turn 16.
After Spring lost control of the sled, it broke through wooden barriers at the roof of the track. A steel girder ripped off the front axle, which was dragged through the sled to the rear axle, with the athletes in side. De La Hunty withdrew his bobsledders because International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation officials did not follow through on a pledge to repair the turn and improve safety at the track.
"There was no change at all except some new shiny bits of wood, therefore the track was equally as dangerous," De La Hunty said.
The 27-year-old from Australia, who is based in Calgary, was airlifted to hospital Jan. 5 in Dresden with a broken noise and serious cuts and bruises. Bill Thomas of Queensville, Ont. suffered bruised lungs and minor trauma while Graeme Rinholm of Saskatoon, Sask. sustained a broken fibula and cuts to upper legs, buttocks and underlying musculature. Tim Randall of Toronto suffered minor injuries. When the quartet will return to Canada and how long their rehabilitation will take is not yet known.
“It's just a miracle the guys got out of it without having their limbs ripped off,” De La Hunty said.
Spring learned bobsledding in 2008 and raced for Australia at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics before joining Canada last season. He successfully completed four two-man training runs in his first visit to Altenberg, but completed only one of three four-man training runs. Canada 1 pilot Lyndon Rush speculated that Spring may have been nervous from the first crash and could have been distracted by falling snow, but said “crashing in bobsledding happens, but you never go through the roof.”
“You always have concern when you go to Altenberg, but Chris Spring has driven Whistler and Lake Placid, and they’re two of the other toughest tracks in the world. He’s done well there,” De La Hunty said.
“This wasn't a mental problem, this was a physical problem with the bobsleigh track, and I would not be doing my job if I sent the team down on a track that I knew was dangerous, really dangerous.”
Spring finished 14th in four-man and 19th in two-man at the 2011 world championships in Konigssee, Germany.
The Altenberg track officially opened in 1986 and was renovated for the Feb. 10-12, 2012 FIL world championships. FIBT executive director Heike Groesswang said Friday that “an official statement would be published by tomorrow.”
The crash was arguably the biggest incident in sliding sports since Feb. 12, 2010 when Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died from a training crash on the Whistler Sliding Centre on the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The 2010 Games facility hosts the bobsled and skeleton world cup on Feb. 2-4.
“In my mind they should have cancelled the race,” De La Hunty said on a Jan. 6 media conference call, the day after Canada 2 pilot Chris Spring was seriously injured in a training crash at turn 16.
After Spring lost control of the sled, it broke through wooden barriers at the roof of the track. A steel girder ripped off the front axle, which was dragged through the sled to the rear axle, with the athletes in side. De La Hunty withdrew his bobsledders because International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation officials did not follow through on a pledge to repair the turn and improve safety at the track.
"There was no change at all except some new shiny bits of wood, therefore the track was equally as dangerous," De La Hunty said.
The 27-year-old from Australia, who is based in Calgary, was airlifted to hospital Jan. 5 in Dresden with a broken noise and serious cuts and bruises. Bill Thomas of Queensville, Ont. suffered bruised lungs and minor trauma while Graeme Rinholm of Saskatoon, Sask. sustained a broken fibula and cuts to upper legs, buttocks and underlying musculature. Tim Randall of Toronto suffered minor injuries. When the quartet will return to Canada and how long their rehabilitation will take is not yet known.
“It's just a miracle the guys got out of it without having their limbs ripped off,” De La Hunty said.
Spring learned bobsledding in 2008 and raced for Australia at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics before joining Canada last season. He successfully completed four two-man training runs in his first visit to Altenberg, but completed only one of three four-man training runs. Canada 1 pilot Lyndon Rush speculated that Spring may have been nervous from the first crash and could have been distracted by falling snow, but said “crashing in bobsledding happens, but you never go through the roof.”
“You always have concern when you go to Altenberg, but Chris Spring has driven Whistler and Lake Placid, and they’re two of the other toughest tracks in the world. He’s done well there,” De La Hunty said.
