Basisphilosophie » Vancouver and Whistler

CALGARY -- Kyle Shewfelts Olympic gold medal in gymnastics shines bright a decade later because it is the first and only of its kind in Canada. Unlike the Olympic champion who has a teammate or hero to follow or emulate, Shewfelt blazed his own trail to win the floor routine in 2004. He is the only Canadian to win an Olympic medal of any colour in gymnastics. The Calgarian is among the athletes, builders and coaches who will be inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in June. Hell join speedskater Cindy Klassen, the victorious mens eight rowing team of 2008, speedskating coach Marcel Lacroix, hockey coach Pat Quinn and the late, former Alberta premier Ralph Klein among the 2014 inductees. Sports journalist Richard Garneau, who covered 23 Olympic Games, will receive the Canadian Olympic Order posthumously. While Shewfelt agrees no Canadian beat a path to the podium for him, he didnt feel isolated in his quest. "Why did it happen for me? I wasnt by myself," Shewfelt said. "I had tons of supporters, amazing teammates, my national federation was so supportive of the dream. They sent me around the world when I was 17 to get that experience. I just never wavered in my belief that it was possible. "I watched the Russians, I watched the Americans, the Chinese and the Japanese and I imagined myself being just like them. I did have incredible Canadian ambassadors in sport, Jennifer Wood was my idol, Curtis Hibbert, Stella Umeh, these are people I really looked up to. "For myself, I wanted to take it to the next level and I guess it took a lot of courage for myself to do that, but it was something I was willing to risk. I knew as an athlete that when I ended by career, I wanted to look back and have no regrets. I had to chase the biggest dream possible." Shewfelt, 31, retired in 2009 after competing in three Olympic Games. He broke both legs in competition less than a year out from the 2008 Summer Games, yet finished ninth in the vault and 11th in the floor routine in Beijing. Shewfelt, who has a vault named after him, recently opened a gymnastics school in the city. The Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame was established in 1949. It is housed in the Frank King Olympic Visitors Centre at Calgarys Canada Olympic Park about a kilometre from Canadas Sports Hall of Fame. Previous inductees into the Olympic Hall of Fame include wrestler Daniel Igali, swimmer Mark Tewksbury, synchronized swimmer Caroline Waldo and sprinter Donovan Bailey. The class of 2014 was revealed Wednesday in downtown Calgary along with the announcement that the city will host a three-day celebration June 4-6 of Canadas performance at the Sochi Games. Shewfelt and Lacroix, who coached Christine Nesbitt and the mens pursuit team to Olympic gold in 2010, attended the news conference. Quinn and members of the mens eight participated in a conference call. Klein spearheaded Calgarys bid for the 1988 Winter Games when he was mayor of the city. Albertas premier from 1992 to 2006 died last year at the age of 70. Winnipegs Klassen won five medals, including one gold, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee at the time, labelled her "the woman of the Games." With six career medals, she and Clara Hughes are Canadas most decorated Olympians of all time. Klassen, 34, did not compete in trials to qualify for Sochi because of a concussion. She has yet to announce her retirement from speedskating. Canada won the first mens hockey gold in 50 years in 2002 with Quinn behind the bench. Canadians were still stinging from finishing out of the medals four years earlier when NHL players first participated in the Winter Games. It didnt help that Canada got off to a rough start in Salt Lake City with a loss to Sweden. "In the first game, we had eight lousy minutes," Quinn recalled. "Everybody was down after the first loss to Sweden. By the time we reviewed the tape of the game, we knew that we werent that far off. Even though the score was ugly, the game wasnt ugly." The leadership of Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic and Joe Nieuwendyk steered the team through choppy waters and also got young players on the team to toe the line, Quinn said. "Our leadership took over and said this is the way were going to do it," Quinn said. "That was when we simply had a change in our mindset about what team means. We got these young guys paying attention through the process. "Thats what saved us in Salt Lake. Our goal was to get better shift by shift because we had no real practice time and thats where the coach needs his team to come together is through practice. We used the early games as a practice to get ready for the final round." The mens eight of coxswain Brian Price, Andrew Byrnes, Ben Rutledge, Dominic Seiterle, Kyle Hamilton, Malcolm Howard, Jake Wetzel, Adam Kreek and Kevin Light led the final from start to finish to win gold in Beijing. It was a tale of redemption after a heavily favoured Canadian crew finished out of the medals four years earlier. The Canadians dodged early pitfalls in Beijing. Primed and ready for their first heat, races were cancelled that day due to lightning. "Picture a bunch of racehorses or dogs at a race track and theyre all revved up to go and attack and they have all this energy and adrenaline built up," Kreek explained. "We were like these racehorses ready to run, these hunting dogs ready to pounce." With officials hustling boats off the course, Price used what little time they had to get hard rows in as they headed for the docks. "We didnt have to go back and sit on bikes or on the rowing machine and try to get some work in," Hamilton said. "We were able to manipulate the situation to make sure we got our work in and were ready to go. "Instead of just paddling back, Brian had already shifted us into the next day into