tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99779362012-01-27T21:25:26.516-04:00Informed writing about amateur sportsAmateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.comBlogger2791100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-75982377790205496092012-01-25T21:45:00.007-04:002012-01-25T22:10:54.418-04:00

I have a confession to make. No, that is not me on the rowing machine. My confession is that on January 20 (last Friday) I had my first miss in this New Year's Challenge. I spent a very long day travelling from Maryland to Halifax, including two separate flights that departed from Montréal, and didn't make it home until midnight. I will confess that I snoozed through my 6 a.m. alarm that

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-62819523885905205032012-01-19T00:39:00.005-04:002012-01-19T01:03:47.501-04:00

From today until Friday, I'll be working out at the Hampton Inn in Lexington Park, Maryland. There's not much in Lexington Park to draw anybody outside at this time of year, and there's not a great gym at the hotel. It's one of those hotel gyms that just barely meets the minimum requirements. On the other hand, I'll give Hamption Inns credit: if you have to put your "fitness centre" in a cramped,

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-75801747752824458442012-01-16T22:06:00.005-04:002012-01-16T22:28:28.782-04:00

I started the day in a fairly miserable state. After a terrible night's sleep, I ignored my 5:50 alarm and snoozed through my designated exercise time. On the plus side, that meant I could do my workout (after the kids were in bed) with my favourite training partner. (And no ... I don't mean Tony Horton. He's very reliable and all, but frankly we're not entirely compatible). And today was (

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-4623527218586988302012-01-11T22:35:00.004-04:002012-01-11T23:29:36.746-04:00

Day 10 complete and I still haven't missed a day. Hooray! I suspect that when I eventually do miss a day of working out, I will have my busy travel schedule to blame. Some travel days make a real workout impossible. However, I am in D.C this week for some meetings, and I've been able to adapt my routine for this trip. The best way to do that is to stay in a hotel that has a great gym. I can

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-13491389451118310902012-01-09T21:01:00.000-04:002012-01-09T21:01:52.500-04:00

Well, that hurt. Still hurts, actually, when I climb the stairs. Or sit down. But the worst part of the start-up suffering should be over, so maybe now is the right time to share a few perspectives on my new fitness challenge. For 2012 I am joining Julia Rivard and 19 other members of the CanoeKayak Canada family in making a New Year's Fitness Resolution. My resolution is to work out every

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-42633443140386129972010-02-28T15:52:00.008-04:002010-02-28T23:06:03.557-04:00

If there was ever a time for the Svein Tuft award, today was the day. Actually, I am thinking of changing the name of the award. In case you missed it this afternoon — and there was some other big news today about some kind of hockey game that was going on in Vancouver — Devon Kershaw finished fifth in the men's 50 km mass start event in cross country. The 50 km race is considered the event

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-27532144313668036062010-02-27T10:38:00.007-04:002010-02-28T23:06:28.973-04:00

I've been a negligent blogger this week due to other committments; but to be honest I've been enjoying my role as an Olympic spectator a lot more since I stopped writing about my medal prediction every day. I promise (threaten?) that I'll have lots more to say when the Games are over about Own the Podium, the team's overall performance, and the post-mortem on my medal prediction. For the moment

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-79776317735526064062010-02-22T08:55:00.003-04:002010-02-22T11:19:14.357-04:00

The teachers and students at my son's elementary school are having a two-week celebration of the 2010 Winter Olympics this month. Each classroom has been "assigned" a Winter Olympic nation to follow, cheer for, and learn about. Last Thursday I was in to visit with one of the primary classes. I had a great time talking to the kids about the Olympics. The inuksuk pictured at right is installed

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-57328936926958178932010-02-21T11:00:00.002-04:002010-02-21T11:08:23.058-04:00

I admit it — lately I've been getting a bit down about Canadian results at the 2010 Olympics. But I don't want to forget about the great things that happen, just because they don't end in a podium ceremony. On that note, yesterday's results in the cross country, the men's 30 km double pursuit, were a highlight of these games so far. So the Day 8 Svein Tuft of the Day goes to the Canadian cross

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-64963056568647539212010-02-19T00:14:00.001-04:002010-02-19T10:49:01.685-04:00

The COC issued this flash quote from Canadian biathlete Megan Tandy after the 15 km race on Day 6: I felt pretty decent on the ski trails, defiantly fatigued on the last loop though. To all my friends on the Mission Team: I wish you defiance in your fatigue as you start Day 7! On another somewhat superficial note, Canada witnessed another one of Maëlle Ricker's talents tonight. If you didn't

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-56586283290628093922010-02-18T11:07:00.025-04:002010-02-18T23:30:38.058-04:00

Unnoticed Noteworthy Performance for Day 5 For Day 5 I had a tough time finding an unexpected, non-medal, overachieving performance for Canada. It was one of those days. Due congratulations to Marianne St. Gelais for her silver in the short track 500 m yesterday, but the medal disqualifies her from consideration. I'm going to name two co-recipients for yesterday. Both of them probably had

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-66106175460733639862010-02-16T19:52:00.011-04:002010-02-17T07:39:32.986-04:00

Svein Tuft of the Day for Day 4: JP Le Guellec It was a bit tricky to find an unnoticed noteworthy performance today, but in the end I had to give it to Jean Philippe Le Guellec for the second time. I didn't see any of it, but it sounds like Le Guellec had a very weird day. He officially finished eleventh — a very respectable finish on its face. But in fact, Le Guellec was fifth to cross the

