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Posts Tagged ‘Speed Skating’

The CBC has a story up indicating that later today, Clara Hughes will be named as Canada’s flag bearer in the Opening Ceremonies of the upcoming Winter Games. There could not be a more appropriate representative for Canada. Many congratulations to Clara as well as her friends and family. Clara is an outstanding athlete and person. More to follow.

Update: True to the earlier reports, Clara Hughes was introduced this afternoon at Richmond City Hall as the Team Canada flag bearer for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, which are set to happen two weeks from today. Regardless of ones feelings of the games themselves, I think it’s fair to say that they try and bend towards an ideal. Reasonable people can disagree about how successful the games are at fulfilling that ideal, but Clara Hughes is an embodiment of it. Not all athletes should be thought of as role models, but Clara Hughes can’t help but be one, and Canada could not hope for a better sports ambassador on the world stage. Hughes accomplishments in sport are many, and at 37 years of age, she is still a medal threat; at a race in Norway last November she just missed the podium, finishing 4th. Clara is the only Canadian, and one of only four athletes in the world, to have won a medal in both the summer and the winter Olympics. Across four previous Olympics, she has won 5 medals, including a gold in the 5000m at the Torino Games in 2006. After winning that medal, inspired by American speed skater Joey Cheek, Hughes donated $10,000 of her own money to the organization Right to Play and has been an advocate for that group ever since. As a member of Canada’s cycling team in 1996, Clara won the first Canadian medal of those games with a third place finish in the road race. I remember having a crush on her then, and it’s safe to say that I still do. I am very much looking forward to Clara and the entire speed skating team putting on an amazing display in a few short weeks.

PHOTO BY: JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press

• Undue Canada Bashing From Colbert Continues Stephen Colbert's assault on the Canadian speed skating team and Canada in general continued this Thursday on 'The Sport Report' (pronounced The Spore Rapport) when Stephen once again attacked Canada in regards to his beef...
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US Speed Skating - Powered by The Colbert Nation

Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Nation’s  sponsorship of the US speed skating team was a story I wrote about when it first came about, but I foolishly haven’t been posting on any of the latest developments. Back in November, City of Richmond spokesperson Ted Townsend wrote to Stephen inviting him to come to the games as an official ombudsman to ensure no funny business would happen (at the time Colbert was hammering Canada about not letting the US get enough practice time at the Richmond Olympic Oval.) Stephen stated he would be coming to the games, but only if it were as a member of the US Olympic Team (I guess he couldn’t stand to wear a pink toque the whole time.) So began Stephen Colbert’s Skate Expectations: Kicking Ice and Taking Donations On The Slippery Slope Down The Icy Path To The Frozen Road Up To Vancouver ’010 and his bid to join the US Olympic Team.

First came his attempts to join the skeleton and bobsleigh teams. These efforts failed despite Cobert’s “God given talent for lying down and surrendering to the effects of gravity”. He was further hindered by the fact that most members of the bobsleigh squad do not enjoy “a little vomit on their Lycra.” Next, Colbert tried to “HURRY HARD!” his way into the Olympics as part of the curling team. Once again his efforts were to no avail. Not giving up though, Colbert dug deep, remembered that his first love is speed skating and orchestrated a hilarious race with World Champion Shani Davis. All of Stephens well developed cheating instincts failed him, as Shani went on to decimate him, despite a head start of over 10 minutes. However, Colbert’s wily ways did catch the notice of the coaching staff, and he will be joining the team as an assistant sports psychologist. This is a fantastic development and I look forward to some great pieces of journalism from Stephen during the games. I’ve often wrote that I strongly believe in using the Olympic platform to shine a light on the fair city of Vancouver, both the good and the bad. The Colbert Report has and continues to be an excellent force for peering into some of the darker cracks in society and I fully expect to him to highlight some of the social issues that are present in this city. Previously I suggested that Colbert and Rick Mercer pair up for some international comedy dueling, but after thinking on the viability of this, I remembered that CTV is this years host broadcaster in Canada, and as Mercer is a CBC employee this would not work. Perhaps John Dore is up for challenging Colbert.

Apologies to those with Canadian IP addresses; you will need to click here to view the above clip, as the Comedy Network does not allow for embedded video clips.

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Responding yesterday to Stephen Colbert in just the way that we’ve been looking for was Ted Townsend, the spokesperson for the City of Richmond. In an open letter to Colbert in response to the one on the right, Townsend said the following:

We have always welcomed our friends from south of the border with open arms (well, except for that period in 1812). In fact, we’ve always fondly considered you as our American “cousins” and politely tolerated you, even when you were in an imperialistic mood…

It takes a lot to upset us…after all, the combination of the languid smell of beaver musk and the freezing temperatures generally make us a docile people…

So as the Canadian Iceholes who also happen to be the proprietors of the Richmond Olympic Oval, we are inviting you to find yourself some sled dogs and venture forth to our great frozen wasteland to be our guest at the 2010 Olympic Games. 

Good on Ted for grabbing the media attention that is being served up on a platter. Should Stephen accept the offer he would become an official ombudsman for the games; provided he wears a pink toque his entire time here. That’s perfect! Via Margaret Sheridan’s sports blog at canoe.ca we learn that a CBC sports anchor has challenged Colbert to a race.  They’ve got the right idea, but lets get some star power behind this! Time to lace ‘em up Mercer.

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