the next race plan. That really kind of set us up for the next day, set us up for the regatta and told the young guys on the crew that we were ready to go, we knew what we were doing and we could handle every situation." They needed that composure the following day. Not 500 metres into their heat, the Australians blew a rudder and veered towards the Canadian boat. "Were seeing this Australian boat coming towards us and its going to pierce right through our hull," Kreek recalled. "The eight of us wont act unless Brian says something. Brian sees the Aussies coming at us and says take five strokes now. "All eight of us take the biggest strokes of our life. We barely missed the Aussie boat as it skidded right behind our stern." Lacroix coached Nesbitt and the mens pursuit team of Denny Morrison, Mathieu Giroux and Lucas Makowsky to gold at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. Now the associate director of sport at Calgarys Olympic Oval, Lacroix says Canadas sport system now recognizes and values the coachs contribution to an athletes performance. One example is the Canadian Olympic Committee now pays medal bonuses to coaches of Olympic medallists. "From the provincial level all the way to the national team and to the COC, there is a big push in terms of recognizing the profession of coaching," Lacroix said. "It has become a profession. Now with the bonuses that are given to the coaches for their effort, I think it is showing a lot of respect for that profession at all levels." Authentic Kostas Antetokounmpo Jersey . -- Los Angeles Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton will be sidelined for at least two weeks because of a strained calf muscle, and pitcher C. Authentic Steve Nash Jersey . And once again, Team Homan emerged as the victor with the reigning national champions defeating Team Sweeting at the Pintys All-Star Curling Skins Game Friday night in the tournaments opening draw at The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre in beautiful Banff National Park. http://www.cheapmavericksjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-ray-spalding-jersey . -- Conor Casey scored two goals, his first of the season, as the Philadelphia Union beat Chivas USA 3-0 on Saturday night. Discount Mavericks Jerseys .Currently no, Tatjana Haenni, FIFAs deputy director of the competitions division and head of womens competitions, said Tuesday in an interview from Ottawa. Cheap Mavericks Jerseys . Dallas (2-0-1) sits atop the Western Conference with an MLS-best seven points. Castillo opened the scoring in the 71st minute off a Mauro Diaz set piece, and Watson outran defender Tony Lochhead on a long ball and then juked goalkeeper Ian Kennedy for the eventual game-winner in the 78th minute.Pitching for the first time at Fenway Park is probably exciting in its own right, but doing so with a chance to get his club a sweep should give Travis Wood an extra jolt of energy. Wood will look to keep his focus on Wednesday night when the Chicago Cubs wrap just their fourth all-time regular season series with the Boston Red Sox. You watch the game live on TSN2 at 7pm et/4pm pt. The left-hander is coming off a no-decision versus Washington on Thursday, one that saw him allow seven hits and five walks over 6 2/3 innings. He did manage to limit the damage to just three runs and his offense took him off the hook in a 5-3 win. "I kind of spaced out there for a bit and gave up too many walks," said Wood. "The guys really had my back tonight." The 27-year-old walked five batters for the second time in five starts and is 7-6 with a 4.52 earned run average on the season. However, Wood is pitching to a 6.07 ERA in eight outings on the road. Hoping to salvage the finale of this three-game set, the Red Sox turn to Brandon Workman for his first ever meeting with the Cubs. Workman picked up a loss on Friday to the New York Yankees despite lasting a season-high seven innings. He was charged with four runs on seven hits, including two homers, while fanning five in his first loss since last Sept. 8. The 25-year-old righty dipped to 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA in nine games (6 starts) this season and has a home ERA of 2.65. Workman will try to keep an incredible streak by Boston pitchers at home alive tonight. Though the RRed Sox lost 2-1 on Tuesday, it marked the 14th straight home game for Boston in which it held an opponent to three runs or fewer.dddddddddddd That is the longest such streak in franchise history and best in the American League since the Chicago White Sox in 1966-67. Dustin Pedroia had three hits and drove in Bostons only run on Tuesday. Closer Koji Uehara was unable to keep the game tied in the ninth, giving up a leadoff single to Anthony Rizzo and a double by Starlin Castro to set up Luis Valbuenas go-ahead sacrifice fly. Hector Rondon shut down the Red Sox in the ninth to post his 11th save, while Pedro Strop earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief behind Edwin Jackson. The starter scattered six hits and four walks over six innings of one-run ball. "Weve been very fortunate in that our starting pitching has done a nice job and our relief corps has done a really good job," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "Guys just scratched out a run or two to give us an opportunity to win." Clay Buchholz, in his second start since returning from the disabled list, only allowed one run on five hits over 6 1/3 innings for the Red Sox, who were shut out in Mondays opener. "I thought he had good stuff, probably one of the better fastballs hes had the entire season," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "I thought he threw a number of really good curveballs." The Cubs now own a slight 6-5 advantage all-time in the regular season versus the Red Sox. 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