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-9921971811458023612010-02-15T19:31:00.022-04:002010-02-16T08:08:14.926-04:00

Svein Tuft of the Day for Day 3: Ivan Babikov My pick for Team Canada's unnoticed noteworthy performance of the day is cross-country skier Ivan Babikov. Babikov finished eighth in the men's 15 km free this morning. He was eighteen seconds (in a thirty-three minute race) behind the bronze medallist. Canada's previous best result in the 15 km event was a fourteenth place by Pierre Harvey in

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-46521021945684355092010-02-14T22:25:00.014-04:002010-02-14T23:43:54.921-04:00

Svein Tuft for Day 2: Jean Philippe Le Guellec Jean Philippe Le Guellec, ranked 33rd in the World Cup sprint standings in biathlon, finished sixth in today's 10 km sprint event. The previous best-ever for Canada at the Olympics was an eighth-place finish by Steve Cyr in 1992. It seems that Le Guellec was considerably smarter about his chances in this event than most of the pundits. Here's

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-53471242728588179432010-02-14T08:53:00.015-04:002010-02-14T11:36:28.712-04:00

I've decided, inspired by my friends who are with the Canadian team in Vancouver and Whistler, to take a daily detour from obsessing about math and medal counts. Welcome to the first installment of the Team Canada Svein Tuft of the Day. I know that some of you are thinking, "What the hell is a Svein Tuft?" Well, if you're a Canadian sports fan, you should already know that, but you probably

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-16970360841382101582010-02-13T23:12:00.011-04:002010-02-14T01:30:55.435-04:00

I don't have a lot of editorial comment to make about Day 1 of the 2010 Winter Olympics. I watched a lot of it on television, I followed team media announcements on Twitter, and I enjoyed myself. There was a great variety of stuff going on, covering many of my favourite Winter Olympic things. Canada didn't have a great day, but it wasn't terrible either. Jennifer Heil won a medal in moguls,

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-26654426978655193952010-02-12T21:34:00.000-04:002010-02-12T21:35:05.316-04:00

Call me old-fashioned, but the thing I like most about the Olympic Games is the sports. I am not a big fan of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. I usually find the two-week television extravaganza more frustrating than illuminating. And I try not to get caught up in the predictable angst over Canada's team uniforms. I do believe that the Olympic Games are the greatest sporting event in the

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-81283763733429607962010-02-10T21:41:00.023-04:002010-02-11T21:46:22.484-04:00

If I was a journalist writing for a newspaper or sports magazine, I'd have to open this story like this: Canada will win 27 medals at the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics. The nice thing about that kind of prediction is that it's easy to encapsulate the result in a single sentence. The bad thing is that the single number '27' doesn't really tell the whole story. Back in 2006, you'll recall, I

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-11823190766020860512008-12-12T07:19:00.002-04:002008-12-13T22:17:14.941-04:00

Quick quiz: what was Canada's final rank, in terms of total medals won, at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games? The correct answer is: check back in 2016 and we'll let you know. As specified in Article 6.5 of The IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, Beijing 2008: Samples shall be stored in a secure manner at the laboratory or as otherwise directed by the IOC and may

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-66797094983500740922008-11-29T21:14:00.004-04:002008-11-29T21:28:23.911-04:00

Just before the Olympic Games started in Beijing, I put together an interactive Google map of the 2008 Canadian Olympic team. It was too late to get it incorporated into the COC's own excellent 2008 Beijing web site, but here it is for your entertainment. The map is interactive in the usual Google Maps way, and clicking on the icons will bring up a capsule on the athlete in question. Within

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-84517245247015856852008-11-15T20:06:00.006-04:002008-11-15T20:16:37.434-04:00

File this one in the category of Left-Brain specials from somebody else’s brain (thanks to SportsFilter for picking up on this, many weeks ago). In September, four physicists from the University of Oslo submitted a scientific paper cleverly titled Velocity Dispersions in a Cluster of Stars: How Fast Could Usain Bolt Have Run? As the abstract describes, the paper investigates the question of

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-72589944497790646072008-11-07T22:12:00.007-04:002008-11-07T22:22:08.932-04:00

What I would have said to the distinguished guests, last Saturday Night, if anybody had asked me: There are a lot of former chefs de mission and chefs de mission adjoints here in the room tonight. If I attempted to name them all, I am sure I would miss some, so I will not try. But you all know that the list includes some very illustrious names, and it is humbling to be here tonight as one of

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-78548247011840182542006-11-15T18:26:00.000-04:002006-11-15T18:46:07.808-04:00

As I mentioned in my introduction post, I have closely followed CIS (Canadian university) football for some time. Although I do not intend to provide much comment on that sport here, I thought it would be appropriate to give mention this week, heading into the two national semi-final games. Besides, I could argue, outside of curling, CIS football could be the most watched amateur sport in the

Duane Rollinsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-52475020864640876952006-11-09T13:33:00.000-04:002006-11-09T13:48:03.051-04:00

In Canada, if you don’t deliver in 21 years, you’re out of luck. We’re tough that way. Such was the case with Kevin Pipe, relived from his duties as Chief Operating Officer of the CSA last week. The interesting thing about this isn’t that Pipe was let go--he was more or less seen as the devil by the few people in this country who actually care about the sport domestically. No, what’s

Duane Rollinsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-32445275460341637112006-11-07T15:25:00.000-04:002006-11-07T16:52:49.458-04:00

