May 31, 2013 – Check out a great interview with 2010 Nordic Combined Olympic Gold Medalist Billy Demong (USA). Steve Mesler of the 2010 gold medal winning four-man bobsled team does the interviewing honours as Demong reflects on Vancouver 2010 and articulates his feelings on the lead-up to Sochi 2014 as defending champion. “This year I didn’t medal at World Championships (individually), and for sure didn’t kill it, and I think that makes me more motivated for sure,” says Demong… read the interview HERE.

May 30, 2013 (St. Petersburg, Russia) – The presentation of the Olympic and Paralympic medals, which will be awarded at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, took place in St. Petersburg today during the 11th “SportAccord” Annual International Sports Convention.

Guests of honor at the ceremony, which is often held in the year before the Games, included IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Jean-Claude Killy, CEO of the IPC Xavier Gonzalez and President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Dmitry Chernyshenko.

The presentation ceremony was opened by Dmitry Chernyshenko, who gave the audience the main facts and figures about the Sochi 2014 medals and highlighted their uniqueness. The Olympic and Paralympic medals were then displayed and members of the public were able to view them up-close.

The Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic medals are unique and feature the Sochi 2014 “Patchwork Quilt” – a mosaic of national designs from the various cultures and ethnicities of the Russian Federation. The medals have been carefully crafted to depict the landscape of Sochi from the sun’s rays reflecting through the snowy mountain tops onto the sandy beaches of the Black Sea coast. These contrasts in Russia’s natural landscape are embodied in the medals and will be an everlasting souvenir for the champions. The unusual combination of metal and polycarbonate lends to the medals a sense of lightness and distinctive beauty.

The front of the medal features the Olympic rings. The reverse contains the name of the competition in English, and the logo of the Sochi 2014 Games. The official name of the Games in Russian, English and French is engraved on the medal’s rim.

The Olympic Winter Games in Sochi will set a new record in terms of the number of sports events on show, so a record number of about 1,300 medals will be manufactured.

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games will feature 12 new medal events including men’s and women’s snowboard and ski slopestyle, the ski halfpipe, snowboard parallel special slalom, womens’ ski jumping, the figure skating team event, the luge relay and the biathlon mixed relay.

The Sochi 2014 Paralympic medals were designed in the same style. The form of the award symbolizes the integrity and strength of spirit of Paralympians, who are an example of the unlimited possibilities of humankind.

One side of the medals features the Paralympic symbol (three hemispheres, “agitos”); the reverse features the logo of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games and the name of the competition in English. The official name of the Games in Russian and English is engraved on the medal rim. The awards also contain inscriptions in Braille for the visually impaired.

A set of Sochi 2014 medals traditionally includes a bronze, silver, and gold medal. Depending on the type of metal used, the Sochi 2014 Olympic medals weigh between 460 and 531 grams, and the Paralympic medals – between 585 and 686 grams, due to their design peculiarities. Each medal is 10 mm thick and 100 mm in diameter.

May 08, 2013 – Today, CBC/Radio-Canada, the official rights holder broadcaster of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, and TVA Sports announce that an agreement has been reached to provide TVA Sports access to broadcast portions of CBC/Radio-Canada-produced Olympic programming during Sochi 2014 in French.

“In acquiring the broadcast rights to the Sochi Olympics, one of CBC/Radio-Canada’s primary objectives was to connect as many Canadians as possible with this unparalleled sporting event.” said CBC/Radio-Canada executive vice-president Louis Lalande. “Our agreement with TVA Sports represents a major milestone in helping us achieve that objective.”

“We’re very proud that the TVA Sports network was chosen to be one of CBC/Radio-Canada’s Official Cable Broadcasters and actively involved in presenting the largest sporting event on the planet. TVA Sports will be giving viewers the opportunity to get an up-close look at this major international competition and follow how Canada’s and Quebec’s athletes fare in their Olympic disciplines,” adds TVA Group’s president and CEO Pierre Dion.

“We’re pleased to have extended our relationship with TVA Sports as they become an Official Cable Broadcaster for Sochi 2014,” said Jeffrey Orridge, Head of Sports Properties and General Manager, Olympics at CBC/Radio-Canada. “This agreement provides an even greater opportunity for Canadians to enjoy every minute of the Olympic experience in either official language.”

Details about content to be aired by all channels will be available in the coming months.

CBC/Radio-Canada is the place to be as we count down to Sochi 2014. With coverage across all platforms — including TV, radio, online and mobile — Canadians can connect with the biggest stories and the latest content whenever and wherever they want it. Through world-class storytelling and the best performance coverage available, CBC/Radio-Canada will introduce viewers to Canadian athletes poised to take on the world in 2014. Canadians can engage with CBC leading up to and throughout the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games online in English at cbc.ca/olympics as well as on Twitter @cbcolympics (#cbcolympics) and at facebook.com/cbcolympics and in French at Radio-Canada.ca/olympiques and on Twitter at @RC_Sports #RColympiques and on Facebook at facebook.com/radiocanada.sports.

March 01, 2013 (Park City, UT) – Women’s ski jumping will be featured on NBC’s “Rock Center with Brian Williams” on Friday, March 1 at 10 p.m/9 central. The segment, “Flight Delay”, shares the story of Lindsey Van and her teammates as they train to compete and make their Olympic debut in Sochi 2014.

“Rock Center” Correspondent Kate Snow interviewed and spent time with Van, Jessica Jerome, Sarah Hendrickson, Abby Hughes, Alissa Johnson, and Deedee Corradini, Women’s Ski Jumping USA president, in Park City and in Germany during World Cup competition.

“I’ve watched Olympic ski jumping since I was a kid, but I simply never realized there was a reason I was watching only MEN do the jumping,” said Snow. “When I heard about the fight these women have waged, I wanted to meet them.”

The Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team is ranked No. 1 in the world going into the final two World Cup competitions of the season. The team is led by 18-year-old Hendrickson, who recently won gold at the World Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy.

“The next year is going to be both exciting and critical for our U.S. women ski jumpers and we’re thrilled that Kate Snow and NBC’s ‘Rock Center’ chose to tell their inspiring story in prime time,” Corradini said.

February 20, 2013 (Whistler, B.C.) – Join Olympic and World Cup gold medalists Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey, along with rising stars Len Valjas and Perianne Jones as they compete in the Haywood Ski Nationals – the last major domestic racing event before the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

More than 600 of Canada’s best cross-country skiers will race in the 2013 Haywood Ski Nationals, the largest of three Nordic national championships to be held at Whistler Olympic Park, March 23 – 30, 2013.

The Olympic Park is the site of the Sea to Sky Nordic Festival where Canada’s elite winter athletes will compete in Biathlon Nationals and North American Biathlon Championships, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Canadian Nationals.

With hundreds of athletes on site for biathlon, cross-country, and ski-jumping/Nordic combined, the event will “return us to the excitement of 2010 Olympics,” says event chair Sherryl Yeager.

“We’ll have more athletes, more races and more adrenalin pumping in this two-week period than we did in 2010,” says Yeager. “This event is going to give you non-stop all-day high-level racing from Canada’s best.”

Whistler Olympic Park is the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics and offers world-class racing trails and a picturesque recreational trail system that meanders through old growth forest in the Callaghan Valley. This is only the third time the Ski Nationals have been hosted in the Sea to Sky Corridor in 20 years. They were first held in Vancouver in 1991 and at Whistler Olympic Park in 2008.

All events are free of charge for spectators.

www.skinationals.com

January 28, 2013 (Sochi, Russia) – At the moment, the 5th Russian fix-it-man of the day is watching Holly try to explain/pantomime that the upstairs shower leaks through the ceiling and upstairs someone else is working on the pipes. And this has been the “down-time” part of the last few days! Russia has been very exciting, like this huge adventure. I’m never quite sure what to expect, where to go and when to be there, but it’s cool as long as you go with the flow. And don’t bother asking questions – you won’t get anywhere!

So here’s how our travel to Sochi started: we drove to the Zurich Airport a full 4 hours before our flight was supposed to leave. Just in case, you know. And we had to tag and drop off all our ski bags and duffels, and then go purchase tickets inside. Then we boarded the plane. So far, this sounds like a normal travel day, right?

Because this was a charter flight full of athletes and all their skis, wax tables, benches and boxes, there were about 90 bags that didn’t make the flight. But not for lack of trying. The last 10-ish rows of the plane had the seats folded down and duffels stacked up – and the row in front of them was emptied “for safety reasons”. In case the bags started sliding, I guess. I think the plane was weighted funny because when we landed, we landed HARD and there might have been a few screams from the back row (we were in the back rows).

But the flight was fine, and then we had to get through customs. Turns out getting into Russia isn’t that easy and you need an invitation, then a visa, and then you fill out identical sides of this tiny piece of paper that they stamp. What they don’t emphasize nearly enough is that the other half of that little paper is your ticket back out, and you can’t lose it. Just don’t let it out of your sight!

Our team was really lucky and all our bags made it through, so we loaded them into these huge trucks and then waited in the rain for a bus. Once we were on the bus, we waited on the side of the road for 30 minutes, then drove slowly through traffic up to the venue. Then waited some more, before going through accreditation processing.

Once we got our credentials, which you also CANNOT LOSE because there are guards in fur hats everywhere that check your creds at all these checkpoints, we went through another security scanner. Then we hopped into a gondola that took us to the Olympic village and trails at the top of the mountain, at the venue called “Laura”. Turns out the venue is named after a raging river, which is named after a girl named Laura who jumped in it to kill herself instead of living with an old prince she didn’t love. Whoa. More info on the venue and 2014 Olympics in general HERE.

After getting off the gondola, we had to check in again to get our keys to the condo, and after eating dinner at 1:00am we took the bumpiest bus ride EVER to get to our lodging. It was super exciting! We all thought the bus ride was hilarious so everyone had their phones out. The picture below helps to explain some of the bumpy ride. So yep, that was our travel to Russia! But because we arrived in the dead of night, we woke up to see beautiful mountains and check out the venue.

Basically, we’re staying in brand spanking new condos that have 5 rooms each, for 10 people total, and they’re super roomy. The only problem is the aforementioned leak in the ceiling whenever Simi and Noah shower. But we’re working on that! However, most of the village is still under construction so there are cranes and construction crews all over.

