Sports

 

Canadian fan waves sign: “Eric Lamaze Is
LaMAZING "05 chive Bach

 

Be Lamaze wiped away rolling tears as he stood
at the top of the podium receiving the gold medal
he’d been banned from vying for in 1996 and 2000.
This summer in Beijing, Lamaze, 40, arrived at the
Olympics ranked 3" in the world for show jumping
and atop one of the best horses on the international
scene; he had something to prove.

At age 15, Lamaze began in the elite sport of
equestrian and even with his evident natural talent
for riding, having a mother in jail for drug-trafficking
and no father to be found made the possibility of
his success in a wealth-dominated sport unlikely.
However, he gained world class experience working

for Robert Deslauriers, father of Mario Deslauriers,
the youngest rider ever to win a world cup at 19 years
of age. At age 26, against all odds, he managed to
make the national team.

With hard work and determination, Lamaze was
a sure lock to represent Canada at the 1996 Atlanta
Olympic Games. His dreams were dashed though;
before he even got to the games, he tested positive
for cocaine and was handed a 4-year ban from
competition. His ban was eventually reduced to seven
months, which allowed him to clean up his act and set
his sights on the next Olympic Games.

Fast forward to Sydney 2000, where Lamaze
had persevered with Hanoverian stallion Millcreek
Raphael, and once more qualified for the Canadian
Olympic team. When drug testing rolled around
again in Sydney, Lamaze tested positive for banned
substances in his cold medication and a diet
supplement and was handed a lifetime ban. Left with
an obvious and overwhelming sense of disappointment
from destroying his life-long dream for a second time,
Lamaze was tempted to use cocaine again. And he
did. Devastatingly, he did so before he was informed
that the ruling had in fact been overturned due to
the mislabeling of the bottles. So, on the eve of the
opening ceremony Lamaze tested positive for cocaine
and received a second lifetime ban.

It was the scandal of the Olympics and the
Canadian equestrian scene was atwitter with either
sympathy or angry disapproval. For the next couple
years Lamaze was criticized, chastised and despised
by fans and fellow equestrians alike, who would
file out of the stands while spewing insults when he
entered the ring. This didn’t stop Lamaze though and

with class and humility he trudged on. Slowly but
surely, Lamaze started fresh and regained the trust and
respect of the sport’s followers. Over the next seven
to eight years, Lamaze worked his way to the top of
the international scene with unimaginable success,
especially on his new special mount, the remarkable
Hickstead.

In 2008 Eric Lamaze cleanly and legitimately
qualified for the Beijing Olympics. After a silver
medal finish just a few nights before while
representing Canada in the team event, Lamaze and
his mount, 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion
Hickstead, went clear in the two first rounds of the
individual competition. In a nail-biting jump-off,
Sweden’s Rolf-Goren Bengtson and his mount
Ninja were fast, but had once fence down which
meant Lamaze would have to go clear to win. So,
he and Hickstead took the stage and on a mission
for vindication, he not only went clear, but matched
Bengston’s quick time, marking a moment of triumph
on his long quest for redemption. On his well-deserved
gold medal win, Lamaze spoke of repaying the “debt
he owed Canadians” for his past mistakes.

Canadians rejoiced for him and his success. An
athlete who could have fallen through the cracks had
rebounded and won Canada its first gold medal in
the individual equestrian competition since Michael
Vaillancourt in 1976. Lamaze has achieved his lifelong
dream and redefined himself as one of Canada’s top
athletes proving as he said: “Everybody does deserve
a second chance or a third chance or whatever if you
believe that they can actually come back and do some
good.”

Olympic gold is pretty good.

 

FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualifying

No Steven Gerrard for England Due to Groin Operation

By Kevin Wong

Mas of the world’s professional soccer leagues
will take a break during the weekend of September
6-7, because of the World Cup 2010 Soccer Qualifying
matches.

Which international team do you like the
most? Spain? Germany? England? Brazil, or any of
the others? On September 6, there will be a lot of
qualifying matches; these games involve the European
groups, South American groups, Central and North
American groups and African groups.

Some of the top European teams will play their
first qualifying games this day. Germany will compete
against Liechtenstein in Group 4. Some star Germans,
such as the team’s captain, Michael Ballack, who is
very good to score on the free-kick, will do the bulk
of the scoring. The other forwards like Lukas Podolski
and Miroslav Klose could score many goals in one
match. Also, defenseman Philipp Lahm has scoring
ability. Liechtenstein is one of the weakest teams in
Europe, so they have a very slight chance to score a
goal in this match at all. In all odds, Germany will win
by four goals.

The Euro 2008 Champion, Spain, will play
against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Group 5. The Spanish

squads will probably not have so many roster
changes since they won the European Championship
Tournament in June. David Villa and Fernando
Torres are power forwards. Two midfielders, Cesc
Fabregas and Xabi Alonso could score as well. Their
defensemen are very tough to beat and they have one
of the true world-class goalkeepers, Iker Casillas,
to play in net. For team Bosnia-Herzegovina, the
forwards are not too bad, but this team can’t hope to
defeat the Spanish team. Spain will win by three goals.
One of the teams that lots of fans have concerns
about is England. Unfortunately, the soul of the
team, Steven Gerrard, will miss the first two qualifier
games due to a groin operation. Gerrard can attack
and play as a defenseman, but the possession of the
midfield will be weak because of his absence. Frank
Lampard will now be the key man in the midfield.
He might have help from Calgary-born midfielder
Owen Hargreaves, who could play against Andorra
on September 6. Head coach Fabio Capello has also
recalled forward Emile Heskey to play for his team.
If Heskey and Michael Owen will be united, they will
have the chemistry to score. Besides them, Wayne_
Rooney is the main scoring machine. Their opponent,
Andorra, is a very weak team in Group 6, so England

will win by four goals this time.

The winner of the World Cup 2006, Italy, will
play against Cyprus on the 6" as well. Italy will win
by three goals.

In the South American group, Argentina will host
Paraguay. This match will be exciting because both
teams are dominating the top two positions in their
qualifying stage.

For Argentina, Messi is a superstar because of
his excellent scoring ability. He will score at least one
goal in this match. Overall, Argentina will win by two
goals.

The other two South American teams, Brazil and
Chile, will play each other on September 7. Brazil is
more likely to win because they have great forwards
like Kaka, Ronaldinho and Robinho to score. Their
defensemen are very stable at the back and the goalie
has good saving percentage. Brazil will win by three
goals.

Also, Canada will play against Honduras on
September 6. Ali Gerba is the key player for Canada
because he has scored four goals in the qualifying
group. However, Canada is not strong enough to
defeat its opponent, and this will be a tie game.