Like many readers of Now That's Amateur I had ambivalent feelings when I saw that its author had taken a new position with the COA. I was thrilled that the COA had hired someone so clearly passionate about amateur sport for such an important role, but I was disappointed that the great resource that is Now That's Amateur could potentially be lost. In Canada, the amateur athlete is too often

Duane Rollinsnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-58296749126488572452006-10-30T21:36:00.000-04:002006-10-30T22:02:26.831-04:00

Today the COC announced that I have been appointed Assistant Chef de Mission for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Fortunately for our athletes, the job doesn't involve any cooking. The Chef de Mission is Sylvie Bernier, an Olympic champion and Assistant Chef for the 2006 winter Olympics. As spelled out in the Olympic Charter (PDF), Rule 38: During the Olympic Games, the competitors,

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-2695326260474145942006-10-29T23:04:00.000-04:002006-10-29T23:41:07.458-04:00

Two years ago today I started this blog, and I wanted to say a few words about that. Posts I wrote 116 posts in the past year, down twenty from my first year of blogging. Here are some of my favourites. Kurva Jó! put one Candian team's 2006 success into a personal perspective. Centralize This was my experiment with Google Maps. WADA Doping Statistics parts 2 and 3 got a number of mentions on

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-25938511704113820562006-10-29T00:17:00.000-03:002006-10-29T00:21:23.497-03:00

Why do some people believe that Floyd Landis is innocent, while others believe that he is guilty? Why do the same people reach the opposite conclusions about Barry Bonds, or Marion Jones? Let's talk about Bayesian Inference. Bayesian Inference is a mathematical approach that can be used to estimate how evidence influences belief in a hypothesis. The basis of Bayesian Inference is an equation

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-27269334379582837052006-10-26T21:24:00.000-03:002006-10-26T23:51:31.995-03:00

It was basically confirmed weeks ago, but now it's official: all of the swimming and most of the gymnastics finals at the 2008 Olympics will be held in the morning, Beijing time. Scott at Timed Finals has been all over this story, and I've expressed my opinion before, too. I don't want to go over old ground, but I have had a few more recent thoughts. I've been a bit skeptical about predictions

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-68641465109372372252006-10-24T23:16:00.000-03:002006-10-25T00:44:56.231-03:00

Last Tuesday night my wife and I attended a fundraiser called Gold Medal Plates. The series kicked off in Halifax and will be held in six other cities across Canada in November. The Halifax event was very well-attended and raised a good chunk of money for the Canadian Olympic Foundation, which will direct the proceeds toward Own the Podium 2010 and Road to Excellence. The event is a clever

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-21886525925409663272006-10-23T21:49:00.000-03:002006-10-24T01:28:50.300-03:00

Three-time Olympian and world championship silver medallist Tamas Buday Jr. needed three stitches to repair a cut below his left eye on Saturday. Buday was hit by a rock thrown from a railway bridge across the Credit River while he and his brother Attila were paddling in Mississauga. Tamas (a very young teammate of mine in 1996) is extremely lucky that the damage was not more serious. He is

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-90669953799942541772006-10-17T02:48:00.001-03:002006-10-17T02:49:44.155-03:00

By now you will have heard that Floyd Landis has gone public with the documentary evidence against him in his anti-doping case. Landis, you will recall, tested positive for testosterone after Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. He is contesting that positive finding on the basis that the laboratory and anti-doping agencies departed from applicable international standards. I have written before

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-72296801866450666172006-10-17T02:43:00.000-03:002006-10-17T02:51:25.187-03:00

(See the preamble to this post.) The case assembled by Floyd Landis' support team aims to prove that the athlete's alleged positive test result should be invalidated. In particular, Dr. Baker's PowerPoint presentation and Howard Jacobs' argument for dismissal present a number of points of evidence supporting that claim. I have combed through the laboratory documents to see whether that

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-14920157296813036192006-10-14T22:33:00.000-03:002006-10-14T22:46:52.007-03:00

There have been woefully few comments around here lately. It must be time to write another post about the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot new to say. There has recently been a big increase in visibility for the bid here in HRM, with an extensive marketing campaign on billboards, buses, and newspapers throughout the city. It's been very well done but doesn't do

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-16292303003536818742006-10-11T22:41:00.000-03:002006-10-11T22:51:01.448-03:00

A couple of weeks ago, national team rower and Olympic medallist Barney Williams wrote a piece for the Toronto Star about his recent decision to continue competing through the 2008 Olympic Games. Williams and his wife Buffy (née Alexander) are both Olympic medallists in rowing. Buffy won a bronze medal in the eight in Sydney, to go with five world championship medals over her career. Barney

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-27486560187690814332006-10-04T23:13:00.000-03:002006-10-04T23:21:28.289-03:00

Scott at Timed Finals has the story of the University of British Columbia's application to become the first Canadian member of the NCAA. Josh at the Double-A Zone addressed the idea last spring; reports suggest that UBC expects an answer any day now. I think that UBC could be competitive if it's selective in the choice of sports it plays. If approved, UBC will participate in at least seven

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-56410253569720699622006-09-30T22:24:00.000-03:002006-09-27T23:36:02.045-03:00

Back in the May budget the Canadian federal government proposed a Children's Fitness Tax Credit, intended "to promote physical fitness among children." The proposal went on to say that "the credit will be provided on up to $500 in eligible fees for programs of physical activity for each child under age 16." [An eligible program of physical activity is] an ongoing program suitable for children

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-31597679399031493922006-09-26T23:29:00.000-03:002006-09-26T23:31:47.532-03:00

Scott at Timed Finals had an interesting post a few days ago about the various different sets of rules in effect at swimming competitions in the United States. Scott examines the use of the butterfly kick in breaststroke events and points out that some young swimmers are bound by one set of rules at USA Swimming events and a different set of rules at National Federation of High Schools events.