And the GUARDS. They are everywhere, and there must be several hundred volunteers all in blue jackets. The volunteers are super friendly and most speak very good english, but most of the guards don’t say a word. Except when they stop the buses to check everyone’s credentials. I told you – you don’t want to lose that thing!

Once you leave the really modern new strip of housing, things get a little messy. And I do mean that literally since there is mud and water all over, and in some parts of the road all you can smell is sewage. But what I noticed most was the absolute lack of privacy. Some people say “God is always watching”…but now I know the real deal. The Russians are always watching. There are cameras everywhere, along the fences, on the course, in the entrances to buildings.

The dining hall is about an 8-minute walk away, up the side of the bunny hill where little kids in boots up to their knees are bombing around. And what starts out as a waist-high metal fence on the right slowly morphs into a 10-foot tall fence with barbed wire spiraling over the top and cameras mounted in all directions along the wall. On our side of the fence are the new buildings, glass-walled bars, chalets and chairlifts, and on the other side there is mud, construction zones, and containers stacked on containers that provide housing for the workers. And I’m not complaining about a thing because I’m on the right side of that fence!

So here are some things I’ve figured out about Sochi so far:
– The ski trails are amazing – rolling, super wide, and with seperate trials for cross country and biathalon
– There are also two seperate stadiums, and while the biathalon is a permanent structure, the cross country stadium is a temporary one. But it’s still gigantic.
– It doesn’t look like there are other lodging options up here except for the condos, but there is a hotel at the bottom of the gondola where some of the teams are staying.
– There seem to be rules and regulations about so many little things. Like checkpoints, fences, credentials, transport, meal tickets.
– And then sometimes there seem to be no rules at all. Like what time you eat and train at, or whether your wax cabin is unlocked.

The races start on Friday with a skate sprint, Saturday a 15km skiathalon, and Sunday is the classic team sprint. I’m excited to be here and will put up more pictures when I can!

December 05, 2012 – The World Cup passed through its second stop of the season at Ruka, which is just outside of Kuusamo in Finland, this past weekend and this is what I think I know after the three races that took place there:

– Marit Bjoergen and Petter Northug are the best skiers in the world right now. Bjoergen dominated winning all three races and is undefeated on the season in the World Cup. This comes on the heels of some talk in the Norwegian press that she was losing a step after having been beaten in some early season races. Northug did not win any of the races on the weekend – he was 2nd in the sprints to Russian Nikolai Kriukov and 2nd again to another Russian, Alexandr Legkov in the 10 km but he won the overall sprint at the end of the third race from another Russian, Maxim Vylegzhanin. He is now leading the World Cup overall.

– The Russian team is ramping it up in preparation for the Olympics in Sochi in 2014. In addition to the above mentioned men’s results they had 5 men finish in the top 10 overall at the end of the three days and that did not include their sprinters like Kriukov. The Russian women’s team is also getting better and better with Julia Tchekaleva 3rd in the 5km and Evgenia Shapovalova 2nd and Anastasia Dotsenko 3rd in the sprints.

– Justina Kowaczyk (POL) is still the 2nd best female skier in the world. She is starting to round into form after a very hard summer and fall of training and she finished 2nd to Bjoergen overall at the end of the weekend. She will be a force in the Tour de Ski after Xmas for sure.

– Kikkan Randall is the real deal in distance racing with a second podium finish in the 5km. It is interesting that she is doing better in distance than in sprints so far this season. She will challenge Bjoergen, Kowalczyk and Terese Johaug of Norway for the overall World Cup this year.

– The rest of the American women are also the real deal. Ida Sargeant had a career best 9th in the sprints and joins Kikkan, Holly Brooks, Liz Stephen and Jessie Diggins to make up one of the strongest women’s teams in the world right now. They should do very well in the Canadian World Cups over the next two weeks.

– Perianne Jones (12th)and Dasha Gaiasova (14th) had great sprint races but continue to struggle in distance races. Chandra Crawford is struggling everywhere and needs to get it together quickly if she is going to race well at home in Canada.

– Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey are starting to come out of their funk. Both had decent results over the weekend but it is nothing like how they finished the year last year. The pressure is on to perform in Canada, especially for Harvey in his hometown this weekend in Quebec City. I wonder what they will do?

– Noah Hoffman is starting to shine. As a junior he had a great engine but poor technique but it seems that he is starting to put it all together. Last year he was a medalist at the World U23 games and his 19th place in the 10km and 26th place overall shows big improvement over last year. The other men on the US team are still back in the pack and need to pick it up soon.

– Many of the top skiers will not be coming to Canada for the World Cups. Marit Bjoergen and Petter Northug stated after the races in Ruka that they would not attend. The Finnish team will only send 5 sprinters to Quebec City, but will send more to the distance races in Canmore including Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. This means that there will be more World Cup points available for North American skiers, as the fields will be diluted.

– Having World Cups in Canada is also a great opportunity for younger, less experienced North American skiers to show what they can do against the best. Careers can be jump started by having a great race over the next two weeks. These are the skiers that I will be watching closely. Now is the time for them to get on the “escalator” that will take them to Sochi in 2014. By skiing well now they will get more opportunities to ski at this level later on in the year which will give them more chances to qualify for their National Teams and for their Olympic Teams. It will be very hard for skiers who are not on the escalator now to make it to Sochi next year.

– All of the Canadian races will be shown on either CBC or Bold over the next three weeks. Consult your local listings for time and dates and set your PVR – there is going to be some great racing!

October 31, 2012 – Amateur sports in Canada have seen significant cutbacks in corporate sponsorships since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and officials are concerned about the future of sport in the country reports the Vancouver Sun. According to the Sun article, Canadian sports officials are working with much smaller budgets post-Vancouver 2010 and this will negatively affect athlete development once the 2014 Sochi Olympics are over. Read the article HERE.

October 02, 2012 (Calgary, AB) – Biathlete Robin Clegg, 35, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, was hit by a vehicle, apparently deliberately by an angry driver, while he and two friends were cycling near Calgary on Sunday, reported the Toronto Star. Clegg suffered a broken collarbone and elbow and underwent surgery for his injuries. Read the full article HERE.

September 26, 2012 – Join Canadian Olympic XC Skier Perianne Jones and support her 2013 season as she continues her road to the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games. The event takes place on October 16 at the Britannia Yacht Club in Ottawa from 7-9p.m. The evening will include a waxing workshop and a silent auction. Tickets $30, available at Fresh Air Experience, 1291 Wellington St., Ottawa, 613-729-3002.

April 24, 2012 – On this week’s edition of Talkin’ with the Gravy-Train, we pick up where we left off last week during Peter Graves’s interview with former US and Canadian XC Ski Team Head Coach, Marty Hall. Hall delves deeper into the North American success this year and looks at the next wave of talent and what it means for the future of the sport on this continent. Hall coached the US Team when Bill Koch won his Olympic silver medal at the Games in Innesbruck, Austria, and was also at the helm of the Canadian Team during Pierre Harvey’s heyday – check out his report cards in his column Hallmarks in the final issue issue of SkiTrax this season.

Marty Hall part 2 – for part 1 click here.

April 23, 2012 – Although support is still strong for him in many quarters in Estonia, disgraced two-time skiing gold medalist Andrus Veerpalu will lose out on state funding for a while – the stipend that the Cultural Endowment pays all living Olympic champions.

Veerpalu, who tested positive for doping last year, is not among this year’s recipients of the benefit, which consists of semi-annual payments of 1,150 euros each.

Secretary General of the Olympic Committee Toomas Tõnise said Veerpalu’s name could not be proposed this time as it would have gone against international anti-doping rules, which forbid sanctioned athletes from receiving public sector money…

Link to the ERR article HERE.

April 16, 2012 – The second edition of the Olympic Solidarity scholarship program for Sochi 2014 has been launched following the success of the first edition in 2010, through which 325 athletes were assisted to prepare and qualify for the Games in Vancouver. The Program guidelines and application forms have now been sent to the NOCs with the deadline of 31st August 2012 for submitting applications to Olympic Solidarity to be included in 1st batch of allocations (starting on 1st November 2012). The 2nd batch of scholarships will be activated on 1st March 2013.

The Olympic Solidarity scholarship program is designed to improve the competitiveness of the Olympic Winter Games rather than to expand artificially the universality of these Games. As such, access is only offered to NOCs that have a strong winter sports tradition who can present athletes having a proven winter sports record and technical level. The athletes proposed for an Olympic scholarship by their NOCs must have an adequate technical level to allow them to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games. Olympic Solidarity has requested the International Federations inform their National Associations about the Olympic Solidarity Athlete Scholarships for Sochi 2014 and that applications may only be submitted by their NOC. For more information, click HERE.

March 30, 2012 (Ottawa, ON) – Canada’s sporting heroes remain hungry to deliver a return on the Government of Canada’s continued investment in high-performance sport following Thursday’s budget announcement that ensured the Harper Government’s ongoing commitment to driving podium performances.

“The Government of Canada continues to lead the way in creating a new culture for winning, which Canada’s athletes and coaches fully support,” said Anne Merklinger, chief executive officer, Own the Podium. “This commitment reinforces the Canadian Government’s leadership in delivering the resources athletes need to climb onto the podium at Olympic, Paralympic and major international competitions.”

Own the Podium, which has been a driving force behind Canada’s continued evolution into a world-leading sport nation, is funded nearly exclusively by the Government of Canada. Originally launched in 2005 as a national initiative, Own the Podium is designed to provide medal-potential athletes with additional resources and high-performance programming to help them achieve podium success.

Canada’s 50 per cent increase in the Summer Olympic medal count from Athens to Beijing is in large part attributable to the Government of Canada’s leadership, according to one of Canada’s most decorated Olympians – two-time Olympic medallist in triathlon, Simon Whitfield.

“We simply could not have achieved what we did without the tremendous financial support from the Government of Canada’s investment in Own the Podium,” said Whitfield, who electrified the nation with his silver-medal triathlon triumph in Beijing. “From camp funding and staff support, to the heat chamber, and our satellite setup at the actual Games that included our own wonder chef Cosmo, OTP’s funding ensures we have the optimal conditions to excel.”

