Cansport Blog Archive

It's more than just Grey Cup weekend
As I mentioned in my introduction post, I have closely followed CIS (Canadian university) football for some time. Although I do not intend to provide much comment on that sport here, I thought it would be appropriate to give mention this week, ...
6:26 PM November 15, 2006

A Pipe Dream
In Canada, if you don’t deliver in 21 years, you’re out of luck. We’re tough that way. Such was the case with Kevin Pipe, relived from his duties as Chief Operating Officer of the CSA last week. The interesting thing about ...
1:33 PM November 9, 2006

A new voice
Like many readers of Now That's Amateur I had ambivalent feelings when I saw that its author had taken a new position with the COA. I was thrilled that the COA had hired someone so clearly passionate about amateur sport for such an important role,
3:25 PM November 7, 2006

Starts and Finishes
Today the COC announced that I have been appointed Assistant Chef de Mission for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Fortunately for our athletes, the job doesn't involve any cooking . The Chef de Mission is Sylvie Bernier , an Olympic ...
9:36 PM October 30, 2006

Two Years of Being Amateur
Two years ago today I started this blog, and I wanted to say a few words about that. Posts I wrote 116 posts in the past year, down twenty from my first year of blogging. Here are some of my favourites. Kurva Jó! put one Candian ...
11:04 PM October 29, 2006

Why False Positives Mean So Much
Why do some people believe that Floyd Landis is innocent, while others believe that he is guilty? Why do the same people reach the opposite conclusions about Barry Bonds, or Marion Jones? Let's talk about Bayesian Inference . Bayesian ...
12:17 AM October 29, 2006

Morning Finals, and That's Final
It was basically confirmed weeks ago, but now it's official : all of the swimming and most of the gymnastics finals at the 2008 Olympics will be held in the morning, Beijing time. Scott at Timed Finals has been all over this story, and ...
9:24 PM October 26, 2006

Gold Medal Plates
Last Tuesday night my wife and I attended a fundraiser called Gold Medal Plates . The series kicked off in Halifax and will be held in six other cities across Canada in November. The Halifax event was very well-attended and raised a good chunk of
11:16 PM October 24, 2006

Stone Cast: Olympian Struck
Three-time Olympian and world championship silver medallist Tamas Buday Jr. needed three stitches to repair a cut below his left eye on Saturday. Buday was hit by a rock thrown from a railway bridge across the Credit River while he and his ...
9:49 PM October 23, 2006

Floyd Landis: the Editorial
By now you will have heard that Floyd Landis has gone public with the documentary evidence against him in his anti-doping case. Landis, you will recall, tested positive for testosterone after Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. He is contesting ...
2:48 AM October 17, 2006

Floyd Landis: the Evidence
(See the preamble to this post.) The case assembled by Floyd Landis' support team aims to prove that the athlete's alleged positive test result should be invalidated. In particular, Dr. Baker's PowerPoint presentation and Howard Jacobs' ...
2:43 AM October 17, 2006

Chris Cochrane on the Commonwealth Games
There have been woefully few comments around here lately. It must be time to write another post about the 2014 Commonwealth Games . Unfortunately, there isn't a lot new to say. There has recently been a big increase in visibility for the bid ...
10:33 PM October 14, 2006

Letting Go
A couple of weeks ago, national team rower and Olympic medallist Barney Williams wrote a piece for the Toronto Star about his recent decision to continue competing through the 2008 Olympic Games. Williams and his wife Buffy (née ...
10:41 PM October 11, 2006

UBC in the NCAA?
Scott at Timed Finals has the story of the University of British Columbia's application to become the first Canadian member of the NCAA . Josh at the Double-A Zone addressed the idea last spring; reports suggest that UBC expects an answer ...
11:13 PM October 4, 2006

Oh Sure, But Is It a Sport?
Back in the May budget the Canadian federal government proposed a Children's Fitness Tax Credit , intended "to promote physical fitness among children." The proposal went on to say that "the credit will be provided on up to $500 in eligible ...
10:24 PM September 30, 2006