“This wasn't a mental problem, this was a physical problem with the bobsleigh track, and I would not be doing my job if I sent the team down on a track that I knew was dangerous, really dangerous.”
Spring finished 14th in four-man and 19th in two-man at the 2011 world championships in Konigssee, Germany.
The Altenberg track officially opened in 1986 and was renovated for the Feb. 10-12, 2012 FIL world championships. FIBT executive director Heike Groesswang said Friday that “an official statement would be published by tomorrow.”
The crash was arguably the biggest incident in sliding sports since Feb. 12, 2010 when Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died from a training crash on the Whistler Sliding Centre on the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The 2010 Games facility hosts the bobsled and skeleton world cup on Feb. 2-4.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
2010 Games live forever in B.C. Sports Hall of Fame
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics opened and closed at B.C. Place Stadium, and that’s where the tangible memories are now housed.
Almost two years after the Games, the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum doors reopened Jan. 6 at Gate A with its marquee Vancouver 2010 Gallery.
The 2,000 artifacts in the Olympic and Paralympic collection include gold, silver and bronze medals, mascots Miga, Quatchi and Sumi, a podium, torches, the late Jack Poole’s Olympic Order award, athlete uniforms and equipment and gifts brought by national Olympic committees. For Olympic pinheads, the Hall purports to have every single one of the keepsakes made for the 2010 Games.
The treasures were gathered via the tireless efforts of president Sue Griffin, curator Jason Beck, operations director Allison Mailer and trustee Joanie McMaster. Griffin reasonably feared before the Games that cash-strapped VANOC was going to put everything up for auction.
Much of the collection is organized in five display cases resembling each of the Olympic rings and representing the venues where the Games took place. You will find artifacts worn, used or signed by Canada's stars of the Games, like Alexandre Bilodeau, Joannie Rochette, Maelle Ricker, Jon Montgomery, Sidney Crosby and Hayley Wickenheiser. But there is a plethora of other nuggets that might surprise you.
There is a suit, helmet, goggles and practice snowboard that belonged to Johnny Lyall, who flew through the air on a ramp from level 4 and landed on the floor of B.C. Place to greet opening ceremony viewers from around the world. His script on a folded white piece of paper in large Helvetica type is included in the display case: "Welcome to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games! Bienvenue!"
Nancy Greene-Raine’s torch relay uniform and the torch she used to light the ceremonial cauldron was autographed by Wayne Gretzky, Steve Nash, Catriona Le May Doan and Rick Hansen.
Two dozen of the 84 nations of the Games donated a set of ceremonial uniforms.
"Azerbaijan, they've got some good pants, just as good as the Norwegian curling crew,” said the hall’s operations director Allison Mailer during a preview tour.
Hockey superfan Dave Ash, who owns Regina-based Dash Tours, donated his white hockey helmet with the red siren light and his giant Canada flag that Corey Perry borrowed for Team Canada’s victory celebration. Ash paid $3,000 for his front-row seat to the Feb. 28, 2010 gold medal hockey game.
Pakistani alpine skier Muhammad Abbas, who was 79th in the giant slalom, donated the hand-carved, wood plank skis on which he learned as a child.
"Our wish list has been completed, we're just so thrilled,” Mailer said. “The only thing we really want is a Shaun White snowboard. I think we'll still work on it. Maybe we'll send him pictures of the gallery and tell him what's missing."
The provincial sports shrine also reopens with a redesigned Hall of Champions that features a touchscreen multimedia archive of all 325 individuals and 54 teams inducted since its 1966 establishment. Nearby is a display case that include mementoes of Vancouver visits by the 20th century’s greatest athletes -- a Santos jersey worn and signed by Pele and handwraps autographed by Muhammad Ali -- plus the puck used to score the Vancouver Canucks’ first National Hockey League goal and a stopwatch that timed the famed 1954 Miracle Mile between Roger Bannister and John Landy at Empire Stadium.