After five years of record investment, Own the Podium became a household name following the nation’s overwhelming success at the 2010 Games where Canadian athletes achieved their goals of finishing number one overall with an historic 14 Olympic gold medals, and in the top-three of the overall Paralympic medal count with 10 gold, including three by cross-country skier Brian McKeever.

“Before our program had access to Government funding through OTP, we were amateurs guessing our way through the results while competing in high performance sport,” said McKeever – a 10-time Paralympic medallist, who became the first winter-sport athlete to qualify for both the Olympics and Paralympics in 2010. “OTP is responsible for growing the program by developing young athletes, and also increasing the level of our team to where we now have every athlete hitting the start line with a focus on winning.”

Building on the success of 2010, Own the Podium’s $36 million annual investment in summer athletes has positioned Whitfield and his fellow Canadian Summer Olympians to accomplish the nation’s ambitious goal of finishing in the top 12 when the world meets in London for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games. Canada also has a goal of finishing in the top-eight in gold medal count at the 2012 Paralympics. Meanwhile, the $20 million of annual funding for winter sport programs has squarely placed Canada as the nation to beat at the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia; Canadian performances on the snow and ice this winter have elevated the nation’s ranking to number one with 35 medals – including 17 gold – in World Championship competition so far this season. Canada’s Paralympic athletes are also focused on finishing in the top-three in the gold-medal count at the 2014 Games.

“The Government of Canada has played a critical role towards ensuring Canadian athletes are amongst the world’s best through their support of the Own the Podium program,” said Merklinger. “Through Government support, Canada’s summer- and winter-sport athletes have come a long way in their pursuit of excellence. The support announced today sends a strong message that the Government of Canada believes in our athletes and coaches, and their performances on the world stage matter to Canadians. We are encouraged Mr. Harper has taken a lead in ensuring this success will continue well into the future, which in turn inspires a healthier and more active Canada.”

January 20, 2012 (Innsbruck, Austria) – The second xc-ski event of the Youth Olympic Games – a skate sprint – took place on Thursday at Seefeld, Austria. Canada’s Maya MacIssac-Jones qualified 15th behind Silje Theodorsen of Norway, to move on to the quarterfinals in the women’s competition.

In the third quarterfinal, MacIssac-Jones was drawn against the #5 and #6 qualifiers from Austria and Switzerland and Chun Ma from China, who had qualified only 0.3s back of MacIssac-Jones. MacIssac-Jones qualified for the semis quite comfortably in first, with Nadine Faehndrich of Switzerland 0.3s back in second, well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Racing in the second semifinal, MacIssac-Jones finished fourth, at 4 seconds off the pace of Jonna Sundling of Sweden. At this point, it was unclear if the gap was due to a fall or other issue on the course. Sundling ended up second behind Theodorson of Norway. MacIsaac-Jones finished a strong eighth overall.

Team USA’s Heather Mooney qualified for the quarterfinal, but did not advance and finished 24th.

In the men’s event, USA’s Patrick Caldwell landed a fantastic fifth place in the final, after he placed 18th in the qualifier. In the quarterfinal, Caldwell placed fifth for one of the lucky loser spots and just squeaked through to the semi’s. He repeated his good fortune in the semi’s to make the final, where he grabbed his top-five result.

Canada’s Matthew Saurette was 23rd in men’s qualifying, as Norwegian Andreas Molden was the top men’s qualifier. Saurette skied in the 5th and last quarterfinal for the men, with Chrisander Holth from Norway, the #3 qualifier, and Caldwell. Marcus Ruus from Sweden won the heat with Saurette finishing a bit back at the tail end of the pack. It was a fast heat, allowing both Holth and Caldwell to qualify for the semis as the “lucky losers”.

The men’s race was won by Molden. Saurette ended up 29th overall.

Women’s Results HERE.
Men’s Results HERE.

The races finish up on Saturday with the mixed relay, biathlon, cross country men and women.

With files from Cross Country Canada.

January 17, 2012 (Innsbruck, Austria) – The inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games are underway in Innsbruck and Canadian and U.S. athletes are already making headlines. Here are the latest Team USA and Team Canada updates from the Youth Olympic Games newsroom.

Canada’s Chef de Mission Beckie Scott visits Seefeld Venue
Beckie Scott, who was the first Canadian to win a Cross-Country Olympic Gold medal, has paid a visit to Seefeld Arena to support her nation’s athletes and also check out the track.

Describing her experience as Chef de Mission of the Canadian Team at the Innsbruck 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games as “mellow so far”, Scott was accompanied by her husband and their four-year-old son Teo, who was kitted out for some fun on the slopes.

Scott enjoyed time on the track, testing the challenging hills at Seefeld as Innsbruck 2012 athletes trained in preparation for the start of the Cross-Country on Tuesday.

Read full story HERE.

Selyaninov Grabs Gold in 10km Classic, USA’s Caldwell 16th
Alexander Selyaninov (RUS) took victory in a time of 29:28.8, gaining a +11.4 advantage over Kentaro Ishikawa (JPN). Bronze went to Kazakhstan’s Sergey Malyshev, who finished +28.7 behind. Conditions were ideal, with packed snow, partly cloudy skies, and temperatures hovering around -7 C.

Patrick Caldwell (USA) was the top North American finisher in 16th place and +2:01.3 back. Matthew Saurette (CAN) finished 29th.

Results HERE.

Sedova Scores in 5km Classic, USA’s Mooney 13th
Anastasia Sedova (RUS), sister of World Cup racer Peter Sedov (RUS), won gold in the women’s 5km Classic at the Youth Olympic Games. Sedova won in 14:18, nearly +20s faster than silver medalist Anamaria Lampic (SLO). Lea Einfalt (SLO) made it a double-medal day for Slovenia when she secured the bronze.

Team USA’s Heather Mooney logged the best North American result with a 13th-place finish at +2:00.8. Maya MacIsaac-Jones (CAN) finished 17th.

Results HERE.

Takanashi Wins WSJ, Canada’s Henrich 5th
Sara Takanashi (JPN) won the Women’s Individual Ski Jump event with two jumps of 76.5m. Germany’s Katharina Althaus finished second with jumps of 71.0m and 72.5m. and Ursa Bogataj (SLO) took home bronze with a pair of 71.5m jumps.

Canada’s Taylor Henrich finished fifth with a leap of 64m in her first run and 66m in her second. Emilee Anderson (USA) completed the competition in ninth place after a first-round jump of 59.5m on the HS75 hill. She fought back to jump 65.5m in the second round.

Results HERE.

Lanisek Tops in Men’s Ski Jumping, Canada’s Korek 8th
Anze Lanisek (SLO) won the Men’s Individual Ski Jump competition in Innsbruck with two solid jumps. The first was 78.2m and the second 77.5m. Mats Berggaard (NOR) took home the silver medal, with Yukiya Sato (JPN) earning the bronze.

Canada’s Dusty Korek was the top North American with an eighth-place finish and two consistent jumps of 77.5m and 77.3m each. Team USA’s William Rhoads finished 19th.

Results HERE.

December 27, 2011 – The events of 2011 have put the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Movement in a strong position as we look to 2012 and beyond. Over the course of this year, we took action to safeguard the integrity of sport, strengthened our ties to the United Nations and expanded our efforts to use sport as a tool for development – all while maintaining a strong focus on our core mission of ensuring successful Olympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee continued to take the lead in the fight against doping, with strong support from our International Federations and National Olympic Committees. We also took action against another scourge, illegal and irregular betting. The IOC has teamed up with governments, IFs, NOCs and betting operators for a collective action.

Our partnership with the UN is stronger than ever. Our collaboration is extending the reach of sport as a tool for peace, development and sustainability around the world. In September, I was pleased to represent the IOC at the UN General Assembly, promoting a greater role for sport in the fight against noncommunicable diseases. Earlier in the year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon participated in the 2nd International Forum on Sport, Peace and Development in Geneva, focusing on sport as a catalyst for achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals. Our work with the UN in 2012 will include initiatives related to the Rio +20 environmental summit in Brazil.

While Games organisers moved ahead this year with preparations for the 2012 London Games, the 2014 Sochi Games and the 2016 Rio Games, the IOC looked further into the future. Organisers in PyeongChang went to work almost immediately after the city was selected in July to host the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

We have much to look forward to in the coming year. The first Winter Youth Olympic Games will get underway in Innsbruck on 13 January. Thanks to the support of our International Federations and National Olympic Committees, I am confident that this inaugural event will build on the success of the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore last year. We are also confident about the future Games in Nanjing, which will host the 2nd Summer edition in 2014, and in Lillehammer, host of the 2nd Winter edition in 2016.

The Games of the XXX Olympiad will open on 27 July, when London will become the first city to host three editions of the Olympic Games. The Games have already transformed East London and are poised to leave a great sports and development legacy to one of the world’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities. I hope to see all of you there next summer.

Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC

December 21, 2011 – Send us photos of your team, your athletes and yourself wearing the Olympic Red Mittens so we can rally all Canadian sport fans around this great contest!

As winter holidays come around again, so do the iconic Olympic Red Mittens from the Hudson’s Bay Company. The COC wants people to show off their national pride and win a pair of these popular Christmas stocking stuffers. Canadians are already spotting Olympic Red Mittens everywhere.

From now until Jan. 1, the COC is inviting fans to post photos to our Facebook page or Tweet us @CDNOlympicTeam, using the hashtag #RedMittens with their photo of the Olympic Red Mittens. Fans spot Olympic Red Mittens, take a photo and we will choose the best picture to earn an official full-zip hoodie from the Canadian Olympic Team’s replica collection by the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Runners-up will claim a pair of Olympic Red Mittens for themselves.

October 27, 2011 – An Olympic Games Impact Study examining the effects of the Vancouver 2010 Games has been released. The report, which examines socio-cultural, economic and environmental impacts of the Games, is available at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Sport and Sustainability website: www.css.ubc.ca.

“This study confirms what we all saw during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games,” said Canadian Olympic Committee President Marcel Aubut. “The sense of pride that swept up our nation was a turning point in our nation’s history. The Games injected millions into the local economy and great strides have been made in making these events more environmentally sound.”

