Olympic gold was not all that sparkled in diverse year in sport
By NEIL STEVENS -- Canadian Press
For sheer diversity, it's hard to top achievements by Canadians in sport.
We're not the biggest country but we're sometimes the best in everything from hockey to synchronized swimming.
While winning gold Olympics medals in men's and women's hockey was the high point of the year for most Canadian fans, 2002 was filled with triumphs in speed skating, soccer, cross-country skiing, football, rowing, diving, tennis, and a lot more.
Early in the year, Catriona Le May Doan of Saskatoon and Jeremy Wotherspoon of Red Deer, Alta., captured the overall titles at the world speed skating championships in Norway.
Le May Doan carried Canada's flag when our 156 athletes marched in the opening Olympic ceremonies in Salt Lake City, and she proved she was worthy by repeating as 500-metre champion, which made her the first Canadian Olympian to do so in an individual sport. She pulled on her husband Bart's black cowboy hat for her victory lap.
"I knew if I had the races I was capable of having I should be standing on top," she said. "I had to dig down deep."
Others dug down deep, too.
Jamie Sale of Red Deer, Alta., crashed to the ice in a warmup collision with Russian skater Anton Sikharulidze but despite the spill she and David Pelletier of Sayabec, Que., produced the performance of their lives in the Olympic figure skating pairs final. Pelletier was so pleased that he kissed the ice. The elation turned to shock when the marks showed they'd been placed second.
The resulting furor, and the admission by a French judge she'd been pressured to vote for the Russians, led to the rare IOC decision to award duplicate gold medals to Sale and Pelletier and declare them co-champions with Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya, giving Canada its first Olympic gold in the sport since 1960.
"It was amazing, it was unbelievable, a really big surprise for us," Sale said after listening to IOC president Jacques Rogge make the unusual announcement.
There was no disputing the hockey finals.
The women's team captained by Cassie Campbell of Brampton, Ont., beat the favoured Americans 3-2 in an emotion-charged showdown that saw Canada kill off eight consecutive penalties. Hayley Wickenheiser of Shaunavon, Sask., was MVP of the women's tournament.
"We've been waiting for this a long time, and it's real sweet," said Wickenheiser, alluding to Canada's 1998 Olympic loss to the Americans while accepting her gold medal with her two-year-old stepson in her arms.
Inspired by the triumph of the women's team, captain Mario Lemieux of Montreal and his teammates earned Canada its first Olympic men's title in 50 years with a 5-2 win over the United States. Audio clip of the year: spectators began singing O Canada during the last minute of play.
"We had a tough start early in the tournament but we got better and became a team," said tournament MVP Joe Sakic of Burnaby, B.C. "It's just a great feeling."
Marc Gagnon of Montreal won gold medals in short-track speed skating's 500-metre and relay events to up his career haul to five Olympic medals -- most of any Canadian in Winter Games history, and tied for most overall by a Canadian. After failing to win the 500 in 1998, Gagnon dedicated himself to winning in 2002 the one race that mattered to him most.
"You have to find a dream to work for, and that's what I did," he said. "I wasn't finished in short-track speed skating.
"That's why I came back. I worked for three years for this (gold medal). It's the end of a journey."
Clara Hughes of Winnipeg, who won two cycling bronze medals in 1996 in Atlanta, won bronze in her 5,000-metre speed skating event to become the first Canadian to win medals in Summer and Winter Games.
"It's part of history now and I feel really honoured to have had the opportunity to be the first," said Hughes. "I skated my heart out, and I'm so proud of that."
Beckie Scott of Vermilion, Alta., became the first North American woman to win an Olympic cross-country skiing medal when she finished third in the women's five-kilometre pursuit.
"I'm still on a cloud," she said. "I'm just so excited. It's fantastic."
She was later bumped to second place, pending appeals, when a Russian rival was nabbed for a doping violation.
Canada finished fourth in team standings with a best-ever 17 medals, up two from 1998. The Canadian Olympic Association, which changed its name to the Canadian Olympic Committee later in the year, had aimed for third place.
"We set a goal we knew was going to be difficult to achieve," said president Mike Chambers. "For too many years we've been setting conservative goals for ourselves and Canada's sports system.
"We have to be a little bit more aggressive than we have been."
The other big international event of the year was the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, where wrestler Daniel Igali of Vancouver duplicated Le May Doan's feat of winning gold after serving as flag-bearer.
"I feel my career is complete now," said Igali, the 2000 Olympic champion.
Diver Alexandre Despatie of Montreal, synchronized swimmer Claire Carver-Dias of Mississauga, Ont., gymnasts Kate Richardson of Coquitlam, B.C., and Kyle Shewfelt of Calgary, and weightlifter Maryse Turcotte of Sherbrooke, Que., each won two gold medals.
Hughes was at it again, winning gold in a cycling time trial.
Jonathan Power of Montreal won Commonwealth squash gold, and tournaments around the world throughout the year.
Triathletes Simon Whitfield of Victoria and Carol Montgomery of North Vancouver, high jumper Mark Boswell of Brampton, wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc of Montreal, mountain bikers Roland Green of Victoria and Chrissy Redden of Campbellville, Ont., judoka Nicolas Gill of Montreal and wrestler Guivi Sissaouri of Montreal were some of Canada's other Commonwealth gold medallists.
