LOFTY AMBITIONS
Harvey aims for world ski title
VICKI HALL
CALGARY Tricia Smith has a message to all those Olympians — winter and summer — regarding the turmoil and drama surrounding the Canadian Olympic Committee in recent months.
This is a new era and the focus is back where it belongs, on the athletes themselves, with 253 days to the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.
“My message to the athletes is that the Canadian Olympic Committee will represent the values they represent,” the organization’s new president said Wednesday at a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon.
“It will be unassailable. That’s my commitment to them.”
Smith took over as interim president of the COC on Oct. 3 amid a series of sexual harassment allegations against her predecessor, Marcel Aubut. A four-time Olympian in rowing, Smith lost the interim tag on Sunday after winning an election in Montreal over fellow B.C. lawyer Peter Lawless.
“She sets a great example, which is really important,” said John Furlong, who was chief executive officer for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic organizing committee. “But also, she’s a great collaborator, and her view of success is ‘we’re in it together.’ It’s not about one or two or three people. It’s about everyone.”
One of Smith’s top priorities is to jump-start funding of development athletes to ensure Canada’s success at future Olympics.
“There’s no question we have to focus on our next generation,” she said in her first interview since winning the election. “You need a pool of athletes. It’s essential we work on the pool, and that’s where we’re putting the focus.”
‘WICKFEST’ TOURNAMENT READY TO ROLL
Hayley Wickenheiser, 37, grew up in an era where playing hockey against the boys was her only option. Pink hockey gloves didn’t exist. Neither did hockey skates in girl’s sizes. Her hockey heroes were, predictably, male. With no women’s hockey on television, she idolized Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Paul Coffey.
The landscape sure has changed for female hockey players. Ninety-nine girl’s teams from all over North America — including Mexico — and a team from the Czech Republic will converge on Calgary this weekend for the sixth annual Canadian Tire Wickenheiser Female World Hockey Festival (better known as Wickfest).
The event features hockey tournaments, from novice to midget, along with off-ice sessions on everything from nutrition to mental skills to Muay Thai (martial arts). “We’ll have 2,000 players here,” says Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympic gold medallist. “It’s blowing up. I have like 100 teams on the waiting list to get in.”
The first Wickfest in Burnaby, B.C. featured 47 teams, including one from Mexico that lost 17-0 in the midget tournament. Last year in Calgary, the Mexican side won the entire midget category.
“It’s just the evolution of the game to come this far,” Wickenheiser says like a proud mama bear. “You can’t deny it anymore.”
HARVEY IS AIMING HIGH IN CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
Alex Harvey is a cross-country skier but his aspirations for the 2015-16 World Cup season hover at the same altitude as the peaks of the Rocky Mountains.
A household name in Quebec (but not so much in the rest of Canada), Harvey is determined to hoist the coveted FIS Crystal Globe in March at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Impossible? Well, no Canadian has ever won the World Cup overall title before, never mind at home.
But Harvey, at 27, is entering his prime and ready to contend with the likes of Olympic champions Petter Northug and Dario Cologna.
“I’ve never seen Alex so fit,” says Canadian teammate Devon Kershaw. “I’ve never seen him so focused. I’ve never seen him so confident — and I’ve seen him confident a lot. He’s a very confident athlete. I’ve never seen him so hungry.”
The 2015-16 World Cup season opens Friday in Ruka, Finland, and the son of the legendary Pierre Harvey is Canada’s best medal hope in every distance.
She’s a great collaborator, and her view of success is ‘we’re in it together.’ It’s not about one or two or three people.