The University of British Columbia was commissioned by the Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee (VANOC) to complete the survey. Since VANOC’s wrap-up, the COC presented the study’s results to the IOC at the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa. This is the third of four reports. The first took baseline measurements in the Vancouver area from which to compare future findings. The second examined Vancouver in the pre-Games window. This report looks at the impacts during the Games themselves. The Post-Games Report will summarize findings from previous reports, and provide final conclusion about the impact of the Olympic Games in 2013.

Socio-cultural impacts
– Inclusion – Aboriginal groups and minorities participated in the bidding, planning and staging of the Games. Data from opinion polls conducted before and after the Paralympic Games showed that public awareness of people with disabilities increased as a result of the Games.
– Sport – Municipal, provincial and federal governments introduced policies and projects to leverage the Games, including a program for excellence in sport, Own the Podium,that likely increased the number of medals won by Canadian athletes.
– Arts and culture – Arts and culture were a significant aspect of the hosting of the 2010 Games
– Housing – There were no new data related to homelessness and affordable housing subsequent to the Pre-Games Report. The report noted that possible media attention and local advocacy efforts may have catalyzed government efforts to address these issues. The following OGI report is expected to provide further insight on these issues.

Economic impacts
– Business and jobs – New businesses and new jobs were created that related directly to the Olympics such as venue operation, as well as indirectly such as hotel and restaurant jobs.
– Real estate – Increases in the cost of hotel stays and in real estate prices in the year 2010 were both potentially due to the Games.
– Tourism – Increases in YVR airport traffic (passenger and freight) and in visitor spending around the time of the Games were both potentially due to the 2010 Winter Games.
– Tax revenue – The Games-time report conservatively estimates that the public sector benefited by at least $50 million (CAD) in total tax revenue from Olympic activities.

Environmental impacts
– Greenhouse gas emissions – Data from VANOC showed that Olympic-related greenhouse gas emissions increased every year following 2005, with an eight-fold increase during Games-time compared to the organizing period, mainly due to transportation to and around Vancouver.
– Mode of travel – During the Games, travel into and out of the downtown core (where many Games-related events were held) increased. During this period, the share of low-impact modes of travel into and out of the downtown core became the dominant mode of travel over personal vehicle use.
– Energy consumption – Olympic-related energy consumption for facility operation and transportation during the Games was almost an equal share between fossil fuels and renewable sources. Most of the energy (80 per cent) was used for venues and facilities.

September 13, 2011 (Sochi, Russia) – Preparations for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games are continuing, with work expected to be completed on many of the mountain venues by the end of this year.

During the 2014 Games, events will be focused around two different areas – a coastal cluster of venues in Sochi for ice events, and a mountain cluster in the Krasnaya Polyana Mountains.

The mountain cluster will be home to all the skiing and sliding sports and will include a Biathlon and Ski Complex, a Bobsleigh Track, a Ski Centre and a Ski Jump Complex, as well as a Snowboard Park and Freestyle Centre.

Many of the venues are due to host international events at the beginning of 2012, in preparation for the 2014 Games, and IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Jean-Claude Killy was confident that the athletes would be impressed following a recent visit to Sochi. “I am confident that the world’s winter athletes will be impressed when they arrive in Sochi for the up-coming sports events and the Games in 2014,” said Killy. He continued, “The entire Sochi 2014 team deserves great praise for their achievements over the past six months.”

The Biathlon and Ski Complex, located on the crest and slopes of the Psekhako Ridge, will host both the FIS Cup and the IBU Cup in January next year, while the Alpine Centre, on the Aibga Ridge, will host the Alpine FIS World Cup in February.

The Ski Jumping Complex, which is located in Esto-Sadok village on the northern slope of the Aibga Ridge, will stage the FIS Ski Jumping Cup in February, while the Snowboard Park and Freestyle Centre, to the West of the Rosa Khutor plateau, will host both the Freestyle FIS European Cup and the Snowboard FIS European Cup in March.

www.olympic.org

May 11, 2011 – Martin Koukal decided to leave the Czech national Cross-Country team and will take part in distance races next season.

World Champion in 50 km Free from Val di Fiemme 2003, bronze medalist in team sprint from Oberstdorf 2005 and bronze medal winner in relay from Vancouver 2010 decided to leave the Czech national team in favor of loppets.

32 year-old skier from Nove Mesto na Morave plans to return to World Cup racing in the 2012/13 season to be able to qualify for the World Championships in Val di Fiemme 2013 and Winter Olympic Games in Sochi one year later.

“I’ve been in the World Cup very long time and I feel I need a change. It will be a challenge and I like challenges very much,” said Koukal to the Czech media. “Koukal will take part in at least to training camps with the Czech national team and will race at the World Cup in Nove Mesto. I want to have overview about his shape,” explained Czech head coach Miroslav Petrasek.

May 10, 2011 – Check out this great interview with Swedish cross country skier Marcus Hellner as he reflects on winning Olympic gold in 2010 and Worlds in Oslo this year. He also talks about his off-season activities and plan to win the World Cup overall next season. Read the full Red Bull interview HERE.

May 04, 2011 – A group of Canada’s medal-winning cross-country ski athletes, who combined to win an unprecedented 25 medals at the World Championships, IPC World Championships, World Cup and IPC World Cup races this year, will celebrate a season of excellence by hopping on a luxurious 1926 CP train with a handful of distinguished guests for a tour from Calgary through the spectacular Rocky Mountains to beautiful Banff, AB, on May 5 as a fundraising event.

Alex Harvey, who teamed up with Devon Kershaw, to win the nation’s first-ever World Championship medal – a gold in the team sprint; Brian McKeever, who won three gold and one silver at the IPC World Championships; Ivan Babikov, who is one of three Canadian men to win a World Cup gold medal; Daria Gaiazova, who captured her first World Cup bronze medal this season; Olympian Perianne Jones, who finished this season with her strongest World Cup result of her career; along with two-time Olympian George Grey will all be on board the Canadian National XC Team Express on Thursday.

The unique fundraising experience will help Cross Country Canada deliver the resources Canadian athletes require to continue achieving podium results on the track to the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

May 02, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – After more than 15 years of skiing competitively (seven of those years on the national team), Stefan Kuhn has retired from competitive cross country skiing. Heading into the 2011 Haywood National Championships this March in Canmore, AB, Kuhn knew it was going to be his last major competition.

Kuhn started racing with Canmore Nordic as a 10-year-old. From 1996-1998 he was a member of the junior national team, competing at the Junior World  Championships twice.

During his first season racing as a senior from 1999-2000, Kuhn tried to get a taste of what life would be like without ski racing full time. After a year of working part time as a chef, and training full time, Kuhn hung up his skis for a few years and turned to working full time.

But it didn’t take long for him to realize just how much he missed the sport, and soon after he decided that he wasn’t ready to leave skiing behind him just yet.

In 2005, Kuhn returned to racing with immediate success. After moving to Edmonton under the guidance of his friend Jack Cook, Kuhn quickly made a return to the upper echelons of XC racing in Canada, earning a spot on the national team in 2007.

The years from 2008 to 2011 proved to be the best of his career, as he represented Canada at multiple World Championships and – perhaps best of all – at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Looking back over his career, Kuhn says one of his fondest racing memories was “…being handed a silver medal by one of my heroes, Gunde Svan, at the pre-World Cup championships at Silver Star Mountain, in Vernon, B.C. in 1992.”

Following his return to skiing in 2005, he remarked that having good results at the 2006 Tour de Ski at Soldier Hollow gave him confidence that he could ski with the best. That confidence was further reinforced at his first European World Cup sprint in 2007 where he placed 12th, and where Canada had four skiers in the top 15.

Now with many years under his belt having grown up within the competitive ski community, Kuhn has seen a fair bit change for cross-country skiing in Canada. While he admits that awareness of the sport hasn’t increased dramatically, the “…funding has improved significantly for national team members.”

Perhaps the biggest difference is in the calibre and depth of racing in Canada. He admits that in his first year as a senior, breaking into the top 10 wasn’t much of a concern – it was the top three positions that mattered. Now he says it’s a lot harder to break into the top 10 at any national-level race in Canada.

No doubt the increased depth is the result of more investment in sending skiers to Europe, introducing them to the highest level of competition early, and on a regular basis.

As he steps back from the spotlight, Kuhn does have some advice to pass on to aspiring skiers. “The transition from racing in Canada to Europe is the hardest process to make as a skier,” Kuhn told SkiTrax.

“You’ve got to believe,” he continues, “You have to know that the hard work you’re doing is the same that everyone else is doing. You have to believe in yourself, your coach, and your program.”

Kuhn points to skiers like Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey as proof. “Before, we never thought we could beat them [the Europeans].”

Although Kuhn is stepping down from racing, he is not stepping away from racing. He has signed on to be one of the coaches with the Alberta World Cup Academy, which will keep him busy in addition to his work as a master chef.

Check out Kuhn’s site HERE.

April 27, 2011 – The Olympic Museum has just launched a photo contest in conjunction with the temporary exhibition currently showing at The Olympic Museum! There are many prizes to be won including a VIP tour of The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Other prizes include photo and/or video equipment. Please read the Group Rules on Flickr.

How do I take part?

It’s easy… take and share one or more photos that represent one or more of the Olympic values:

– Friendship through sport
– Respect through sport
– Excellence through sport

Participate in the contest HERE.

Please note that, on a regular basis and for a limited period of time, a random selection of photos submitted for the contest will be featured in the HOPE temporary exhibition at The Olympic Museum in Lausanne.

Contest dates: 31 March to 15 September 2011.

Good luck!

Learn more about the Hope exhibition HERE.

April 15, 2011 – Mati Alaver, Estonian Ski Team coach, has refused to accept the job of Russian Ski Team Coach offered by the Russian Ski Federation according to ERR News. Alaver states that his priority is to help prove that Estonian skier Andrus Veerpalu is not guilty of doping despite his B Sample positive test for HGH on April 6.