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-82349715987677785872006-09-22T00:18:00.000-03:002006-09-19T23:13:33.855-03:00

This week I am taking a look at three recent high-profile doping cases in the United States. In each instance I'll frame the athlete's case in terms of the WADA Code (PDF) and associated anti-doping rules. Each of the cases provides a slightly different perspective on anti-doping rules in sport. This is part 3 of the three-part series, concerning the case of sprinter Marion Jones. In Part 1 I

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-51615738308206058562006-09-17T21:28:00.000-03:002006-09-12T22:29:23.729-03:00

This week I am taking a look at three recent high-profile doping cases in the United States. In each instance I'll frame the athlete's case in terms of the WADA Code (PDF) and associated anti-doping rules. Each of the cases provides a slightly different perspective on anti-doping rules in sport. This is part 2 of the three-part series, concerning the case of road cyclist Floyd Landis. In Part

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1156725764142794042006-09-11T22:10:00.000-03:002006-08-31T00:04:21.190-03:00

This week I am taking a look at three recent high-profile doping cases in the United States, where they stand now, and what's likely to happen next. In each case I'll frame the athlete's case in terms of the WADA Code (PDF) and associated anti-doping rules. Each of the cases is being handled somewhat differently and each offers an interesting case study to a particular aspect of anti-doping

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-39526103862516442832006-09-07T22:55:00.000-03:002006-09-07T21:45:16.660-03:00

I trust in GodI love my countryAnd will respect its lawsI will play fairAnd strive to winBut win or loseI will always do my best   — the Little League Pledge The Ethics Scoreboard has a fascinating story from the qualification rounds of the Little League World Series of baseball (thanks to Geoffrey Rapp at Sports Law Blog for the tip). The Ethics Scoreboard article gives a good summary of the

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-74526432780075516802006-09-06T23:08:00.000-03:002006-09-06T23:10:08.475-03:00

Mark Graham, a member of the 1992 Canadian Olympic team, was killed by a US warplane in Afghanistan on Monday. He was 33 years old. Name: Mark Anthony Graham Name: Mark Anthony Graham Rank: 13th, 4×400m relay Rank: Private, 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment Serial Number: 35941 Serial Number: 32 The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-61871376982296634042006-09-02T23:38:00.000-03:002006-09-02T23:40:31.572-03:00

I'm switching to the new Beta version of Blogger. If you get surprised by some formatting issues, now you know the reason. POSTSCRIPT: Well, that was interesting. I think I've more or less got back to where I want to be, give or take a few small formatting tweaks. Here are a few comments for anybody else out there who's thinking of trying it. Pros: The ability to label (categorize) posts.

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1157077658348008622006-09-01T23:20:00.000-03:002006-09-02T00:13:12.790-03:00

Somewhere there are some coxswains fuming over this, I'll bet: The position doesn't require brawn, speed or years of training — just a healthy set of lungs and a good sense of direction. China's Olympics rowing team is searching for coxswains: two diminutive people with big voices who will steer the men's and women's teams of eight rowers in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The news here is not

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1156820809534503872006-08-29T00:04:00.000-03:002006-08-29T00:26:10.486-03:00

This weekend CBC Sports broadcast the ICF World Flatwater Championships from Szeged, Hungary. The broadcast was not live — competition was held the weekend before — but that's about the only complaint I can come up with about the coverage. Commentators Scott Russell and Scott Logan did a very good job putting things in context. They made a few factual slip-ups, but you would have to be a real

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1156300983485467192006-08-22T23:14:00.000-03:002006-08-22T23:45:53.846-03:00

… please step forward. Not so fast, Mr. Gebreselassie! From the guilty-until-proven-innocent-department, here's a little fact (courtesy of the People's Daily — read past the part about the Gatlin case) that I did not know about world records in athletics: "We are very specific. Any record from 100m to 100km must have been tested for EPO. This has been the case for two years now, but it seems

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1155672746762260312006-08-20T23:40:00.000-03:002006-08-22T00:27:54.980-03:00

King Kaufman, one of my favourite sportswriters, writes about his lack of interest in the ongoing Basketball World Championships: Because of the alchemy of what we care about, the Olympics are thrilling in a way the exact same competition is not if it's not the Olympics. The difference is the rings. … In the big picture, sports are important. Anything that can draw crowds of 20,000 or 50,000 or

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1155521319755181232006-08-19T23:48:00.000-03:002006-08-19T00:12:05.940-03:00

Mark Keast wrote a piece in the Toronto Sun last week about the IDBF World Dragon Boat Club Crew Championships held in Toronto last weekend. The article was titled "Olympic hopes a long shot" and described some of the hurdles that the sport of dragon boat faces in gaining inclusion in the Olympics. I wanted to point out that there are some interesting facts missing from the discussion about

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1154657187117851962006-08-11T01:06:00.000-03:002006-08-11T01:12:14.396-03:00