Elsewhere, the hall includes jerseys, trophies and gear spanning the histories of the B.C. Lions, Canucks, Vancouver Whitecaps and Vancouver Canadians, plus galleries devoted to Hansen, late race car driver Greg Moore and national hero Terry Fox.
The grand reopening is planned for Feb. 10, two days before the second anniversary of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Canada withdraws from dangerous German bobsled track
JAN. 6 UPDATE: Citing track safety, Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton pulled all of its bobsledders out of this weekend's Altenberg world cup after the Jan. 5 crash that seriously injured pilot Chris Spring.
“This is a highly technical track that has a history of crashes,” said head coach Tom De La Hunty in a Jan. 6 Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton news release. “I reviewed the corner this morning, and the track crew simply replaced the piece of wooden board that was damaged. Repairs to the corner were not enhanced, or done to an acceptable safety standard so there are no guarantees the same thing cannot happen again.”
“My ultimate responsibility is the health and safety of the team of athletes I represent,” De La Hunty said. “I am simply not comfortable sending them down this track under these conditions, and I am confident this is the right decision for the best interest of our entire team and national program.”
Spring is a 27-year-old newcomer to the German track where he crashed, according to statistics on the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation website.
Spring and teammates Graeme Rinholm of Saskatoon and Bill Thomas of Queensville, Ont. suffered serious injuries at turn 16 of the Altenberg course on the last day of training before the world cup. Toronto’s Tim Randall had only minor injuries.
Spring, who was airlifted to Dresden University Hospital, suffered a broken nose and serious cuts and bruises. Thomas has bruised lungs and minor trauma. Rinholm has a broken fibula, cuts to his upper legs, buttocks and underlying musculature.
“All of the athletes are resting comfortably, there is no life threatening injuries,” said Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton chief executive Don Wilson from Calgary in a Jan. 5 media conference call.
“The major injuries were quite a severe laceration to the buttock and upper leg area; obviously in the position they’re sitting in debris in the sled ended up cutting them, and in the pilot’s case, ending up in him.”
Wilson said Spring lost a substantial amount of blood because he was the last person extracted from the heavily damaged sled. Fears that Spring suffered a punctured lung or broken ribs were unfounded.
“The German medical people have gone through CT scans and ruled those out,” Wilson said.
Darwin, Australia-native Spring earned bobsledding in 2008 in Calgary and slid for Australia at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics before joining Canada full-time last season. He was 14th in the four-man event and 19th in two-man at the 2011 world championships in Konigssee, Germany. Spring piloted Canada to 10th place despite a snowstorm in the Dec. 18 world cup race at Winterberg, Germany. He was preparing for his first world cup appearance at Altenberg when the crash happened. The 1986-opened track, renovated for the 2012 luge world championships, is considered one of the most difficult on the international circuit.
Canadian high performance director Nathan Cicoria said from Calgary on Jan. 5 that the sled exited the corner at the wrong angle and traveled in an upwards trajectory before hitting a wall. He said he had not seen video footage of the crash but denied limits on training runs contributed to the crash. Teams are supposed to get six runs over three days before the two competition runs.
“We’re not getting into conversations about whose fault it is or whether or not it is a function of the race organizers -- it’s a risky sport,” Cicoria said. “You always want to have more training runs and want to be more prepared, but we felt this crew was at world class-calibre and they were competing at that level. Chris’s results to date reflect that. We need to make sure that we’re focussed on their daily condition versus who's to blame here.”
BCS scheduled a midday teleconference on Jan. 6 to offer more details. Canada's skeleton team will remain in the Altenberg competition. Bobsledders will resume wold cup competition Jan. 13-15 in Konigssee.
Whistler Sliding Centre, the 2010 Olympic track, hosts the world cup tour Feb. 2-4. The tour moves to Calgary for the Feb. 9-11 races and ends with the world championship at Lake Placid, N.Y. Feb. 17-19 and 24-26.