The Estonian coach added that if Veerpalu is cleared, he will continue his position with the Estonian Team. But Russian Ski Federation President, Yelena Vyalbe, is trying to recruit Alavar, who coached Veerpalu a 2x Olympic and 2x World Champion, along with world championship bronze medalist, Jaak Mae.

Vyalbe, a former cross-country skier herself, with three Olympic gold medals to her name, maintains her confidence in Veerpalu’s innocence and Alavar’s integrity as a coach.

Read the ERR News articles HERE and HERE.
Read previous coverage about the Veerpalu case HERE and HERE.

March 28, 2011 (Apeldoorn, Netherlands) – Hot on the heels of winning the 2010/11 World Cup series title in the women’s track cycling Omnium event, former Canadian National Team XC skier Tara Whitten won the Track World Championship title in the same event in Apeldoorn, Netherlands on Sunday.

The former high-level skier turned cyclist from Edmonton also excelled on the snow, achieving a sprint silver medal at the 2003 Under-23 World Nordic Championships.

Whitten is on track to represent Canada at the London 2012 Summer Olympics with the strong potential of winning a medal.

Read the full story HERE.

Listen to a conference call interview with Whitten after her win HERE.

March 24, 2011 (Ottawa, ON) – The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced today that Beckie Scott has been appointed as Canada’s Chef de Mission for the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games (WYOG) in Innsbruck, Austria.

“I am absolutely thrilled and incredibly honoured to have been asked to be the Chef de Mission of the Canadian team competing in Innsbruck 2012,” Scott said. “The first winter edition of the Youth Olympic Games will be sensational and I can’t imagine a greater experience for young competitive athletes. I really look forward to guiding, assisting and sharing this memorable event with our team.”

Scott is a three-time Olympian, a double medallist and one of Canada’s best cross-country skiers ever. She made history at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games by winning a gold medal in pursuit. In so doing, she became the first North American woman to win an Olympic medal (of any kind) in cross-country skiing. Four years later, Scott took to the podium again, teaming with Sara Renner to win the silver medal in team sprint.

“Beckie is the ideal candidate for these inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games,” said Caroline Assalian, the COC’s Executive Managing Director, Sport and NSF Relations. “She has intimate knowledge of these Games from her work on the IOC Coordination Commission for Innsbruck 2012. More importantly, the WYOG are about inspiring youth and living the Olympic Values. Beckie has demonstrated her commitment to those values. She believes in the Youth Olympic movement which is why she has decided to make the Canadian Youth Olympic Team a priority.”

During the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Scott was elected to the IOC Athletes’ Commission for an eight-year term. She is also a member of the IOC’s Coordination for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games – as well as the Coordination of the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games.

As a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Athlete Committee, Scott is a passionate and influential lobbyist in this area. Among her many initiatives was an athletes’ petition that requested an independent drug-testing body for all World Cup and Olympic competitions.

She was also a part of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games as a board member for the organizing committee, VANOC. In 2006, Scott became a member of the COC’s Executive Committee as well as the Athletes’ Council, consequent to her election as an IOC member. She also serves on the board of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

As Chef de Mission, Scott will take on the role of official representative and spokesperson of the Canadian Youth Olympic Team, and be a key member of the overall leadership team for Canada’s participation in the Winter Youth Olympic Games. Her leadership and Olympic experience are invaluable assets to the delegation. Scott’s knowledge of sport and the Olympic Movement will be of utmost importance in the interaction with stakeholders, both nationally and internationally.

The inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games will take place from January 13 – 22, 2012 in Innsbruck, Austria, site of the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Winter Games.

March 22, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – Brian McKeever will lean on childhood ski friend, Erik Carleton, to guide him to the top of the podium at the IPC Cross-Country Skiing and Biathlon World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, March 30 to April 10, Cross Country Canada announced today.

With Robin McKeever, who has guided Brian to 10 Paralympic medals including seven gold and three at the 2010 Games in Vancouver-Whistler, forced to the sidelines with a torn ACL, the legendary brother tandem tapped on the shoulder of the 33-year-old Carleton to carry the torch and lead the visually-impaired Brian in the cross-country skiing events at the 2011 World Championships.

“I was surprised and shocked when the McKeevers first asked me, but this is a great opportunity for me and one that I could never turn down,” said Carleton. “It is an honour to race with Brian. He and Robin have done so much for Para-Nordic sport, and I just hope to do whatever I can tohelp continue to build on what they have already accomplished.”

While Robin will return to guide his brother along the road to the 2014 Games, the elder McKeever was also named coach of Canada’s Para-Nordic Team this fall.

“Erik is a very talented, and dedicated athlete and a great friend who I know will do everything he can to ensure we have the opportunity to hear the Canadian anthem being played at the World Championships,” said Brian McKeever who has never worked with another guide other than his older brother since he began competing in Para-Nordic skiing prior to the 2002 Paralympics. “This is obviously a new beginning, but our goals will not change. We are focused on gold, and I’m excited to be heading to Russia knowing I have a great friend and hard-working athlete guiding me to the podium.”

Carleton and the younger McKeever are longtime friends who were introduced to skiing at the same time when they signed up at the same time for a Jackrabbit ski program in Calgary. The two began racing together at the age of 13, and the friends became roommates when they moved to Canmore after eventually qualifying for the National Development Team.

While McKeever’s accomplishments are well documented having won everything on the table in Para-Nordic sport including earning a spot on Canada’s 2010 Olympic Team, Carleton has had numerous top-10’s as recently as this season while mucking it out on the Haywood NorAm Series throughout hiscareer. A part-time database administrator with a degree in computer science from the University of Calgary, Carleton’s best results as a senior racer came at the 2000 National Championships when he won two bronze medals.

“This is a new experience for me racing internationally so I’m nervous about maintaining my form through the travel and time zone changes, but I am also extremely excited,” said Carleton. “Brian and Robin are connected in a way that I will never be able to replace, but I am confident I can ski a pace that will help Brian perform at his best and reach his goals.”

The newly-formed McKeever-Carleton duo will lead a high-powered Canadian contingent into the showcase event on the 2011 IPC calendar. The Canadian squad will include a group of six athletes who have combined to win medals at the Paralympics, World Championships or World Cups.

Six-time Paralympic medallist, Colette Bourgonje will be the lone athlete entered in the women’s sit-ski category. Saskatoon’s Bourgonje, who has competed in six Paralympics in both winter and summer sport, captured a silver and bronze medal at the Vancouver-Whistler Paralympics. Chris Klebl, of Canmore, Alta., who sits fourth overall in the men’s sitting class, has a World Cup bronze medal to his credit this year.

Rising young star, Mark Arendz of Springton, P.E.I., who has enjoyed a dream season in 2011 where he finished second overall in the IPC Biathlon World Cup standings in the men’s standing division will be gunning for his first World Championship medal. With a goal of following the legendary path set by Brian McKeever, the 21-year-old Paralympian shocked the world by winning three gold medals, two silver and two bronze medals this year.

Jody Barber, of Smithers, B.C., who has five IPC World Cup medals to her credit, rounds out the Canadian squad. Barber, who is a 2010 Paralympian and also an accomplished Para-Triathlete where she won a bronze medal for Canada at the 2010 Triathlon World Championships, will compete in the women’s standing category in cross-country skiing.

The Canadian contingent will depart for the IPC World Championships on March 23 where they will take part in a training camp prior to the weeklong competition, which kicks off March 30, 2011.

March 17, 2011 – Lowell Bailey is a two-time Olympian, and the top-ranked US biathlete in this year’s overall World Cup standings in 37th. The Lake Placid native is in the midst of a career-best year, which includes a personal best 9th place finish in the Fort Kent Mass Start, as well as a 12th place effort in the Antholz Sprints. He was also part of the team’s historic 6th place relay finish at the IBU World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The 29 year-old University of Vermont graduate has accrued four top-20 finishes so far this season with one final World Cup remaining in Oslo, Sweden. Bailey, who has been a member of the National team since 2001, talked to SkiTrax about this year’s World Cup circuit, also touching on the direction he hopes to see US Biathlon take in building towards the 2014 Sochi Olympics

This has quite possibly been the best season of your World Cup career – what do you attribute your success to?
Lowell Bailey: It has been a good season so far. Perhaps the biggest change was that I was able to stay relatively healthy throughout the training and racing season. Last season, I was hit with Swine Flu at the beginning of the race season, and a mixture of other minor ailments throughout the year. Secondly, after last season, my coaches and I decided to make a few adjustments to my training plan. Generally speaking, I did more low-intensity endurance sessions at the beginning of the year and added more intensity later in the training season.

The US relay team finished 6th place at the IBU World Championships…what does this say about the future of US Biathlon?
LB: I think we’ve all known that we could perform at this level – it was just a matter of executing. It’s a really important step for the team. We proved that we can compete with the best teams in the world. We were in medal contention throughout the entire race. With a few less extra rounds, we will be on the podium.

As a veteran on the US team, what advice have you given to the younger athletes such as Leif Nordgren, who has had a breakout season at the World Champs?
LB: Biathlon is such a competitive sport now. The level of competition is higher than I have ever seen it. As such, the difference between 10th and 60th place is often only a matter of one or two missed shots. In order to have success over the long term, you have to be patient. Simple as that.

Where do you hope to see US Biathlon by the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi?
LB: On the podium!

You’re a two-time Olympian – what do you hope to accomplish that you haven’t already?
LB: Simply put – to reach the World Cup podium.

How do you plan to achieve your goal?
LB: I want to improve my shooting consistency. I made a big step this year, but I also missed a lot of significant opportunities because of poor shooting – most notably, moving up to 18th midway through the World Champs Pursuit, only to fall back to 42nd after missing 6 targets over the last two shooting stages. Every athlete has good days and bad days on the shooting range. I want to do everything over the next three years to maximize those good days!

How long do you plan to stay in the sport of biathlon?
LB: Right now, my short-term focus is to finish the season on a high note at the WC final in Oslo. I am motivated for next year and Sochi is definitely in my sights. However, I’ve found that if I put too much focus on the distant future, I lose the grip on the present.

Thanks for your time and all the best in Oslo.
LB: Right

March 17, 2011 (Canmore, AB) – When two-time Olympic cross-country skier George Grey hits the start line for Saturday’s 50-kilometre skate-ski race at the Haywood Ski Nationals, it will be his final competitive trip around the famed Canmore Nordic Centre.