Canadian mountain biker Danika Schroeter has been suspended for three months for inappropriate behaviour at the Canadian downhill championships. The women's title was won by Michelle Dumaresq, her third. Schroeter finished in second place, losing to Dumaresq by one second. For the medal presentation (pictured at right), Schroeter wore a sponsor's white t-shirt with the words "100% Pure Woman

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1155093153169259862006-08-08T23:52:00.000-03:002006-08-09T00:12:33.340-03:00

The Pan American championships for canoe-kayak slalom are being moved to Madawaska, Ontario, por falta de água — for lack of water. The competition had been scheduled to be held in September, on Brazil's Itaipu Whitewater Canal. The Itaipu canal was opened in May of this year on a part of the outflow from the massive Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam. The Amazon River basin is entering its second

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1154918716549353182006-08-06T23:36:00.000-03:002006-10-17T02:47:23.258-03:00

It looks like Floyd Landis will soon be Tour de France champion no more. Landis' B sample confirmed a very high ratio (11/1) of testosterone to epitestosterone. Furthermore, both his A and B samples were subjected to carbon isotope ratio testing, and came back positive for the presence of exogenous (synthetic) testosterone in the urine. The carbon isotope ratio test is quite definitive. The

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1154657120219378402006-08-03T23:05:00.000-03:002006-08-03T23:49:11.256-03:00

One of Canada's most famous athletes is suing CTV, and it has nothing to do with the broadcast rights for the 2010 Olympics. Ross Rebagliati, who won an infamous gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics, has taken issue with the characters and plotlines in Whistler. One of the characters on the show, which is set in Whistler, BC, is Beck MacKaye, who won the first-ever snowboarding gold medal in

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1154225740054463512006-08-01T23:15:00.000-03:002006-08-01T23:16:55.543-03:00

I happened to run across an interview with Donovan Bailey on the National last week, and as I was watching I realized that the whole point of the interview was the tenth anniversary of Bailey's Olympic championship in the 100m. That means that it has also been ten years since I stopped being a competitive athlete. One of my most vivid memories of the 1996 Olympics is actually of Donovan Bailey

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1154309891099617722006-07-30T22:38:00.000-03:002006-07-31T00:04:36.800-03:00

Free Floyd Landis: I wish I had thought of that title, but it's a new blog that promises to address the issues surrounding the testosterone test as the Landis story unfolds over the coming weeks and months. The author, "Free Floyd," has already done a nice job discussing the testosterone testing protocol and the T/E ratio threshold. This weekend American track star and world record co-holder

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1154053517703509702006-07-27T23:07:00.000-03:002006-07-28T00:34:42.096-03:00

By now most sports fans will have heard the news that Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone after Stage 17 of the Tour de France. I have a tendency to be long-winded, and I am going to be long-winded again on this subject. But there are two points that should be made up front here: Landis has had a drug test with an abnormal T/E ratio. That is not the same thing as a doping sanction.

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1153793698974296022006-07-26T00:38:00.000-03:002006-07-26T00:44:20.276-03:00

Another Chinese table tennis player is in trouble. Three-time Olympic medallist Kong Linghui crashed his car into a taxi while under the influence of alcohol last week. The police gave him a modest fine and revoked his drivers' license, but Kong's punishment is probably not over yet. The Chinese table tennis association said, through a spokesman, that "no timetable had been set" for team

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1153361278455887872006-07-23T23:07:00.000-03:002006-07-24T00:02:28.123-03:00

I've got my hands on a copy of the Road to Excellence Business Plan, released by the COC in April of this year. From a quick skim I can see that the document has lots of interesting stuff in it, and I'm looking forward to diving into it in more detail. The report was authored by Dr. Roger Jackson, who was hired in 2005 to lead the COC's summer sport excellence program. At the time, I wondered

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1153360130585335252006-07-19T22:48:00.000-03:002006-07-20T00:12:51.053-03:00

On Saturday the head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and a number of other top amateur sport officials were taken hostage in Baghdad: … the kidnappers blindfolded and handcuffed all people in the room, police said. Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said Ahmed al-Hijiya, president of the committee, was taken around 1:30 p.m. local time along with other employees as they attended a conference in Karradah,

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1153106904460349942006-07-17T00:26:00.000-03:002006-07-17T22:35:37.663-03:00

In Part 2 of this post, I discussed the statistics of anti-doping tests conducted by WADA from 2003 to 2005. Specifically, I showed the positive test rates for 2003, 2004, and 2005 for all summer and winter Olympic sports, plus a few selected other sports. As I noted in that post, there was a significant increase in the positive test rate in 2005 compared to the previous two-year period. In

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1152671782566780812006-07-11T23:31:00.000-03:002006-07-11T23:47:01.453-03:00

Last September I wrote about the statistics of anti-doping tests. More recently WADA released the statistics for out-of-competition tests they conducted in 2005. As I noted at that time, there was a statistically significant rise in the percentage of positive tests in 2005 compared to 2004. Last month, WADA released their annual report covering all tests conducted by WADA-accredited labs.