After last month's luge world cup, the Whistler Sliding Centre launched bobsled rides for tourists. The track was the site of the fatal crash of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the opening day of the 2010 Winter Games. Actual speeds on the track were faster than design estimates, but VANOC made no major pre-Games safety changes. The British Columbia coroner ruled Kumaritashvili's death an accident but ordered a safety audit of the track.
2010goldrush@gmail.com
“This is a highly technical track that has a history of crashes,” said head coach Tom De La Hunty in a Jan. 6 Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton news release. “I reviewed the corner this morning, and the track crew simply replaced the piece of wooden board that was damaged. Repairs to the corner were not enhanced, or done to an acceptable safety standard so there are no guarantees the same thing cannot happen again.”
“My ultimate responsibility is the health and safety of the team of athletes I represent,” De La Hunty said. “I am simply not comfortable sending them down this track under these conditions, and I am confident this is the right decision for the best interest of our entire team and national program.”
Spring is a 27-year-old newcomer to the German track where he crashed, according to statistics on the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation website.
Spring and teammates Graeme Rinholm of Saskatoon and Bill Thomas of Queensville, Ont. suffered serious injuries at turn 16 of the Altenberg course on the last day of training before the world cup. Toronto’s Tim Randall had only minor injuries.
Spring, who was airlifted to Dresden University Hospital, suffered a broken nose and serious cuts and bruises. Thomas has bruised lungs and minor trauma. Rinholm has a broken fibula, cuts to his upper legs, buttocks and underlying musculature.
“All of the athletes are resting comfortably, there is no life threatening injuries,” said Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton chief executive Don Wilson from Calgary in a Jan. 5 media conference call.
“The major injuries were quite a severe laceration to the buttock and upper leg area; obviously in the position they’re sitting in debris in the sled ended up cutting them, and in the pilot’s case, ending up in him.”
Wilson said Spring lost a substantial amount of blood because he was the last person extracted from the heavily damaged sled. Fears that Spring suffered a punctured lung or broken ribs were unfounded.
“The German medical people have gone through CT scans and ruled those out,” Wilson said.
Darwin, Australia-native Spring earned bobsledding in 2008 in Calgary and slid for Australia at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics before joining Canada full-time last season. He was 14th in the four-man event and 19th in two-man at the 2011 world championships in Konigssee, Germany. Spring piloted Canada to 10th place despite a snowstorm in the Dec. 18 world cup race at Winterberg, Germany. He was preparing for his first world cup appearance at Altenberg when the crash happened. The 1986-opened track, renovated for the 2012 luge world championships, is considered one of the most difficult on the international circuit.
Canadian high performance director Nathan Cicoria said from Calgary on Jan. 5 that the sled exited the corner at the wrong angle and traveled in an upwards trajectory before hitting a wall. He said he had not seen video footage of the crash but denied limits on training runs contributed to the crash. Teams are supposed to get six runs over three days before the two competition runs.
“We’re not getting into conversations about whose fault it is or whether or not it is a function of the race organizers -- it’s a risky sport,” Cicoria said. “You always want to have more training runs and want to be more prepared, but we felt this crew was at world class-calibre and they were competing at that level. Chris’s results to date reflect that. We need to make sure that we’re focussed on their daily condition versus who's to blame here.”
BCS scheduled a midday teleconference on Jan. 6 to offer more details. Canada's skeleton team will remain in the Altenberg competition. Bobsledders will resume wold cup competition Jan. 13-15 in Konigssee.
Whistler Sliding Centre, the 2010 Olympic track, hosts the world cup tour Feb. 2-4. The tour moves to Calgary for the Feb. 9-11 races and ends with the world championship at Lake Placid, N.Y. Feb. 17-19 and 24-26.
After last month's luge world cup, the Whistler Sliding Centre launched bobsled rides for tourists. The track was the site of the fatal crash of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the opening day of the 2010 Winter Games. Actual speeds on the track were faster than design estimates, but VANOC made no major pre-Games safety changes. The British Columbia coroner ruled Kumaritashvili's death an accident but ordered a safety audit of the track.
2010goldrush@gmail.com
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