Canada finished third in team standings with 114 medals.
Meanwhile, the COC, which appeared to have its house in order after naming respected television executive Jim Thompson of Toronto as its new chief executive officer early in the year, was jolted in August when Thompson, 59, suffered a fatal heart attack.
Thompson would have taken keen interest in the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics bid, which has been short-listed by the IOC.
In the NHL, Calgary Flames forward Jarome Iginla, whose two goals in the Olympic final were a key to victory, won the NHL scoring title, the Montreal Canadiens' Jose Theodore, was named MVP and top goalie, Atlanta Thrashers forward Dany Heatley got rookie-of-the-year honours, and Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman was presented with the Stanley Cup for the third time.
The most compelling NHL story throughout the winter will be Lemieux's pursuit of the scoring title. He would be the oldest player, at 37, ever to win it.
The Queen even got into the hockey act by dropping the puck in the ceremonial faceoff at an exhibition game in Vancouver.
The Kootenay Ice beat the Victoriaville Tigres 6-3 to win the Memorial Cup in Guelph, Ont.
Ottawa returned to the CFL with the Renegades, and surging interest across the league made it the most-watched season. The Montreal Alouettes capped it by winning the Grey Cup 25-16 over the Eskimos in front of more than 60,000 spectators in Edmonton. More than 200,000 lined city streets for the city's first Grey Cup parade in 25 years.
In the Canadian university final, Saint Mary's beat Saskatchewan in Toronto to become the first in 25 years with consecutive Vanier Cup wins.
Edmonton also was host for the world under-19 women's soccer championship during the summer and a flag-waving throng of 48,000 watched Canada fall 1-0 in overtime to the favoured United States in the final. Christine Sinclair of Burnaby, B.C., was named tournament MVP, and later in the year led her college team in Portland, Ore., to a U.S. title. Sinclair's rise to prominence has spurred interest in the sport among young people across the country.
The popularity of lacrosse, Canada's national summer sport, also flourished with new pro teams thriving in Vancouver and Calgary. The Toronto Rock added impetus by winning the National Lacrosse League title for the third time in four years.
In rowing, a men's eight stroked by Jeff Powell of Winnipeg and competing in Spain won a world title for Canada in the event for the first time. Coach Mike Spracklen, a Brit who lives in Victoria, was subsequently named coach of the year by the world governing body of the sport.
Daniel Nestor of Toronto shared the Australian Open doubles tennis title with partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas, and the two won six titles and more than $700,000 US in all.
Ian Leggatt of Cambridge, Ont., posted his first win on the PGA Tour, earning $540,000 at the Tucson Open, although he got scant recognition because his win was on the same day as men's Olympic hockey final.
Randy Ferbey of Edmonton won the world curling title, and David Hamblin of Winnipeg earned Canada its fifth straight world junior men's crown.
Steve Nash of Victoria continued in a starring role with the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, and Tammy Sutton-Brown of Markham, Ont., was selected for the WNBA all-star game for her prominent role with the Charlotte Sting. Stacey Dales-Schuman of Brockville, Ont., starred in women's college basketball in Oklahoma. She was the third player selected in the WNBA draft.
While baseball crowds continued to dwindle, Blue Jays third baseman Eric Hinske -- an American quickly adopted by Torontonians -- won the American League rookie-of-the-year award.
The former minority partners of the Montreal Expos launched a lawsuit to try to keep the team in Montreal after major-league baseball hinted it would fold the club. It later announced that the Expos will play 22 games next year in Puerto Rico, and only 59 in Montreal.
Relief pitcher Eric Gagne, a native of Montreal, saved 52 games -- second in the majors -- for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Two left-handed Canadian pitchers were selected in the first round of the major-league baseball draft. Adam Loewen of Surrey, B.C., went fourth overall to Baltimore, while Jeff Francis of North Delta, B.C., went ninth to Colorado.
Canadian-raised Lennox Lewis defended his heavyweight boxing title with an eighth-round knockout of Mike Tyson.
T-J's Lucky Moon, an 80-to-1 longshot won the Queen's Plate thoroughbred race.
The news wasn't always good.
Triathlete Kelly Guest was sent home just before the start of the Commonwealth Games because of a doping violation. He denied cheating.
Elvis Stojko of Richmond Hill, Ont., was eighth at the Olympics after winning silver figure skating medals at two previous Olympics.
Stojko was among athletes to retire this year. Also leaving the top competitive levels were Sale and Pelletier, Gagnon, swimmer Curtis Myden, sprinter Bruny Surin, NHL goalie Mike Vernon and women's national team veteran Geraldine Heaney.
"Anybody who ever doubted us, I don't think they doubt us anymore," she'd said after winning Olympic gold. "There could not be a better way to end my career."
The most-agonizing-miss category has to include Kevin Martin of Edmonton, who lost out on Winter Games curling gold when his last rock missed the mark by scant centimetres.
Wotherspoon fell in his Olympic heat.
He's up again, and winning World Cup races again, as is teammate Cindy Klassen of Winnipeg who has set the women's realm on its collective ear with win after win.
The beat goes on.
