/blog/teamcanada/home.aspxFollowing Team Canada athletes during London 2012en-usCopyright 2012, CJAD-AMTue, 21 May 2013 18:21:25 GMTMon, 13 Aug 2012 00:58:37 GMT1http://emmisinteractive.comWith a little British pomp and a lot of British pop, London brought the curtain down on a glorious Olympic Games on Sunday in a spectacular, technicolour pageant of landmarks, lightshows and lots of fun. The closing ceremony offered a sensory blast including rock 'n' roll rickshaws, dustbin percussionists, an exploding yellow car and a marching band in red tunics and bearskin hats. The Spice Girls staged a show-stopping reunion, and Monty Python's Eric Idle sauntered through "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" — accompanied by Roman centurions, Scottish bagpipers and a human cannonball. It all made for a psychedelic mashup that had 80,000 fans at Olympic Stadium stomping, cheering and singing along. Organizers estimated 300 million or more were watching around the world. What a way to end a games far more successful than many Londoners expected. Security woes were overcome, and traffic nightmares never materialized. The .../blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415216ahefter@cjad.astral.com (Abe Hefter)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415216Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:58:37 GMTAs the London 2012 Olympic Games come to a close, soccer star Christine Sinclair has been named Canada’s flag bearer for the Closing Ceremony in London’s Olympic Stadium. “This is a huge honour and I wish I could have my teammates right here with me,” said Sinclair. “We want the next generation of young girls to dream of being in the Olympics and getting a medal around their necks. If we can instil in them just the belief that this can happen, then we have done our jobs.” Sinclair led the Canadian women’s soccer team to a bronze medal in London, notching a tournament-best six goals, including three in the hotly-contested semi-final match against the United States. Sinclair carried the flag into the Opening Ceremony of the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara. She is tied for the second most career goals of all time among women’s .../blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415154ahefter@cjad.astral.com (Abe Hefter)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415154Sun, 12 Aug 2012 11:51:08 GMTTears flowed as dreams were shattered on the track at the LondonGames this afternoon. The Canadian men finished third in the4-by-100-metre relay. Jared Connaughton, GavinSmellie, Oluseyi Smith and Justyn Warner began tocelebrate a bronze-medal triumph -- but within minutes learned theyhad been disqualified. Officals say Connaughton stepped outside hislane. Smith called it ``the worst thing in the world.'' Connaughtonsays he's sorry.    ---    The Jamaican men -- including self-proclaimed ``legend'' UsainBolt -- won the gold in the 4-by-100, and set a world record of36.84 seconds in the process. The United States took the silver. TheCanadian disqualification allowed Trinidad and Tobago claim thebronze. Bolt finishes the London Games with three golds, matchinghis performance in Beijing four years ago.    ---    Britain's Mo Farah ran to another gold-medal finish beforeroaring fans at the Olympic Stadium. The runner .../blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415138ahefter@cjad.astral.com (Abe Hefter)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415138Sun, 12 Aug 2012 00:37:47 GMTLONDON - Canada has been disqualified from the final of the men's 4x100-metre relay at the London Olympics after initially appearing to win the bronze medal. The team of Gavin Smellie of Brampton, Ont., Ottawa's Oluseyi Smith, Jared Connaughton of New Haven, P.E.I., and anchor Justyn Warner of Markham, Ont., brought out the Maple Leaf to celebrate after posting a time of 38.07 seconds. But the team was disqualified after it appeared Connaughton stepped out of his lane. The DQ gave the bronze to Trinidad and Tobago, leaving the Canadians doubled over on the track in tears. Minutes after the disqualification, Athletics Canada tweeted the following: We are appealing the DQ, it's now in the hands of the jury. That was followed 16 minutes later by the following tweet from Athletics Canada: The appeal has been rejected. The decision made by the official on the track stands. Jamaica won gold .../blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415127ahefter@cjad.astral.com (Abe Hefter)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415127Sat, 11 Aug 2012 20:59:13 GMTCanadian kayaker Mark de Jonge has won bronze in the K-1 200-metre race at the Olympic Games. The 28-year-old from Halifax won both his heat and semifinal Friday to advance to today's final on the last day of canoe-kayakcompetition at Eton Dorney. De Jonge's Olympic dream was almost derailed in April when he broke a finger. The muscular kayaker dropped an 80-pound dumbbell on his hand when he lost balance during a workout in Florida.   