Rules of the Game
Scott at Timed Finals had an interesting post a few days ago about the various different sets of rules in effect at swimming competitions in the United States. Scott examines the use of the butterfly kick in breaststroke events and points out
11:29 PM September 26, 2006

Marion Jones and WADA Code Article 6.4
This week I am taking a look at three recent high-profile doping cases in the United States. In each instance I'll frame the athlete's case in terms of the WADA Code (PDF) and associated anti-doping rules. Each of the cases provides a slightly ...
12:18 AM September 22, 2006

Floyd Landis and WADA Code Article 3.2
This week I am taking a look at three recent high-profile doping cases in the United States. In each instance I'll frame the athlete's case in terms of the WADA Code (PDF) and associated anti-doping rules. Each of the cases provides a slightly ...
9:28 PM September 17, 2006

Justin Gatlin and WADA Code Article 10.5
This week I am taking a look at three recent high-profile doping cases in the United States, where they stand now, and what's likely to happen next. In each case I'll frame the athlete's case in terms of the WADA Code (PDF) and associated ...
10:10 PM September 11, 2006

Lose To Win
I trust in God I love my country And will respect its laws I will play fair And strive to win But win or lose I will always do my best    — the Little League Pledge The Ethics Scoreboard has a fascinating story from ...
10:55 PM September 7, 2006

Mark Graham, 1973-2006
Mark Graham, a member of the 1992 Canadian Olympic team, was killed by a US warplane in Afghanistan on Monday. He was 33 years old. Name: Mark Anthony Graham Name: Mark Anthony Graham Rank: 13 th , ...
11:08 PM September 6, 2006

Beta
I'm switching to the new Beta version of Blogger. If you get surprised by some formatting issues, now you know the reason. POSTSCRIPT : Well, that was interesting. I think I've more or less got back to where I want to be, give or take a few
11:38 PM September 2, 2006

China Olympic Coxswain Competition
Somewhere there are some coxswains fuming over this , I'll bet: The position doesn't require brawn, speed or years of training — just a healthy set of lungs and a good sense of direction. China's Olympics rowing team is searching for ...
by Amateur at 11:20 PM September 1, 2006

In the Wind
This weekend CBC Sports broadcast the ICF World Flatwater Championships from Szeged, Hungary. The broadcast was not live — competition was held the weekend before — but that's about the only complaint I can come up with about the ...
by Amateur at 12:04 AM August 29, 2006

All Those Who Have Achieved a World Record …
… please step forward. Not so fast, Mr. Gebreselassie! From the guilty-until-proven-innocent-department, here's a little fact (courtesy of the People's Daily — read past the part about the Gatlin case) that I did not know about
by Amateur at 11:14 PM August 22, 2006

World or Olympic Champion?
King Kaufman, one of my favourite sportswriters, writes about his lack of interest in the ongoing Basketball World Championships : Because of the alchemy of what we care about, the Olympics are thrilling in a way the exact same competition ...
by Amateur at 11:40 PM August 20, 2006

More Than One Way Into the Olympics
Mark Keast wrote a piece in the Toronto Sun last week about the IDBF World Dragon Boat Club Crew Championships held in Toronto last weekend. The article was titled "Olympic hopes a long shot" and described some of the hurdles that the sport ...
by Amateur at 11:48 PM August 19, 2006

The Best Rider With Two X Chromosomes
Canadian mountain biker Danika Schroeter has been suspended for three months for inappropriate behaviour at the Canadian downhill championships. The women's title was won by Michelle Dumaresq, her third. Schroeter finished in second ...
by Amateur at 1:06 AM August 11, 2006

Por Falta de Água
The Pan American championships for canoe-kayak slalom are being moved to Madawaska, Ontario, por falta de água — for lack of water. The competition had been scheduled to be held in September, on Brazil's Itaipu Whitewater ...
by Amateur at 11:52 PM August 8, 2006

Landis' Goose Is Cooked
It looks like Floyd Landis will soon be Tour de France champion no more . Landis' B sample confirmed a very high ratio (11/1) of testosterone to epitestosterone. Furthermore, both his A and B samples were subjected to carbon isotope ratio ...
by Amateur at 11:36 PM August 6, 2006