Winter Games could be a family get-together

By Terry Bell, The ProvinceJuly 7, 2009
Edmonton short track speed skater Jessica Gregg may have a little extra incentive at Olympic team trials next month.
If Gregg makes the team she'll be following in the steps of her father Randy Gregg and mother Kathy (nee Vogt).

Her dad, who won five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, played hockey for Canada at the 1980 and 1988 Olympics, while mom was a speed skater in the 1976 and 1980 Games.
And to further complete the family portrait, her brother Jamie has a chance to make the 2010 Olympic long track team.

"If my brother and I went to the same Olympics it would be really cool," said Jessica, just off a two-week national team training camp at the Pacific Coliseum.
"It would be really exciting. I know our parents would probably be in the stands, too, so it would be a family event.

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Denton speedskater's Olympic dream lives on

By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News - July 6th
The moment Jordan Malone's dreams of the 2006 Turin Games died, after he'd skated at the U.S. Olympic short-track speedskating trials on a broken right ankle, he headed straight for his No. 1 teammate in the stands.

The Denton kid wrapped his mother, Peggy Aitken, in an embrace. Nothing had to be said. This was already clear:
...
This won't be the end.
...
Jae Su Chun, the national short-track coach, predicts Malone, 25, will "make the podium" in Canada.

A 5-6, 140-pound double-shot of 5-Hour Energy, Malone doesn't have the soul patch or five Olympic medals that have made U.S. teammate Apolo Anton Ohno famous. But after all kinds of crashes along the way, his resilience and spirit keep him moving forward.
...
Chun said Malone has a better chance to remain healthy because his ice technique has improved from earlier in his career, when he still had a lot of inline tendencies. Malone switched to ice only a year before the 2006 Olympics, surprising everyone with his rapid ascent to the national team and world medals.

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Big battle shaping up for 2010 berths

Canada is rich in talent, but only a select few will make team
By Terry Bell, The ProvinceJuly 6, 2009
The stands will be empty and there'll be no medals at stake when Canada's short track speed skating team hits the Pacific Coliseum ice next month.

But that doesn't mean Kamloops product Jessica Hewitt can't define it as the most important competition of her still young career.

"It's going to be crazy," the 22-year-old Hewitt said of the Canadian Olympic trials that are scheduled for Aug. 9-18. "There are so many girls and it's like the biggest competition of my life."

[...] Edmonton native Jessica Gregg, Canada's female skater of the year for 2008-09, had her own breakout season with a World Cup win in Bulgaria, a third-place finish at Salt Lake City and then a bronze medal in the 500 at the world championships in Austria.

Then there's the strong Quebec contingent that includes Anne and Valerie Maltais, Kalyna Roberge and Marianne St. Gelais, a 19-year-old junior from St. Felicien, who took a silver medal at the Vancouver World Cup last October. She finished her season with a win in the 500 at world juniors.

The competition could be even tougher on the men's side.

Charles Hamelin, 25, of Ste. Julie, Que., has secured an Olympic berth on the strength of his overall third- place finish at 2009 worlds.

[...] That's not the case for Olivier Jean and Francois-Louis Tremblay. [...] "There are only four spots left and I think there are probably 10 guys who could earn a spot," said Jean, who started slowly last season after missing the 2006-07 season when he lacerated a tendon in his leg with a skate.

"There are so many guys on our team who have been to the Olympics before, won medals at world championships and World Cups," he said. "We have a really strong field, but that means we're going to have a strong team for the Games, so that's only good news for Canada."

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Short-track speed skaters reeling in valuable time at Olympic venue

Coliseum ice getting a good workout in advance of next month’s Games trials
By Gary Kingston, Vancouver SunJuly 2, 2009

VANCOUVER — Canada’s short-track speed skaters are hoping the frozen water at Pacific Coliseum is far more hospitable in seven months time than the deep blue stuff off the Olympic host city last weekend.

In Vancouver for a training camp the last two weeks, a dozen skaters, most of them from Quebec, chartered a couple of boats last Sunday for a highly anticipated salmon fishing expedition.

Except for a three-pounder landed by Olivier Jean — “a charity fish,” cracked men’s head coach Derrick Campbell — they were skunked after five hours of trolling, as Jean described it, “in front of Stanley Park.”
“It was a really disappointing day,” said the Montreal skater, who does a lot of pike, bass and walleye fishing back home and who was salmon fishing for the first time. “We only had one bite. Five hours, one bite.”
He says the charter operators were apologetic.

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Short-track hopefuls take to Olympic venue

JEFF HODSON - METRO VANCOUVER - July 3rd, 2009

For Olympic hopeful Michael Gilday, the thrill of short-track is the fact that the winner doesn’t have to be the swiftest on the ice, but the smartest.“It’s a head-to-head race, and for me that’s the appeal,” said Gilday, 22, at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver on Thursday.

“If you go out and try to hammer as fast as you can, guys are just going to sit behind you, suck off you in the draft and pass you in the end. You’ve got to be intelligent.”

[...] Gilday has been on the national team for the past two years and he is one of 16 athletes challenging for four open spots on Canada’s Olympic team.“It’s going to be a huge battle for those last four spots.”

Canadian team picking up speed

The Daily Cleaner - Friday July 3rd, 2009

Making strides: Short track speedskaters, left to right, Amanda Overland, of Kitchener, Ont., Kalyna Roberge, of Montreal, Que., and Anne Maltais, of Laval, Que., skate during a national team training camp in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday. The Canadian team will hold an Olympic selection camp in Vancouver in August.

Short-track skater Olivier Jean ready to challenge for Olympic team spot

By Jim Morris - Canadian Press -
Other times, bad luck is a test of your will and determination. Short-track speedskater Olivier Jean was able to smile Thursday when talking about a failed salmon fishing trip he organized recently for the Canadian national team during a Vancouver training camp. All the 12 skaters had to show for it after a long day on the water was one fish that weighed under two kilograms.

"It was really disappointing," Jean said with a shake of his head.

Jean knows how luck, and fortune, can quickly turn. [...]
Derrick Campbell, the men's national team coach, said the determination and effort Jean showed last season will translate into more results this year.
"Last year, coming back, he was missing some shape," said Campbell. "Last year was a huge year for him because he was starting at a lower level.
"This year I think the big advantage is he has that year behind him where there is no setbacks. He's focused, he's able to build on what he was able to accomplish last year."
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