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Sudbury's own Devon Kershaw will be
competing in several cross-country skiing events in the
2006 Olympic Games. His parents, his aunt and his
brother are in Turin to watch the 23-year-old. |
As the world's attention turns to Turin,
Italy, for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, Greater Sudbury will
be well-represented with three hometown athletes vying for a
spot on the podium.
Canadian men's figure skating champion Jeff
Buttle, hockey forward Todd Bertuzzi and cross-country skier
Devon Kershaw will represent the red and white and Greater
Sudbury at the games.
Unless you've got a ticket to Turin in your
clutch, the best bet for catching the Olympic action, and the
performances of local athletes, is to tune into CBC (Channel 9,
Cable 8) and TSN (Cable 33) for coverage of the games from the
lighting of the Olympic torch until the last medals are handed
out.
Live broadcasts of the events in which
Greater Sudbury athletes are participating, will be shown on
CBC. Local time in Turin is five hours ahead of
local time in Greater Sudbury. For complete
schedule information, visit www.cbc.ca/olympics, or
www.tsn.ca/olympics.
Devon Kershaw
Feb. 14, 2-man team sprint race, 4:40
am
Feb. 17, 15 km classic, 4 am
Feb. 19, 4 by 10 relay, 4 am
Feb. 22, Individual sprint race, 4:30
am
Feb. 26, 50 km free race, 4 am
Jeff Buttle
Feb. 14, Short program, 1 pm
Feb. 16, Long program, 1 pm
(Pairs competition started Saturday)
Todd Bertuzzi
Feb. 15, Canada vs. Italy, 7 am
Feb. 16, Canada vs. Germany, 2 pm
Feb. 18, Canada vs. Switzerland, 9:30
am
Feb. 19, Finland vs. Canada, 3 pm
Feb. 21, Canada vs. Czech Republic, 10:30
am
Men's ice hockey finals begin Feb. 22.
In 2002, Canada captured 17 medals at the
Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and set a national record for
the most medals awarded in Olympic competition. Canada finished
fourth in the overall medal standings.
Friday morning the Canadian Olympic Committee
(COC) reinstated its goal of finishing at least third in the
overall medal rankings when Canada competes in its 20th Olympic
Winter Games.
A total of 196 Canadian athletes will compete
in 15 disciplines throughout the course of the Olympics.
"After witnessing the results of the 2005-06
pre-Olympic World Cup season, the Canadian Olympic Committee is
confident that our new high-performance initiatives are having
a positive effect on Canada's athletes," said COC chief
executive officer Chris Rudge in a written statement.
"Our 2006 Canadian Olympic Team represents
the strongest squad we have ever sent to compete at an Olympic
Winter Games and we remain focused on achieving our objective
of a top-three finish."
Some of the high-performance initiatives
Rudge is referring to includes seminars by former Olympians,
the recruitment of former Olympians to serve as on-site liaison
officers in Italy and an on-site advanced video analysis and
support centre where athletes and coaches can access tools and
services in the areas of technology, medicine and
nutrition.
According to PinnacleSports.com, the largest
sports betting website on the Internet, has given 42-1 odds
that Canada will win the most gold in Turin.
The over/under line on the number of gold
medals Canada will win is 7.5. That's only half a gold more
than in 2002.
With the odds for the most gold medals won in
Turin in favour of Germany (11-10), Norway (8-5) and the United
States (3-1), PinnacleSports.com has pegged the Canadian team
with another fourth place finish in the gold medal
standings.
PinnacleSports.com has also released odds for
individual and team events, saying both the men's (5-4) and
women's (5-9) ice hockey teams are the favorites to win gold.
PinnacleSports.com is considering Buttle a long-shot to finish
atop the podium with 14-1 odds. Buttle's closest Canadian
rival, Emmanuel Sandhu, has 31-1 odds of winning gold.
Kershaw's individual odds weren't posted.
Salt Lake City Medal
Count
Gold Silver Bronze Total
Germany 12 16 8 36
United States 10 13 11 34
Norway 13 5 7 25
Canada 7 3 7 17
Austria 3 4 10 17
Russia 5 4 4 13