After racing on the World Cup for nearly a decade against the top athletes on the globe, and competing in the Torino and Vancouver Olympics along with five World Championships, the 31-year-old Grey, of Rossland, B.C., has decided to retire.

“For me the timing just felt right,” said Grey, who started skiing when he was four years old, and racing at age seven. “In the last two years I felt like I accomplished many of my career goals and reached a performance level that was as high as I could attain. I am now looking forward to being a husband, father, and to new challenges and experiences in life.”

“I reached a peak in 2010 and thought maybe, just maybe, if I skied one more year I could contend for a medal in 2011 at the World Championships. To be able to hang in for one more season and experience the World Championships in Norway, and see Devon and Alex become World Champions, was an incredibly memorable final season.”

With Canada’s Beckie Scott having just broken through to win Canada’s first Olympic medal in the sport, Grey emerged onto the National Ski Team in 2002 with a group of bright-eyed, energetic young men from across the country poised and determined to follow Scott’s trail to the international podium.

Devon Kershaw was the first to find his way onto the podium. Kershaw became the first male in more than a decade to mount the international podium in 2006, and it didn’t take long for the others to follow suit. Four years later, Grey enjoyed a breakthrough moment of his own with his most memorable races coming at Whistler Olympic Park. The veteran teamed up with National Ski Team rookie, Alex Harvey, in 2009 to win a World Cup bronze medal in the sprint relay at the Olympic Test Event in Whistler. His best Olympic and individual career finish was eighth during the pursuit competition in 2010 when all three Canadian men finished in the top-10, and all four in the top-20.

“Getting my hands on just one medal was such an incredible high for me, and sharing it with such a talented athlete and friend in Alex made it even sweeter,” said Grey, whose best individual result outside the Olympics was a ninth-place finish at the Tour de Ski prologue in 2009. “My fondest memory has to be the 30-kilometre pursuit race with Ivan (Babikov), Alex (Harvey), and Devon (Kershaw) skiing right at the front of the pack with me. We were showing the world that we had finally arrived, and what we were capable of as a team. It was a career best for me, and to do it at a home Olympics with three of my buddies was amazing.”

After 10 years of blood, sweat and tears, Grey leaves the sport with the Canadian men’s squad amongst the best in the world.

“When I joined the Canadian men’s team we were described as ‘Canada’s most anonymous athletes,’ he said. “Now our team has World Championship medallists, World Cup medallists, Tour de Ski medallists. We have delivered a solid team. I know Canada is in good hands and there is loads of great talent coming up the system so I will sleep well.”

While racing was such a small part of his career, it was the countless hours of training with his friends and teammates that taught him to be patient, driven, tough and most importantly, goal-oriented along the journey.

“I get nostalgic thinking about all the hard training days that I endured with teammates at my side,” said Grey, who cites five-to-six hours of roller skiing in the pouring rain, nearly 50 kilometres of running and stomping their way up to glaciers as some of the most grueling training moments. “Only with your closest teammates is it possible to repeat training days like this every other week. My team and I have shed more sweat and spit on mountains than most would ever think possible.”

With the last goal remaining in his career to ski to the top of the podium on Saturday at the Haywood Ski Nationals, Grey would like to stay within sport if there is an opportunity to do so in the future, while also studying in the securities industry.

“The 2010 Olympics were sensational. The World Champs this year in Norway were staggering, but I am more than happy to wave a warm good-bye and smile at all the precious memories that I have accumulated. Thank you to everyone for your incredible support. My father always told me it is the process and not the outcome. I have fully realized that now, and I will never forget those who have helped me along this incredible ride.”

March 15, 2011 (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia) – Sara Studebaker has had a breakout season during this year’s World Cup circuit. The 2010 Olympian, who scored top-20 finishes at both the Presque Isle WCup and the IBU World Championships, entered the season as the top ranked US woman and the 26 year old has shown she’s a force to be reckoned with.

The Dartmouth College graduate, who has been training with the US Biathlon team since 2007, was the only US woman to qualify for the pursuit race at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and has since been developing her skills towards what she hopes will produce top results in the coming seasons. SkiTrax caught up with the Boise, Idaho native at the IBU Worlds in Russia just before the final event, the women’s relay, to talk about her success on this year’s circuit, and what we can expect from her and the United States down the road.

You’ve had some impressive results this World Cup season including a 17th place finish in the Individual 15km at the IBU Worlds. What do you attribute your success to and has it changed your overall perspective?
Sara Studebaker: I think my success this year has been the result of several years of hard work and training. It takes time to develop as an athlete, and especially with biathlon you need experience at the high level before you can do well consistently. This year has been much more relaxed for me and I’ve felt comfortable competing at the World Cup level and I think that allowed me to really take a step forward. My successes haven’t really changed my perspective so much as verified things for me. I always believed that with hard work I could be in the mix of things, and seeing how this year has gone just gives me confidence that I can get to that top level.

Nine of your career top 10 World Cup finishes have come this year – what’s different this season?
SS: I think the atmosphere is just more relaxed for me. Of course, the stress of the Olympics was tough last year, but it was also my first season on the World Cup and it can be stressful just being in such a new and crazy situation all season. I think that after having a couple of good results, rather than feeling pressure, I felt confident that I could continue to perform. It’s really been fun to see how all the training is paying off, and it makes me look forward to the next few years as we head towards Sochi.

With success do you feel more pressure to maintain a higher level of performance?
SS: Not right now. I think this year has been such a break-out season for me that it’s just been more enjoyable to see my results and look forward to the next races. I hope that I’ll always be able to have the perspective that keeps pressure off, but I know it will get tougher as I get better. For me, I just have to remember that this is biathlon, and anything can happen. You have great days and hopefully those days come more often – but even the best have bad days, and that’s ok.

This is your first IBU World Championships – what were your expectations going in and have you achieved them so far?
SS: After the US World Cups I definitely had higher expectations for myself. I knew that if I had a good race I could be in the top 20. The sprint race was really a tough one for me, and I had to really focus and re-group after that [she placed 48th]. Having a decent pursuit [Studebaker finished 38th] and getting back into World Cup points was really good for me mentally and I was able to stay relaxed for the individual, despite the conditions, and have a great race. Even though I had hoped to do better in the sprint, having such a good Individual on such a tough day was really exciting for me and has certainly made my World Champs so far!

What do you expect from the US foursome at the upcoming relay event on Sunday?
SS: I think we have a really solid women’s team and that we can have a great relay. We’re not quite at the level yet where we can expect to do great all the time, but we’re getting there and I think if we all have a decent day we can have a good result. Right now it’s a lot about experience for us, and hopefully by Sochi we can be right in the mix of things. Of course it’s really motivating to see the men’s team have such a great result here [the US men finished 6th] – it really shows us what is possible!

What do you hope to accomplish going forward after these World Championship races?
SS: This season in general has been an amazing learning experience. I got to race in my first World Cup Mass Start in Fort Kent, and being right in the mix of things in a few pursuits really gave me the opportunity to see the level of the women I’m chasing. I know I still have a lot of work to do before I can stand on that podium, but it’s possible, and I’m really excited about that potential.

How far away do you think the US Biathlon team women are from medaling at a World Cup…?
SS: Our goal for sure is to be in contention in 2014. With several top-20 and top-30 finishes this year from our team I think we’re not too far from that goal. It’s definitely going to require a lot of work, but I think we’re all motivated and excited to make that happen.

Thanks for your time, all the best on Sunday and good luck with the rest of the season.
SS: Thanks

The US Women’s Relay team finished 14th overall out of 20 teams on Sunday – read more HERE.

March 07, 2011 (Rossland, BC) – Dave Wood was Canada’s most successful National Team cross-country ski coach, with career highlights including Beckie Scott’s legendary Olympic pursuit gold in 2002, Sara Renner’s sprint bronze at the Nordic World Championships in 2005, Chandra Crawford’s sprint gold in 2006 in Torino, and nine top-10’s at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Wood spent 18 years with Cross Country Canada (CCC) and lead the program for 12 of those years. He resigned in May 2010 and is still very much involved with skiing, currently coaching the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, B.C. He talked with SkiTrax’s Marty Hall about his new New Nordic Academy program.

It’s been 9 months since your departure from the Canadian National Team, what’s been happening with you and your career – bring us up to speed?
Dave Wood: In the spring I began working with the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, BC. The program here has younger skiers ages 13 to 17, all in high school. We have an ideal natural environment for Cross country skiers in Rossland.

Most of the training can be completed “out the door”. We have to travel for Roller skiing to find different terrain, but we have everything from flatter gentle terrain to long continuous uphills (10 to 25 km). The trails are superb and with the Red Mountain alpine area only 15 minutes running from town we can do as much ski simulation on foot as one can stand!

The program had a couple of training camps in the summer, the Haig Glacier, and a dryland camp in the Bow Valley. This is an opportunity to begin to introduce these skiers to training at altitude. We began skiing in Early November up at the Paulson trails (local). There are 3 areas for Cross Country here, and the Paulson trails (maintained by the Castlegar club) have snow a little earlier than Black Jack.

I went to Boston in September for a NENSA seminar. I made a presentation and sat in on the rest of seminar. Always good to get into other areas. As well I went to a COC function (Olympic Excellence series) for summer sports in November.

The club hosted a very successful NorAm in December. I did not have involvement with the event, except I worked with the club to build a better sprint course. The tracks and the event were well received.

The club and the Red Mountain Academy are joining forces to create an educational component to our Nordic Program. Al Fisher (Racing Program Director) and I initiated this in the spring and over the summer when we hammered out the details. At the end it has been Wannes Luppens (Club President), Al Fisher and I that are spearheading this initiative.

Now we are into the racing season and going full blast. Life in Rossland right now is being very good to Coach Dave Wood!

I hear you’re announcing a new high school aged skiing program at one of the best training and skiing locales in North America – tell us more about the Red Mountain Academy and its new educational component for your Nordic Program.
DW: The Red Mountain Academy (RMA) has been in operation for many years. It began as an academy program with the Red Mountain Racers (Alpine racing) and over time has expanded. The cooperation with the Black Jack Cross Country ski club was initiated this spring and we finalized the association this past fall with a three pronged program. Read more about the Academy here: www.redskiacademy.com

With the Home Stay Plan athletes that are not local in Rossland are placed with families in Rossland. We also have service providers such as physiotherapy, mental training, etc.

