|
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
|
|
|
|
Temp:
|
-2°C
|
|
Feels like:
|
-2°C
|
|
Humidity:
|
91%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Canada earns gold, silver, bronze for first medals of Beijing Olympics |
|
|
|
Written by THE CANADIAN PRESS
|
|
Saturday, 16 August 2008 |
Canada's Carol Huynh from Hazelton, B.C., gold medalist in the women's freestyle 48kg wrestling, fights back tears during the national anthem during victory ceremonies. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Related Items
No keywords found
BEIJING - In one magical 45-minute span Saturday, four Canadian athletes erased a week's worth of Olympic frustration.
Wrestlers and rowers provided Canada with its first three medals of the Beijing Games, bringing an emphatic end to seven days of disappointments and near-misses.
Carol Huynh of Hazelton, B.C., captured gold in the women's 48-kilogram wrestling event, while Tonya Verbeek of Beamsville, Ont., earned a bronze in the 55-kg competition. Dave Calder of Victoria and Scott Frandsen of Kelowna, B.C., added to the haul with a silver medal in the men's rowing pair.
The medal victories came in quick succession Saturday, reigniting a Canadian team that was facing increased scrutiny from fans back home who were hungry for medals.
"It wasn't really part of our thought process going in because that's just unneeded pressure," Frandsen said of breaking the country's goose-egg. "It's great to get Canada on the board."
Huynh wiped away tears as O Canada was played after the medal presentation.
"I was just thinking how proud I am to be Canadian," Huynh said. "And I was just thinking about the road to how I got here. It's been a long one but a good one."
While Canada celebrated its first trips to the podium in Beijing, America's swimming hero added to his record haul - while a Swedish wrestler who discarded his bronze medal is being sent home.
Michael Phelps entered the Olympic history books with his seventh win of the Games - this one coming by the slimmest of margins. Phelps edged Milorad Cavic of Serbia in the 100-metre butterfly in a race so close, the Serbs filed a protest and swimming's governing body had to review the tape down to the 10-thousandth of a second.
The result stood, moving Phelps into a tie with Mark Spitz for most gold medals at a single Olympics. Phelps can break the mark with a win in Sunday's 4x100 medley relay, where the U.S. is considered the gold-medal favourite.
Elsewhere the International Olympic Committee says Sweden's Ara Abrahamian has been kicked out of the Beijing Olympics for violating the spirit of fair play during the medal ceremony.
Abrahamian walked off the medals podium and dropped the medal on the mat after taking third in the Greco-Roman 84-kilogram division Thursday. He became incensed when a disputed penalty call decided his semifinal match against Italian Andrea Minguzzi, who went on to win the gold medal.
The marquee track and field event of the Games didn't disappoint. Jamaica's Usain Bolt broke the world record in the men's 100-metre final, crossing the line in 9.69 seconds. The 21-year-old, who has been sprinting for just over a year, bettered his previous mark of 9.72 set earlier this year.
 |
|
|
Who's Online
We have 172 guests and 9 members online
|
|
|
|
Subscribe to this comment's feed
