Sports

 

 

 

Beijing

By Kevin Wong

Pace is one of the many events
of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics,
and will be played in Hong Kong between
August 9th to 21st. Jumping, dressage, and
eventing are the three competitions at the
Olympic level and each of them are included
in the individual and team competition.
Besides host team Hong Kong, Canada is
one of the seventeen countries participating
in this sporting event. Can Canada win a
medal this summer?

Viewers will watch the jumping and
dressage events at the main venue, Shatin,
but the team and individual cross country
competition will be held at Beas River on
August 12th.

The schedule of the remaining
equestrian event will be team jumping on
August 18th, individual jumping on the
21st, team dressage on the 14th, and the
individual team will be held on the 19th.

This year, Canada will participate in
the jumping team, dressage team and the
eventing team. For the jumping team, riders
will be lan Miller, Eric Lamaze, Mac Cone
and Jill Henselwood. Henselwood is the
only female on the team. All of them come
from Ontario. Miller, 61, is an eight-time
Olympian and has gone to every Summer

Olympic Games since 1972. His experience
is very valuable, but his performance might
be affected by the very hot weather in
Hong Kong. Lamaze is the fourth-ranked
show jumper in the world. He also won a
bronze medal at the Pan Am Games. If the
Canadians can perform well under the hot
climate, they have a great chance to win a
bronze medal at least.

However, Germany is more likely to
win the gold medal again in the jumping
team this year. Germany was the champion
in the Athens Olympics in 2004. Also, the
Germans won the gold medal in the World
Equestrian Games in 2006.

Great Britain could challenge
Germany and Canada in the jumping team.
The British were the European Jumping
Champions in 2007. Also, Hong Kong was
a British colony before 1997, so the riders
will try to win a medal in that special place.
The hosts have

For the Canadian dressage team, riders
will be Ashley Holzer of Toronto (a two-
time Olympian), Leslie Reid of Langley,
BC, and Jacqueline Brooks of Mt. Albert,
Ontario. Holzer and Reid participated
in the Athens Olympics 2004. Toronto’s
Christilot Boylen, 61, has been selected as
the travelling reserve.

Reid, who competed at the Atlanta

2008 Summer Olympics:
Can Canada win a medal in Equestrian?

and Athens Games, will be riding the
horse Orion at the 2008 Games. She won
individual gold and team silver at the 2003
Pan American Games. The 2008 Games
will mark a first Olympic experience
for Brooks and her horse. Hopefully the
Canadian dressage team will win a medal
in the Beijing Olympics.

Germany is one of the favourites to
win the dressage team this year because
they won the gold medal in the Athens
Olympics in 2004. Japan took the 2007
Asia Pacific Dressage Championship. The
hot weather will not bother the Japanese
riders and horses that much, so they have
an opportunity to challenge for a medal
this time.

For the eventing team, Canada could
win a bronze medal at least this year.
But their main opponents are again Great
Britain and Germany.

 

Garth McLennan
sports @theotherpress.ca

 

 

Whitecaps Seek MLS DI s5sisies seis

I team’s current majority owner) have promised to invest any earnings
n 2011, the Whitecaps will acquire a new stadium, BC Place. from this scheme back into youth soccer in BC.

Along with the new proposed roof, there will be many alterations to
the stadium to accommodate the opportunity for the “Caps to be an
associate of Major League Soccer (MLS). Without a soccer-specific
stadium of reasonable size, no team can become an expansion team
in this league.

The Whitecaps formally pitched their bid on July 24th to the
MLS to obtain an expansion franchise by 2011. To further entice the
league they added a new owner, Steve Nash of NBA fame, whose
brother is also a midfielder on the team.

Obviously, this has unique implications because of Steve Nash’s
contribution in sports already. He presently owns “Steve Nash
Gyms,” he has built a basketball league for Canadian youth, and has
been instrumental in setting up a new women’s professional soccer
league. He could provide the drive necessary for the Vancouver bid
to be accepted; as in other circumstances, he has always excelled to
be one of the best.

In making the bid, the team’s ownership dynamics have altered
slightly as Nash will only retain part-ownership of the team. There
could be multiple attempts to garner this elusive franchise, which
will depend on how much of an obligation he wishes to have with
the team.

However, the rewards for a successful bid are well worth the
attempt as any team who is granted this will automatically be able to
play against David Beckham’s L.A. Galaxy squad in regular season
play. Even in decline, Beckham can still draw a crowd to witness his
legendary “Bend It Like Beckham” kick. As we saw last year, 48,000
flocked to BC Place just to observe an exhibition against his team
between the Whitecaps. Regardless, Nash and Greg Kerfoot (the

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