Friday, January 25, 2002
Quiet time for speed skaters
By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
To insure that their performance in Salt Lake does not go down the drain, the Canadian short track speed skating team has decided to pull the plug on media interviews.
Robert Bolduc, Speed Skating Canada high performance director, said yesterday that the Montreal-based squad will no longer grant any individual interviews between now and the start of the Games on Feb. 8, with the exception of a special media day next week in Calgary and possibly one in Salt Lake.
Bolduc said the situation in Montreal, particularly with the Quebec media, is getting out of hand.
"The athletes are feeling overwhelmed," said Bolduc yesterday from his Ottawa office. "In Montreal, it's been crazy with the media interrupting their practices. So we have to put an end to this.
"Their No. 1 priority is to prepare for the Olympics and not necessarily to answer questions about the media."
Elite amateur athletes are often criticized for not being accessible in the weeks and days leading up to an Olympics, compared to their professional counterparts who will often grant interviews the actual day of a championship event. The difference, however, is that amateur athletes widely are ignored for years until just prior to a Games and then it becomes overwhelming.
Bolduc said when you dedicate you life to an event that rolls around once every four years, you have to take steps to insure that you are at the proper mindset, and that often means eliminating interviews.
The short-track team will travel to Calgary next week for a final 10-day training period. The reason for the change of venue is to get used to the higher altitude (Calgary has an altitude similar to Salt Lake) and to bond with the rest of the team. There also is an international tune-up event in Calgary next week.
SANDHU UPDATE:
Canadian figure skater Emanuel Sandhu arrived home in Vancouver yesterday and had his injured right knee examined by an orthopedic surgeon. Sandhu, 21, returned home from the Four Continents event in Seoul, South Korea after injuring the knee in practice. His Olympic participation at this point is unknown.
BRIEFLY:
Austrian Daniel Mesotitsch captured his first World Cup biathlon victory in a men's individual 20-kilometre event yesterday in Anterselva, Italy. Robin Clegg of Ottawa was the top Canadian, finishing 31st with two missed targets ... Siegfried Grabner of Austria capture his second consecutive snowboarding World Cup victory when he won yesterday's parallel giant slalom in Kreischberg, Austria. The top Canadian was Olympic-bound Jerome Sylvestre of Bromont, Que., who placed 30th.
-- with files from CP
2002 Games Short Track Speed Skating Coverage
