Electric Dirt Farmer » olympics

Cindy Klassen Golden Again

the proprietor — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 02:17:00 +0000

It is difficult to dispute that Cindy Klassen is the most dominant Canadian individual athlete currently competing. To win so strongly at every distance in a sport with such a range of distances is truly remarkable. My knowledge of sports history is very thin so I can’t really compare her performance this year to anyone else in the past. But without doubt Klassen has been one of the most exciting athletes I’ve had the joy to see perform in quite some time. I’m looking forward with great anticipation to the next few years leading up to Vancouver 2010.

It would appear that the fastest women on the long blades must now be the favourite to be chosen Canada’s female athlete of the year. And, that in a year that is still mostly ahead of us. Truly remarkable.

I Love The Olympics

the proprietor — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 17:30:00 +0000

I just watched the women’s 5000m. Oh my goodness, what an absolutely fantastic race. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through the last two pairs. Clara Hughes is absolutely amazing. She leaves everything on the track, and this time it paid off handsomely. My favourite part of the olympics has always been seeing the overflowing joy on the athletes faces when they realize what they’ve achieved.

On top of all that Cindy Klassen picked up her fifth medal. And, I would be remiss to leave out Claudia Pechstein, a true living legend, who put out a great race for her ninth medal in her career.

GOLD!

the proprietor — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 04:49:00 +0000

It’s a grand, and truly exilerating, way to close out the Games for Canada. The Gushue rink winning gold with an outstanding display of curling prowess. Obviously, it’s not quite the end, but this game will no doubt be the crowning glory of Turin 2006 for Canada. I didn’t get a chance to actually watch the game live, but I managed to catch some of the highlights late this evening. And, I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve seen better shotmaking.

Thank you gentlemen. Curling rules!

Great Short Track Race

the proprietor — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 02:59:00 +0000

I just caught the CBC Olympic Prime Time replay of today’s women’s short track speedskating 3000 relay. I already knew the end result, but I hadn’t read a recap so I didn’t know how they got there. Now that I’ve seen the race I can say that it was a great race. It was tight pretty much the whole way, and the Canadians made some great moves. And, then the joy of the Italian fans and skaters when they DQ’d the Chinese team to give Italy the bronze. It had everything that makes short track such a great sport to watch. It really is a shame that it’s not televised more often.

Bound for Torino

the proprietor — Sun, 11 Dec 2005 20:52:00 +0000

Two great finishes. Two great teams.

It’s official: Kleibrink and Gushue will play for Canada in Torino.

Asafa Powell: World’s Fastest Man

the proprietor — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 00:55:00 +0000

I just read the BBC Sports report about Asafa Powell breaking the 100m world record. When I saw clips of him running a few times last year I thought he had a good shot of breaking the record. I was really surprised when he didn’t do well in Athens. And, his post record commentary put a smile on my face.

“It wasn’t perfect, my coach is mad at me,” said Powell, “In the last 30m, I was tightening up because I was trying to push it too hard when I should have been relaxing down. I can be faster.”

If former record holder Tim Montgomery keeps his word (to regain his title) it could be a very interesting year in athletics.