The home stay is organized and delivered through the administration end of the academy program. The athletes stay with families in the area. There is an education for the home stay families with respect to the nutritional needs of the athlete. The cost for this is $750/month, which includes some of the travelling needs. With their application to academy the process for home stay is initiated.

Another component of this program is transportation to and from the training venue to the school. In Rossland you can walk from “home” to school

The Educational Component of the Academy is delivered at Rossland Senior Secondary school. This will provide the athletes with a flexible academic schedule that allows time for proper training and competition programs. Read more about RMA here: www.rss.sd20.bc.ca

The third component of the program is the Training and Competition Program that is managed and delivered by myself. I have several coaches and experts who are assisting me in the Black Jack Racing team. We provide an intensive, individualized training and preparation programs.

Athletes in the academy program will train alongside the athletes training with the Club Program. Currently we have athletes from Rossland, Nelson, and Trail that work with the Black Jack Racing Team.

General program for 2011/12
– May 1 is the training year start
– Will plan for a spring snow camp where it can happen, likely Vernon, however we can do it here in some years
– June is dryland, going into the local mountain trails as the snow melts
– July will have a week at the Haig glacier
– August will have two weeks in the Bow Valley with two trips to the Haig glacier
– Fall camp with altitude. Most likely the Bow Valley if the stored snow works out
– December NorAms
– World Junior trials
– National Champs
– Other racing as is available

In Rossland we enjoy the perfect natural environment for developing Cross Country Ski Racers. We have an extensive network of trails and paths that are ideal for running and ski simulation on foot. As well we have mountain trails that are up to 2200 meters in elevation.

This means we can train between 400 meters and 2200 meters, an ideal situation for altitude training and lower elevation for speed work. We have long continuous roller ski climbs, up to 25 km, or we can have gentle rolling terrain to roller ski on. A lot of this roller ski terrain has very limited traffic.

We have access to a rubber surface running track in Warfield (6km away), an aquatic center in Trail (10 km), gyms in Rossland, and the alpine area (Red Resort) is about 5km from town, a perfect distance for warm up for a hill session. This is as good as it gets for dry land training!

We have three areas where we can ski. The Black Jack Club (www.skiblackjack.ca) is about a 10 min drive from anywhere in Rossland. The club has about 30 km of trails that are groomed daily by one of the two Pisten Bulleys the club owns. The normal season at Black Jack would be December to April. There is a biathlon facility up the highway from Black Jack. There is a 5km loop with the shorter tracks inside the 5 km track. The biathlon facility is about 300 meters higher than Black Jack, and gets earlier snow (2 to 3 weeks) and the snow lasts much longer in the spring. Finally the Castlegar ski club operates a trail system at the Paulson Summit. This is about a 30 min drive from Rossland, and it is also higher (about 1500 meters) so it is another option for early skiing

We can offer a training environment that is very high quality and lets the athletes maximize their training time do to the proximity of all training venues.

Dave, I think that wraps it up for any young teenage skier it doesn’t get any better. Sort of a home away from home feeling with the Home Stay Program and one of the best facilities and training centered programs you could want to be involved with – how do I sign up?
DW: Contact Kristi Calder at kristi@redskiacademy.com for information on the overall program. I can be contacted at davidwood53@gmail.com or 250-521-0223 for specifics on all aspects of the programs

February 26, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – There was not so much action on the cross-country skiing side of things on Friday. Skiers were out training and technicians and coaches were testing waxes. The weather has changed from being coldish to being wet and a bit sloppy. We didn’t bring our rubber-boots, but probably should have… check out photos from our adventures today HERE.

The fog rolled in this morning and was so thick atop Holmenkollen that you could barely see 50 meters (if that)! This did not deter the ski jumping competitions (which are best watched on TV if you want to see anything more than the skier coming out of the clouds at the bottom of the hill), but it made things interesting for jumpers and spectators alike. More than one skier stated that they could not see a thing. (Our pictures barely do justice to the visibility; it got even worse as the day wore on).

At least one cross-country skier today briefly got lost while cruising the sprint course and the 5km (that skier’s name is name is Ahvo – but he found his way back to the wax cabins though).

Due to the fog and the lack of racing action on the cross-country side of things, today was a good day for checking out some history and culture in the area. We checked out the Edvard Munch exhibit located in Oslo’s center close to the medals plaza and hit up the Holmenkollen ski museum and chapel.

Edvard Munch, a famous Norwegian artist (more info HERE) born in 1863, has his artwork represented in eight sculptures made of ice and snow by internationally recognized artists featured in the city center.

The Ski Museum at Holmenkollen (more info HERE) is said to be the oldest museum in the world that specializes in skiing history. The museum was founded in 1923 at a location not far from its present location (since the 1952 Olympics) under the large jumping hill. The museum has exhibits about Norwegian explorers like Fridtjof Nansen (more info HERE) and Roald Amundsen (more info HERE) as well as a history of skis, ski making, Norwegian skiing heroes, and the royal family’s participation in ski sports.

The Holmenkollen Chapel is one of the most popular in Norway for weddings including baptisms, funerals, concerts, regular Sunday services and church festivals are also held there. The steeple of the chapel – when there is no fog – can be seen from the center of Oslo and is said to remind Olso and its visitors “of the self-expression of humanity and the joy of sport”.

The chapel was re-dedicated in 1996 and is similar to the previous chapel that stood in the same spot but was destroyed by arson in 1992. The construction method is traditional of Norwegian stave churches (more info HERE) from the 11th and 12th centuries and includes stained-glass windows a per the chapel brochure.

Tidbits for the day:
While Northug seems satisfied yesterday in the official press-conference after the sprints and even commented the better man had won, the Norweigan papers (like Aftenposten) reported this morning that Northug still says he is a better sprinter than Marcus Hellner in man-to-man races… but isn’t that what yesterday’s race was?

Marit Bjoergen is a tiger! After struggles in previous seasons, Bjoergen started working with a sport psychologist who told her to visualize herself as a hunting tiger out on the trails. The night before the sprint races she was frightened to find a tiger in her bed. It was only a stuffed animal (likely left by her sport psychologist) which startled her and then gave her a laugh (from yesterday’s press conference).

There was an interesting choice of photos for DagensNyheter (Swedish newspaper www.dn.se) with Petter Northug, Marcus Hellner and Emil Jönsson at the medal ceremony. Northug is clearly looking at the gold medal in Hellner’s hand. We suspect this picture was chosen on purpose… Norwegians and Swedes are a bit competitive. When we boarded the train this afternoon while chatting with a race volunteer, he was only able to whisper that a Swede and won yesterday.

Ahvo commented after the opening ceremonies and first medal ceremony that it seems that Norway has lost some of its Norwegian-ness. When he attended the Olympic Games in Lillehammer in 1994, the ceremonies were filled with Norwegian music and traditions whereas the flavor of these World Championships was much more international. Most music was in English and the show had a “Las Vegas-esque” feel.

Some videos from yesterday:
Chatting with a family in Oslo city-center about the sprints

Folk dance group gathered at Holmenkollen

Chatting with a family on the trail-side before the sprints

February 25, 2011 (Rossland, BC) – Dave Wood was Canada’s most successful National Team cross-country ski coach, with career highlights including Beckie Scott’s legendary Olympic pursuit gold in 2002, Sara Renner’s sprint bronze at the Nordic World Championships in 2005, Chandra Crawford’s sprint gold in 2006 in Torino, and nine top-10’s at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Wood spent 18 years with Cross Country Canada (CCC) and lead the program for 12 of those years. He resigned in May 2010 and  is still very much involved with skiing, currently coaching the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, B.C. He talked with SkiTrax’s Marty Hall about his new New Nordic Academy program.

It’s been 9 months since your departure from the Canadian National Team, what’s been happening with you and your career – bring us up to speed?
Dave Wood: In the spring I began working with the Black Jack Ski Club in Rossland, BC. The program here has younger skiers ages 13 to 17, all in high school. We have an ideal natural environment for Cross country skiers in Rossland.

Most of the training can be completed “out the door”. We have to travel for Roller skiing to find different terrain, but we have everything from flatter gentle terrain to long continuous uphills (10 to 25 km). The trails are superb and with the Red Mountain alpine area only 15 minutes running from town we can do as much ski simulation on foot as one can stand!

The program had a couple of training camps in the summer, the Haig Glacier, and a dryland camp in the Bow Valley. This is an opportunity to begin to introduce these skiers to training at altitude. We began skiing in Early November up at the Paulson trails (local). There are 3 areas for Cross Country here, and the Paulson trails (maintained by the Castlegar club) have snow a little earlier than Black Jack.

I went to Boston in September for a NENSA seminar. I made a presentation and sat in on the rest of seminar. Always good to get into other areas. As well I went to a COC function (Olympic Excellence series) for summer sports in November.

The club hosted a very successful NorAm in December. I did not have involvement with the event, except I worked with the club to build a better sprint course. The tracks and the event were well received.

The club and the Red Mountain Academy are joining forces to create an educational component to our Nordic Program. Al Fisher (Racing Program Director) and I initiated this in the spring and over the summer when we hammered out the details. At the end it has been Wannes Luppens (Club President), Al Fisher and I that are spearheading this initiative.

Now we are into the racing season and going full blast. Life in Rossland right now is being very good to Coach Dave Wood!

I hear you’re announcing a new high school aged skiing program at one of the best training and skiing locales in North America – tell us more about the Red Mountain Academy and its new educational component for your Nordic Program.
DW: The Red Mountain Academy (RMA) has been in operation for many years. It began as an academy program with the Red Mountain Racers (Alpine racing) and over time has expanded. The cooperation with the Black Jack Cross Country ski club was initiated this spring and we finalized the association this past fall with a three pronged program. Read more about the Academy here: www.redskiacademy.com

With the Home Stay Plan athletes that are not local in Rossland are placed with families in Rossland. We also have service providers such as physiotherapy, mental training, etc.

