Changer les habitudes

Reportage de Diane Sauvé - Radio-Canada
Vincent Lecavalier est au Québec où il s'entraîne depuis un mois et demi en vue de la prochaine saison.

Le capitaine du Lightning de Tampa Bay, opéré à la fin des deux dernières saisons, a doublé son volume d'entraînement afin de se présenter au camp dans la meilleure forme de sa carrière.

« Je trouvais que je me fatiguais rapidement lors de mes présences sur la patinoire. Avec mon entraînement, je sens que j'aurai plus d'énergie sur la patinoire et je serai plus explosif. »

Cet été, Lecavalier travaille d'une manière bien différente avec le médaillé olympique en patinage de vitesse courte piste Éric Bédard. À ses habituelles matinées au gymnase, il ajoute une deuxième visite en soirée.

« Beaucoup de joueurs de hockey ne sont pas habitués (à ce genre de rythme). Éric m'a parlé de l'entraînement des athlètes olympiques et je n'en revenais pas », affirme le Québécois.

Inversement, les habitudes alimentaires des joueurs de la LNH surprennent la nutritionniste Mélanie Oliver.

« Normalement, ils ont tellement une grosse équipe autour d'eux qu'ils devraient être supportés. Mais ils ne le sont pas; les connaissances, le suivi n'est pas là. »

D'après Olivier, qui travaille cet été la culture alimentaire du joueur de centre, « le sport amateur est plus professionnel que le sport professionnel au niveau de la nutrition. »

Une préparation intense pour Rémi Beaulieu

RÉMI BEAULIEU ET ses partenaires d’entrainement Marc-André Monette, Alex Boisvert-Lacroix et Francois Hamelin ont profité de leur journée de congé pour aller se balader un peu… en scooter! À gauche, on remarque les édifices du village olympique.
(Photo: Courtoisie)

Laurie Gobeil - Journal Le Lac St-Jean, M.R.C. Lac Saint-Jean Est
Alma - 9 juillet 2009
En compagnie des meilleurs patineurs canadiens, le patineur de vitesse courte piste d’origine almatoise Rémi Beaulieu vient tout juste de terminer un camp d’entraînement intense, d’une durée de deux semaines, tenu à Vancouver, sur le site même des prochains Jeux olympiques.

«C’est assez difficile. Tu te couches le soir et tu ne comprends pas trop ce qui s’est passé tant chaque journée est intense. Nous avons profité d’une journée de congé, mais j’en aurais pris encore. Il faut arriver en pleine forme pour les sélections olympiques qui se tiendront au mois d’août. L’entrainement s’est majoritairement déroulé sur la glace», relate-t-il.

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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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