Britain's Ed McKeever won the gold and Spain's Saul Craviotto Rivero took the silver.   (COC Photo)  /blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415073ahefter@cjad.astral.com (Abe Hefter)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10415073Sat, 11 Aug 2012 11:21:12 GMTRichard Weinberger has won Canada's first-ever medal in open-water 10-km swimming.  The 22-year old from Surrey and who trains in Victoria, BC won last year's test event in London but this victory comes against a much stronger field. The open-water marathon swim debuted in Beijing as an Olympic sport but Canada did not even have any swimmers qualified. Weinberger finished just 5.2 seconds behind Tunisian gold medalist Oussama Mellouli.  German Thomas Lurz won silver./blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414808rmoffat@cjad.astral.com (Rick Moffat)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414808Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:05:33 GMTDAY 14 – Olympic Preview   4 a.m. – 12 noon ET   Canoe/Kayak: Mixed – Eton Dorney hosts qualifying heats and semifinals for four events, all featuring Canadians: men's kayak single 200m (Mark de Jonge), men's canoe single 200m (Jason McCoombs), women’s kayak single 200m (Émilie Fournel) and men’s kayak double 200m (Hugues Fournel and Ryan Cochrane).   BMX: Men’s and Women’s Semifinals and Final – Tory Nyhaug* is flying high for Canada against reigning World Champion Sam Willoughby* in this fast-paced sport  making its second appearance at an Olympic Games   Taekwondo: Women’s 67kg and Men’s 80kg – Canadians Karine Sergerie, who brought home silver at the Beijing 2008 Games, and Sébastien Michaud, bronze medallist at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships, look to advance to the afternoon’s medal rounds   Wrestling: Men’s 55kg and 74kg – Canada’s David Tremblay and Matt Gentry hit the mat for a spot .../blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414652cdesjardins@cjad.com (Chantal Desjardins)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414652Thu, 09 Aug 2012 23:12:54 GMTWrestler Tonya Verbeek will be a 3-time medallist and is coming home with precious metal from London.  All she has to do is win her final match to make it gold.   Even if she loses, Verbeek comes home with silver. Verbeek turns 35 next Tuesday, and the native of Grimsby, Ontario is a pioneer---the first Canadian woman to win a wrestling medal (silver in 2004 followed up by bronze 4 years ago).  /blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414460rmoffat@cjad.astral.com (Rick Moffat)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414460Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:21:40 GMTThey beat the odds, they beat the French and they didn't have to beat any referee.   Team Canada wins bronze fair and square and the joy on the faces of Team Canada should say enough to render questions like "should they, could they have won gold" meaningless. This is the golden moment for Canadian soccer.   First medal ever.   First "traditional team sport win" at the Summer Olympics in almost 70 years. Diana Matheson let her foot do the talking even while Christine Sinclair was in the starting 11 while FIFA considered punishment for her justifiable tirade following a loss to USA. France repeatedly squandered chances.  Even the soccer gods smiled on Canada.  A shot off the post here, off the crossbar there. It took extra time and therefore extra effort.  Just the way Canada wanted it.   After holding France to a 0-0 draw after 90, Matheson scored on a wild .../blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414415rmoffat@cjad.astral.com (Rick Moffat)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414415Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:01:03 GMTCanada's women's soccer team has captured a bronze medal at the London Olympics. Diana Matheson scored in the 92nd minute to beat France 1-0 in the third-place game. The result gives Canada its first Summer Games medal in a traditional team sport since 1936. Matheson's goal came after France dominated the second half and nearly went ahead in the 61st minute when striker Gaetane Thiney's shot hit a post. Canada had an excellent chance in the 15th minute but captain Christine Sinclair launched a pass from Rhian Wilkinson over the net. France entered the game having outscored Canada 6-0 in their previous two meetings, including a 4-0 win at the Women's World Cup./blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414411rmoffat@cjad.astral.com (Rick Moffat)/blog/teamcanada/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10414411Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:09:05 GMT