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1152241640227655552006-07-07T00:04:00.000-03:002006-07-07T00:07:20.246-03:00

I once had a Hungarian coach (who I have written about before) who used to teach us about kayaking in his own unique language. As part of that language there was a particular phrase that he used almost as a litany when discussing the historical stars of our sport. Whenever he mentioned the name of one of the greats — Helm, Parfenovich, Barton, Gyulai, Holmann — it was always followed by the

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1150167901139359482006-07-05T09:21:00.000-03:002006-07-05T21:29:23.226-03:00

This story is a few weeks old, and L-girl already brought it up in the comments back here, but I thought I'd better mention it. Brian Willams* has left CBC Sports. Williams is now working for Rogers/CTV, who have the rights to the Canadian Olympic broadcasts for 2010 and 2012. (*Note to American readers: I don't mean this guy.) So, short-term good news: we won't have Brian Williams to kick

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1151723143561029992006-07-01T22:05:00.000-03:002006-10-14T22:39:45.248-03:00

A few months ago, I posted my thoughts on my hometown's attempt to win the right to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games. During that discussion, I mentioned a professional-looking anti-bid website called Halifax No Way, and another, um, less professional one called the Stop the HRM Commonwealth Games Site (or perhaps it's called "Index," I'm not quite sure). The proprietor of the latter is one

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1151545633057074702006-06-28T21:13:00.000-03:002006-06-28T23:39:28.513-03:00

More than a year ago I wrote a series of posts titled "Following the Money" that examined the breakdown of Sport Canada's overall contributions to all recipients, and the percentages allocated to Olympic sports. I went looking for the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 numbers on the Sport Canada website so that I could update the charts I did then. Regular readers and people who work in the Canadian

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1151107708940361032006-06-23T23:01:00.000-03:002006-06-24T00:38:09.626-03:00

This week at the IOC Executive Meeting, there was no announcement about the scheduling of swimming finals at the 2008 Olympics. Or rather, there was an announcement that the decision will be delayed for two months. The IOC also signed a new agreement with the International Paralympic Committee. The agreement runs through 2016 and ensures that the Paralympics will continue to be held in the same

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1150592938308181162006-06-18T23:22:00.000-03:002006-06-19T23:56:13.806-03:00

There's an international uproar brewing over the schedule of events in Beijing in 2008. You may have read about it at Timed Finals, where Scott Goldblatt has been doing an excellent job following the story and laying out the issues. The outline of the story is this: NBC has suggested that the finals in swimming (and perhaps a number of other high-profile events) should be rescheduled from late

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1150300746954412862006-06-14T12:53:00.000-03:002006-06-15T01:06:28.310-03:00

A few months ago I agreed to become a member of the organizing committee for the Medavie Blue Cross Canoe Challenge. The Canoe Challenge is a charity event that has raised over a million dollars (Canadian) for the IWK Health Centre Foundation and Ronald McDonald House Atlantic. The Canoe Challenge is an interesting example of a very popular kind of event, the sport-based charity fund raiser.

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1149475267940549572006-06-04T23:10:00.000-03:002006-06-05T00:19:50.806-03:00

Last week there was another one of those stories that pop up from time to time, the ones that claim "sport X wants to be in the Olympic Games!" Of course sport X is a pastime that may or may not even be a sport, which means that the story gets quickly propagated as an "odd news" bit and gets a bunch of free publicity as a result. The last one I saw was poker. Last week's version has it that

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1148861212844166312006-05-29T20:06:00.000-03:002006-05-29T23:54:28.500-03:00

Something significant — significant to me, personally — happened yesterday in the small world of Canadian amateur sports. It won't register on the national radar screen, but I think some of the readers of this blog will appreciate it as a sporting accomplishment. On Sunday in Duisburg, Germany, Canada won the Men's K-4 1000m final at the Duisburg Internationale Kanu Regatta und World-Cup 2006.

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1148522741933389892006-05-28T01:29:00.000-03:002006-05-28T22:36:01.026-03:00

It's hard to write about sports in China without sounding ignorant. I'm going to try it anyway. Last week I read this story about Olympic table tennis champion Chen Qi, who was sent to the countryside for "rural reeducation:" After losing to compatriot Wang Ha in the men's final at the Asia Cup held in Japan on March 5, Chen flung the ball to the ground and kicked a chair into the air. The

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1148611385711353582006-05-25T23:07:00.000-03:002006-05-25T23:43:05.743-03:00

My Google Blog Search RSS feed recently led me to a blog called The Protocol written by US Speed Skater Eva Rodansky. The post I stumbled into was an interesting look at the differences between the very successful US and Canadian Speed Skating programs. Rodansky referred to another speed skating blog, Zen and the Art of Speedskating, written by Andrew Love. These two blogs, together, offer a

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1147658870359968702006-05-19T08:07:00.000-03:002006-06-24T00:38:52.180-03:00

Should listening to music before your race be a violation of the World Anti-Doping Agency Code? Section 4.3 of the WADA Code (PDF) identifies the Criteria for Including Substances and Methods on the Prohibited List (PDF). Rather than quoting the criteria, I will reproduce here the note attached to this section. The language is less technical, but captures the essence of the criteria, and

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1147577617729767302006-05-14T00:31:00.000-03:002006-05-14T00:33:37.756-03:00

In the past few years, the agencies that fund high-performance sport in Canada have made a change to their basic philosophy. Instead of stretching the available funding until it's thin enough to cover every sport, there has been a trend toward concentrating financial resources on sports with the greatest probability of international success. I've previously touched quite a bit on the winter

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1147137584206292882006-05-08T22:19:00.000-03:002006-05-08T23:08:09.010-03:00