The home stay is organized and delivered through the administration end of the academy program. The athletes stay with families in the area. There is an education for the home stay families with respect to the nutritional needs of the athlete. The cost for this is $750/month, which includes some of the travelling needs. With their application to academy the process for home stay is initiated.

Another component of this program is transportation to and from the training venue to the school. In Rossland you can walk from “home” to school

The Educational Component of the Academy is delivered at Rossland Senior Secondary school. This will provide the athletes with a flexible academic schedule that allows time for proper training and competition programs. Read more about RMA here: www.rss.sd20.bc.ca

The third component of the program is the Training and Competition Program that is managed and delivered by myself. I have several coaches and experts who are assisting me in the Black Jack Racing team. We provide an intensive, individualized training and preparation programs.

Athletes in the academy program will train alongside the athletes training with the Club Program. Currently we have athletes from Rossland, Nelson, and Trail that work with the Black Jack Racing Team.

General program for 2011/12
– May 1 is the training year start
– Will plan for a spring snow camp where it can happen, likely Vernon, however we can do it here in some years
– June is dryland, going into the local mountain trails as the snow melts
– July will have a week at the Haig glacier
– August will have two weeks in the Bow Valley with two trips to the Haig glacier
– Fall camp with altitude. Most likely the Bow Valley if the stored snow works out
– December NorAms
– World Junior trials
– National Champs
– Other racing as is available

In Rossland we enjoy the perfect natural environment for developing Cross Country Ski Racers. We have an extensive network of trails and paths that are ideal for running and ski simulation on foot. As well we have mountain trails that are up to 2200 meters in elevation.

This means we can train between 400 meters and 2200 meters, an ideal situation for altitude training and lower elevation for speed work. We have long continuous roller ski climbs, up to 25 km, or we can have gentle rolling terrain to roller ski on. A lot of this roller ski terrain has very limited traffic.

We have access to a rubber surface running track in Warfield (6km away), an aquatic center in Trail (10 km), gyms in Rossland, and the alpine area (Red Resort) is about 5km from town, a perfect distance for warm up for a hill session. This is as good as it gets for dry land training!

We have three areas where we can ski. The Black Jack Club (www.skiblackjack.ca) is about a 10 min drive from anywhere in Rossland. The club has about 30 km of trails that are groomed daily by one of the two Pisten Bulleys the club owns. The normal season at Black Jack would be December to April. There is a biathlon facility up the highway from Black Jack. There is a 5km loop with the shorter tracks inside the 5 km track. The biathlon facility is about 300 meters higher than Black Jack, and gets earlier snow (2 to 3 weeks) and the snow lasts much longer in the spring. Finally the Castlegar ski club operates a trail system at the Paulson Summit. This is about a 30 min drive from Rossland, and it is also higher (about 1500 meters) so it is another option for early skiing

We can offer a training environment that is very high quality and lets the athletes maximize their training time do to the proximity of all training venues.

Dave, I think that wraps it up for any young teenage skier it doesn’t get any better. Sort of a home away from home feeling with the Home Stay Program and one of the best facilities and training centered programs you could want to be involved with – how do I sign up?
DW:

February 25, 2011 (Oslo, Norway) – Check out this Fischer video interview with 2011 World Champion Marcus Hellner (SWE). A true competitor, Hellner won the men’s 1.5km sprint yesterday in Oslo and snatched two gold medals at last year’s Olympic Games.

Story and results HERE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gufdJa_LvI

February 14, 2011 – February 12, 2011 will marked one year to the day of the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The Ceremony, which was dedicated to the memory of the Georgian luge athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili, who had tragically died in a training accident that morning, introduced the world to a city and a country ready to open their arms and welcome the world and the best winter athletes for 16 days of top-level sporting competition and a party that would go down in the annals of Canadian history. This weekend, events will be held across the country to commemorate the start of those Games, including a special breakfast event for the fabulous “blue jacket” volunteers.

With a record 82 National Olympic Committees (NOC) taking part in the Vancouver Games, the 16 days of sport that followed the Opening Ceremony were always going to be competitive and draw world-wide interest. So it was no surprise that 26 different NOCs ended-up winning medals and that the Games drew in record-breaking audience numbers. Perhaps for the home crowd, the greatest exploit of the Games was Team Canada’s record 14 gold medals, including Canada’s first on home soil and in ice hockey. This had been made possible in part thanks to the “Own The Podium” programme, which provided funding to Canadian athletes striving for victory and is being continued and expanded due to its success last year.

Looking After The Environment
The Vancouver Games were about more than just great sport, however. They were also about leaving a sustainable legacy to the city, region and country. Environmental sustainability was a key element of the Vancouver 2010 Organising Committee’s (VANOC) strategy, with an ambitious carbon management programme put in place; sporting venues that were all built to according to Canada’s green-building standards; new public transport infrastructure created to take people out of their cars; and a successful Games-time drive to get people onto public transport that continues to bear its fruits even now. From its award-winning venues to its effect on people’s transport habits, the Vancouver Games undoubtedly set new global standards for environmental sustainability at a sporting event.

Creating Better Futures
The Games also played an inspirational role for more than just those watching on TV or who were in the stadium. VANOC worked with their partners to ensure that disadvantaged sectors of society also profited from the Games, with initiatives like the Vancouver 2010 Fabrication Shop providing carpentry training and work experience for disadvantaged young people, indigenous people, single mothers and immigrants. A separate programme saw local philanthropic florists June Strandberg and Margitta Schulz lead a group of 23 women in producing the 1,750 Victory Ceremony bouquets for the Games. Many of the women had experienced violence in their lives, were single parents, or were recovering from drug and alcohol abuse. Today, these trainees have a stronger skill set, greater confidence and the opportunity to gain further employment as a result of their experience while working on the Games. But the social legacy of the Games was more than just training: the temporary accommodation from the Whistler Olympic Village was sent to six communities in British Columbia to provide 156 permanent, affordable homes for elderly, homeless, and low-income residents.

Investments For Today And Tomorrow
As a catalyst for development, the Games have also played a role in the Canadian economy, with Games venues that will be used by local communities and elite sport for years to come, and a new notoriety that has allowed greater investment in the region. The Metro Vancouver Commerce Olympic Business Program, for example, has generated CAD 306 million in economic impacts in under a year, well over the CAD 50 million that was expected by February 2012. This initiative has also led to the creation of 2,500 jobs in the lower mainland of British Columbia. On the back of the Games, Canada has also moved to the number one spot in the FutureBrands’ Country Brand Index and seen a 10 percent jump in visitors to the country. With even just these few points in mind, there is no doubt that the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games were a great success both on and off the field of play.

February 11, 2011 – The BC Sport Alliance, consisting of 2010 Legacies Now, BC Games Society, Canadian Sport Centre Pacific and Sport BC, announced key areas of impact as a result of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in advance of the one-year anniversary on February 12.

While the full impact of hosting the Games in British Columbia will not be completely measured for several years, B.C.’s sport sector is already experiencing notable positive trends, including:

– Significant growth in membership for the majority of winter Provincial Sport Organizations leading up to the Games;
– Increase in the number of B.C. athletes on national teams with opportunities to achieve success;
– Increased international sport volunteer, which have provided growth and depth to B.C.’s sport volunteer workforce;
– Recognition of sport’s impact on community building and preventative health care leading to sustained government investment; and
– New and improved sport facilities, which offer a legacy for B.C. communities and the sport sector as a whole.

“A key component of Vancouver’s bid for the 2010 Winter Games was to ensure lasting benefits for B.C.’s sport sector, through investments in sport participation, sport performance and sport hosting,“ explained Bruce Dewar, CEO of 2010 Legacies Now. “With the valuable support of the Province of B.C. and together with our partners, we achieved that goal and we continue to ensure our provincial sport system has the tools and resources it needs to drive sport benefits for people of all ages.”

“Canada has finally embraced the idea of winning, and it is imperative we ensure this newfound hunger becomes a permanent part of our culture. To continue winning on the world stage, we must invest in the daily training environment we surround our high performance athletes with,” said Wendy Pattenden, CEO of Canadian Sport Centre Pacific. “People, places and programs define our path to the podium. With world-class facilities now in Victoria, Whistler and Vancouver, we have an opportunity to not only invest in today’s athletes, but build British Columbian champions for generations to come.”

“B.C.’s Provincial Sport Organizations made a huge contribution to the success of the Games by providing skilled technical volunteers and staff to participate in the Sport workforce,” said Tim Gayda, Sport BC’s president and CEO and former VANOC VP of Sport. “Within VANOC there was a workforce in Sport of close to 5,000 people largely made up of British Columbians who obtained their technical training by volunteering countless hours, days and years in B.C.’s amateur sport sector. These volunteers and staff have gone back to their community clubs, associations and sport organizations, and continue to donate their free time to make sport happen in the province.”

“Canadian athletes and volunteers alike pursued and achieved their personal bests at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” said Kelly Mann, president and CEO, BC Games Society. “A significant number of Olympic and Paralympic athletes had previously competed at the BC Games and Canada Games, and now inspire a new generation of athletes to dream of their podium moment. The BC Games have long been a training ground for athletes and volunteers and we have seen a renewed enthusiasm for sport and community celebration continuing the remarkable spirit generated across the country last February.”

The BC Sport Alliance is working with B.C.’s sport sector and the Province of B.C. to develop a new vision for the sector that ties together the positive effects sport has on healthy living and health outcomes. This new vision highlights and capitalizes on the contributions sport makes to the social and economic well-being of British Columbians and their communities.

January 11, 2011 – The Russian Ski Federation confirmed today that cross-country skier Nikolay Pankratov has received a two-year ban from competition after he was caught with blood doping equipment on the Austrian-Swiss border in September – read more here – thus violating the FIS anti-doping code, reports Reuters.

The 28-year-old was a member of the silver medal winning 4x10km Russian relay squad at the 2007 World Championships and he also competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

In light of the long history of doping problems faced by the sport in Russia, along with the fact that the next Winter Olympic Games are taking place in Russia, FIS recommended that the country establish a new governing body for the sport and develop a clean ski team.

Read the full story HERE.