Four-day medal streak ends
Published Thursday August 21st, 2008
Olympics Canada's softball team falls just short against Australia in semifinal
BEIJING - Canada's march to the podium was interrupted on Wednesday, as a light day of finals and some disappointing results ended the country's four-day medal streak.
The Canadian softball team challenged a strong Australian team in semifinal action before falling 5-3.
Ivett Gonda, considered a medal hopeful in taekwondo, lost her first bout in the preliminaries.
And Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon and Isabelle Rampling finished sixth in the women's synchro swimming duet final.
So Canada will stay at 13 medals - two gold, six silver and five bronze - for another day.
Canada will have plenty of chances to add to that total over the final few days of the Games. Today, diver Emilie Heymans of Greenfield Park, Que., could reach the podium in the women's platform. Heymans finished Wednesday's preliminary round in third place, easily qualifying for the semifinals.
Sam Cools of Airdrie, Alta., is among the favourites in women's BMX biking, which is making its Olympic debut in Beijing.
Star kayaker Adam van Koeverden of Oakville, Ont., races in finals on Friday and Saturday and has looked dangerous in the heats, even breaking the world record in the 500 metres.
Mountain biker Marie-Helene Premont of Chateau-Richer, Que., was a silver medallist at the last Olympics and is among the gold-medal favourites this time around. Harvey Station's Catharine Pendrel is also a medal contender in mountain biking.
In taekwondo, world champion Karine Sergerie of Sainte-Catherine, Que., is favoured for gold in the 67-kilogram class Friday.
Canada has already surpassed its medal count from the Athens Games four years ago and is only one medal back of its total from the 2000 Games in Sydney.
The softball squad nearly kept Canada's medal streak alive. Considered an underdog against the Australians, Canada was tied 3-3 heading into the fifth inning.
But Kerry Wyborn's two-out shallow single to left field in the sixth scored a pair of runs for Australia.
"We had some hard hits go right at them and unfortunately I let some balls leave the ball park," said pitcher Lauren Bay Regula of Trail, B.C.
The team had struggled leading into the semifinal game, failing to score a run in their three previous contests.
Bay Regula said their final performance offered some hope.
"Those last few games, we know we're a better team than what the last few games showed and this (game) is more indicative of the type of team we are," she said.
Gonda, meanwhile, felt less positive after her loss.
The Port Moody, B.C., native and coach Shin Wook Lim thought her result, a 2-0 loss to Hanna Zajc of Sweden in the 49-kilogram class, was affected by unfair judging.
Lim suggested that Chinese judge Zhao Lei may have been stingy with points for Gonda because she would have faced Chinese world champion Wu Jingyu in the next round. Wu went on to easily beat Zajc en route to the gold medal.
"I can't say for sure but she made a point but (didn't receive) a point," Lim said. "Must be the machine's broken, I don't know. Other coaches were surprised. It's not only coming from me emotionally."
They launched a protest with the hopes of a rematch before the start of the afternoon session but it was unsuccessful.
Boudreau Gagnon, from Riviere-du-Loup, Que., and Rampling, from Burlington, Ont., had 95.333 points after their routine. Russians Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova repeated as Olympic champions with 99.251 points.
Canada closed out a disappointing performance at the Olympic baseball tournament with a 6-5 loss to Taiwan.
Taiwan scored the winning run in the top of the 12th inning in the final preliminary round game between two teams already out of medal contention.
Canada had just two victories in seven games.
All five losses were one-run decisions.
This tournament will likely mark the last time veterans Stubby Clapp, Rheal Cormier, of St. Andre, and Chris Reitsma suit up for Canada.
In canoeing, Montreal's Thomas Hall finished first in his heat to qualify for the Olympic men's C-1 1,000-metre final.
Hall's time of three minutes 58.820 seconds placed him third overall in the semifinals.
Kayakers Brady Reardon of Burlington Ont., Ottawa's Angus Mortimer, Chris Pellini of Port Credit, Ont., and Rhys Hill of Ottawa finished third in the K-4 1,000 semifinal to advance.
In other results Wednesday:
- Gary Reed of Kamloops, B.C., placed third in his opening-round heat of the men's 200 metres in one minute 46.01 seconds and qualified for the semifinals with the 12th-best time. Achraf Tadili of Laval, Que., placed sixth in his race and did not advance.
- In the men's 5,000 metres, Kevin Sullivan of Brantford, Ont., placed 11th in his qualifying heat and did not advance.
- Scott Erwood of Surrey, B.C., failed to move on in BMX quarter-finals after finishing eighth in his heat.
On the women's side, Cools of Airdrie, Alta., was 13th in seeding after recording her fastest time of 39.137 seconds in her second run.
- Emilie Fournel of Dorval, Que., Karen Furneaux of Waverley, N.S., Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny of Trois-Rivieres, Que., and Ottawa's Kristin Gauthier were fourth in the K-4 500 kayak semifinal. Only the top three boats advanced.
And kayakers Steven Jorens of Aurora, Ont., and Ryan Cuthbert of Carleton Place, Ont., failed to move on in the K-2 1,000 after finishing fifth in the semifinal.
- Vancouver's Matt Gentry was eliminated in qualifying in 74-kilogram freestyle wrestling by Greece's Emzarios Bentinidis.
Haislan Garcia of Vancouver was also ousted in qualifying. He lost to Uzbekistan's Soslan Tigiev in the 66-kg weight class.
- Canada's men's water polo team dropped a 13-11 decision to Italy. The Canadians will play one more match to determine whether they finish 11th or 12th.
"Our goal was to finish in the Top 8, and while I am disappointed we didn't reach it, it was a good experience," said team member Kevin Mitchell of Maple Ridge, B.C. "By the third game of the tournament, we knew that we could play against the best in the world."
More Sports
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