I know things have been a bit slow around here lately. I've been travelling a lot, and busy at work, but I think things should clear up a bit soon. I did want to recap last week's federal budget, as it deals with amateur sport in Canada. As my patrons at CanSport have already pointed out, the Harper government didn't fulfil its campaign promise to increase funding for sport to one percent of

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1146799055942892602006-05-05T00:17:00.000-03:002006-05-05T00:17:36.060-03:00

While I had a few free minutes, I just wanted to point out a new link over on the right under "Other Amateurs." Timed Finals is a blog all about swimming run by two-time Olympic medallist Scott Goldblatt. It's well written, and has interesting material from a unique perspective. (I found it via Light the Torch, which I found through a Google Blog Search RSS feed I subscribe to.) Scott also has a

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1146543736430558012006-05-02T01:19:00.000-03:002006-05-02T01:22:16.453-03:00

Tomorrow is budget day for our new federal government — our new minority federal government, and that adds quite a lot of drama to the proceedings. Like most Canadians, I'll be looking closely at the issues that affect me personally and how the Conservatives plan to address them. Before the election, I wrote a bit about the Sport Matters Group and their analysis of which political party would

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1146281704561647892006-04-29T00:14:00.000-03:002006-04-29T01:12:37.273-03:00

I've been working for some time on a hobby project to make my own Google Map. Just for fun, I've been trying to mash together a Google Map of the world and the COC 2006 Olympic Team Handbook. I know that the Olympic boat sailed long ago, but I'm not really a web programmer, and it took me this long to get it working the way I wanted it! I do have a real job, believe it or not. Anyway, here it

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1146016646883784362006-04-25T23:57:00.000-03:002006-04-25T23:58:53.583-03:00

Canadian sporting hero Silken Laumann has written a book. I should know better than to judge a book by its press release, but as the father of two kids under five, the headline in the Ottawa Citizen certainly caught my eye: Take your kids out of sports, top rower Silken Laumann says. Of course, after reading the rest of the article, it seems that Ms. Laumann's position is considerably more

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1145629238847535802006-04-21T11:18:00.000-03:002006-04-22T15:23:51.203-03:00

I'm away for the weekend, back at the scene of my former glory personal best in Gainesville, Georgia, the Poultry Capital of the World: Georgia Poultry Park has a 25-foot tall Georgia marble monument topped by a 36-inch bronze rooster, featuring poultry industry information on six plaques at its base. The Canadian National Team Trials are not being held at Poultry Park, but at Clarks Bridge

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1144285127141315792006-04-17T01:08:00.000-03:002006-04-17T10:56:27.263-03:00

A couple of weeks ago WADA released a summary of their anti-doping test results for 2005. The rate of positive tests saw a sharp increase, from 1.03% (19/1848) in 2004, to 1.96% (61/3114) in 2005. I have written before about the fact that these numbers, as reported, never include error bars — estimates on the uncertainty in the real rate of doping. As I noted in that post, if we assume that

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1144925226705991402006-04-14T23:00:00.000-03:002006-04-14T23:00:28.860-03:00

I'm not disabled. I just don't have any legs. — Oscar Pistorius, 2005 It's been more than a year since I wrote about South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius. He's in the news again this week, as he prepares to defend his 100 m and 200 m titles at the Visa Paralympic World Cup in May. Pistorius, you will recall, is missing both of his legs below the knee. His personal best over 400 m, which is

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1144728881759195482006-04-11T01:00:00.000-03:002006-04-17T11:27:14.976-03:00

In Part 1 of this post, I reviewed some predictions of Canada's medal performances at the 2006 winter Olympics. In Part 2, I discussed the overall performance of the team by sport, and assessed progress toward achieving the goals of the Own the Podium 2010 program. In this final segment, I want to take a quick look at two other aspects of the Canadian team's performance. Conversion Way back

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1144370053485231932006-04-07T22:58:00.000-03:002006-04-07T23:29:37.276-03:00

More from the IOC Executive Board meeting: the IOC expects to bring in more and more money for the rights to broadcast the Olympics: The IOC's Asian negotiations come after the conclusion of negotiations with U.S. and European broadcasters, who Carrion says paid rates more than 30 percent higher for the 2010 and 2012 games than they did in previous contracts. … The amounts the IOC pulls in keep

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1144373404971791492006-04-06T22:29:00.000-03:002006-04-06T22:30:05.006-03:00

The IOC executive board is meeting in Seoul this week. In between sessions, president Jacques Rogge had this to say about baseball's possible inclusion on the Olympic programme for 2016: We still have issues about doping. Progress has been made but not to the level where the Olympic family would accept it. The Associated Press report makes it sound like Rogge has set a condition for baseball's

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1144292442971736382006-04-05T23:57:00.000-03:002006-04-06T22:24:45.023-03:00

In my last post I presented a recap of my own predictions of Canadian medals at the 2006 winter Olympics, and compared them to the predictions from Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press. Today I would like to look at the Canadian medal performances with an eye to the future. A little more than a year ago, the COC initiated a performance improvement plan called Own the Podium 2010. The

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1144039724228776682006-04-03T01:40:00.000-03:002006-04-03T12:25:28.546-03:00

I've got a few odds and ends I wanted to tie up from the 2006 Winter Olympics, including my very early predictions about Canada's performance in 2010. First I would like to recap predictions for 2006, and see how I did and where I went wrong. My prediction of 21.1 medals for Canada was based on assigning probabilities for the first, second, and third medal for each of the 84 events. I allowed

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1143122515708535662006-03-26T01:43:00.000-04:002006-03-26T19:05:18.130-04:00

American sprinter Chryste Gaines is currently serving a two-year suspension by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for taking THG, a designer steroid created and distributed by BALCO. She never tested positive, but was put away by the testimony of fellow US sprinter Kelli White. White was also a BALCO client, and tested positive for a banned substance at the 2003 World Championships. A third US

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1136402801637762282006-03-21T23:26:00.000-04:002006-03-22T22:21:35.976-04:00

On this day twenty-six years ago, the American President made the official announcement confirming that the USA would not attend the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. President Carter had set a February 20 deadline for the Soviet Union to pull its troops out of Afghanistan and avoid a boycott. Carter engaged in extensive arm-twisting to gain support from other nations. Some governments, like

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1142742913929460602006-03-18T23:48:00.000-04:002006-03-19T00:35:13.950-04:00

Canada's Rick Say is at it again at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Say, you may remember, made headlines at the 2004 Olympics when he had this to say after a disappointing fifth-place finish in the men's 4×200m freestyle swimming relay: I'm pissed off, I'm disappointed. This is crap. Now, I don't have any problem with athletes speaking bluntly about their own performances. It's refreshing,

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1142740114109021022006-03-18T23:31:00.000-04:002006-03-18T23:48:34.130-04:00

It isn't too often these days that Canada enters an ice hockey game as a decided underdog. But that happened today in the sledge hockey gold medal game at the Paralympics. Canada took on top-ranked and defending Paralympic champions Norway, and defeated them 3-0. It is Canada's first ever Paralympic gold in hockey. I can't really make any personal observations on this one, since I had no

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1142475769480206792006-03-17T23:58:00.000-04:002006-03-21T00:18:40.770-04:00

RICK HANSEN: "My dream back [at the 1984 summer Olympics] was that one day our athletes with a disability would have equal recognition. Today, as Canada's best competes at the ninth Paralympic Winter Games that dream remains unfulfilled. My challenge to Canadians is to see our team and indeed all the participants recognized as athletes first." MARY ORMSBY: "You can't force people to care. You

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1142479934781892572006-03-16T07:21:00.000-04:002006-10-14T22:40:07.829-03:00

Note: Since the original publication of this post, I have corrected the spelling of Bruce DeVenne's name. A couple of months back, Halifax (my home town) won the right to be Canada's bid city for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. (Incidentally, the 2006 Commonwealth Games are going on right now. What? You hadn't heard? Yes, I'm sure.) A delegation of prominent Nova Scotians — three of whom I

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1142001730177064532006-03-10T22:21:00.000-04:002006-03-10T22:23:57.730-04:00

I discovered this week that I am a member of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Now, you might find it surprising that one can become a member of the COC and not know it. I am what is called an A Member of the COC, which means that I was appointed by a National Sport Federation. I assumed that appointment in December, when I took on a new volunteer position with my favourite NSF. You will not

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1140402727992877382006-03-07T23:23:00.000-04:002006-03-07T23:29:12.286-04:00

In the months before the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, there was a political dispute between the IOC and the Italian government over control of anti-doping efforts in Torino. Sports doping is a criminal offense in Italy, which is at odds with current IOC policy. The IOC and WADA have been working to have anti-doping regulations adopted in national laws, through the UNESCO International Convention

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1141273138313568452006-03-01T23:42:00.000-04:002006-03-02T00:18:58.336-04:00

Anticipating the start of the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games, I wandered over to the official web site and was greeted by this image. That's Aster, the lovable cartoon mascot of the Torino Paralympics, prone on the snow with a rifle. I know that this is supposed to depict biathlon, but does this give anybody else the creeps? It's not as creepy as the 400 brides at the Olympic closing

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1141184049312409432006-02-28T22:58:00.000-04:002006-02-28T23:34:09.466-04:00

Last week I pointed out the discrepancy between what I called the "European" and "American" medal tables. The former ranks the countries by the number of gold medals won, whereas the latter ranks the countries by total number of medals, using gold medals as a tiebreaker. I should have pointed out that to many people these would be called the "right" and "wrong" medal tables, respectively.

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1140835634660859702006-02-26T22:47:00.000-04:002006-02-26T23:47:28.486-04:00

You may have missed this during the excitement of the Olympics, but last week an interesting scientific study was released in the journal Blood. Blood is the Journal of the American Society of Hematology. The article (abstract here), as cited in Medical News Today, makes a number of very strong statements about the urinary EPO test currently being used by WADA: Straightforward experimental

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1140934721430939282006-02-26T02:09:00.001-04:002006-02-26T02:26:50.146-04:00

Figure 1 Figure 1 — Updated probability distribution for Canada's 2006 winter Olympic medal total (click to enlarge). Prediction is based on the probability assessment here, updated as events are decided. After another four-medal day for Canada in Turin, we can safely say that one part of my medal prediction was incorrect; 25 medals will be enough to finish in the top 3 in the medal table.

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9977936.post-1140839641530291512006-02-24T23:02:00.000-04:002006-02-25T00:13:03.093-04:00

Last week I made the claim that the Winter Olympics were slippery and very, very fast. Of course there is an important exception to that rule. The last two days have featured the medal games in curling, the slowest sport in the Winter Olympics. I honestly do not mean that as an insult; curling is one of my favourite winter sports. Personally, I get more thrills from watching curling than from

Amateurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11231031426264837427noreply@blogger.com0