Little Hiccup

Sadly, my training camp in New Zealand was cut short due to a crash in GS training. Although the tumble wasn’t a severe fall, it was awkward and twisty. My right knee was forced into hyper extension while it twisted. From my experience last year in Chile with a very similar fall, I was quite sure I hadn’t torn any ligaments but had once again suffered a bone bruise to my tibia plateau. It didn’t feel too bad though, so we waited a few days to see if it would settle down.

Unfortunately, the swelling actually increased in that time frame so the team’s doctors and physios made the call. I was sent home to recover because the likelihood me skiing by the end of the camp in New Zealand was slim. I was on crutches once again with instructions to have no weight on the injured leg. The most difficult part of this injury was the timing, this injury meant I wasn’t skiing and I wasn’t with David in Beijing. It was a double hit on to the emotions.

A week after my crash I was in for an MRI at a private clinic in Abbotsford, BC. The results came back as expected, a bone bruise to the tibia plateau. It is less severe than the bone bruise I suffered in Chile last year which is good news. Therefore, I’ll be back ready for our next camp in Chile which begins at the end of August.

I am now off crutches and back doing as much training as possible working around the injury. I expect to be back with full weight bearing lifting & twisting by the end of next week.

Hey, it wouldn’t be skiing without a little injury here and there to keep you on your toes! They didn’t call them the Crazy Canucks for nothing!

I hope the West is enjoying this amazing hot summer weather and that the East is surviving the rain!

From The Heart

As a winter Olympian, and long time girlfriend of a summer Olympian, my take on the Olympic journey is, well, intimately connected to everything I am. In Torino I wasn’t an Olympic medal hopeful, yet I finished 4th, a mere 3 hundredths of a second from a podium. Now, I’m working towards 2010. When I’m competing I’m in control, I accept the challenges I face and I dive in head first. Yet, the hardest and most rewarding role I’ve ever had to play is that of a fan, that of being part of a support network to a fellow Olympian.


David Ford, my partner for the last 6 years, was in Beijing representing Canada after battling through overwhelming adversity to get there. Yet is was a quiet battle, fought daily, internally, and fought with class.


I know I’ll never be able to truly convey the emotion involved in David’s journey, the struggle, and the drive that kept him going through endless training session, battles, and setbacks. Sadly, I am simply not a skilled enough writer to articulate the passion I see in David, and the utter respect and pride I feel for him and his journey.




Last year, a few months after David’s 40th birthday, and in the final stretch to the Olympics, the Road to Excellence fun cut his $75,000 funding to nothing. David received a total funding support of $1,500 in the year leading up to Beijing. Once David heard he was cut, he weighed his options. He had come this far, he had to see it through. The changes he was making to his paddling were starting to show and he knew by Beijing he would be ‘in the mix’ for a medal. This decision meant he forked out over $50,000 of his money to carry him through the months leading up to and during Beijing. Unfortunately, he had to cut some corners and sacrifice due to the reality of money constraints.

The loss of funding was a hit to pocket book but it was more than that. It was the emotion and the message that came with it. ‘Too old, sport’s not culturally significant enough, not considered a medal hopefully…’ He felt his country had abandoned him; that they no longer believed in him. This hit was likely more severe than any financial penalty.

I watched David face his demons and doubts head on. I watched him day in and day out be completely committed to his goals. I watched him sacrifice more than I’ve seen anyone do because he believed in himself, and at the end of the day he had to see his story through. I loved him for it, I loved him for every challenge he faced, for every time he picked himself up. He was very much alone on this quest, and he held his own. He kept his head down, did his work, and every step was taken with the intention of moving towards winning a medal in Beijing.

To define if a result is a success or not, one must understand the sport and the dynamics that come into play. In the pool or on the track it’s measure by personal bests and world records. In gymnastics the experts guess the results with are around 90% accuracy. These sports, not to undermine the difficulty or challenges they face, are more predictable. Usually there are around 4 or 5 medal hopefuls, the rest are participants working towards their goals of someday reaching that elusive podium.













Then there are two sports who’s dynamics are sorely misunderstood; alpine ski racing, and whitewater kayaking. There are not 4 or 5 medal hopefuls, there are 15 – 18 medal hopefuls (out of the 21 Olympians participating). These athlete’s also not only medal hopefuls, but in the eyes of their country they will have failed should they not bring home the hardware. Beyond just the medal hopefuls, there were 10 athletes with Olympic Gold medal potential. This means a lot of athletes will go home being considered disappointments – this saddens me because it simply shows a lack of understanding of this unique sport.

Because of the dynamics of the water, nature, and the extreme environment that this race is run in, it is virtually impossible to guarantee a medal. All an athlete can do, is set themselves up to be in the mix, to be one of those gold medal hopefuls. David did that, he was in the mix.

A prime example of the dynamics that exist in whitewater kayaking is in Fabien Lefevre story. Fabien finished 2nd in Beijing, yet he didn’t even qualify as one of France’s top three paddlers last year. This means that the year before the Olympics Fabien didn’t even make his National team. Yet this didn’t mean he wasn’t a great paddler, as he showed in his Beijing performance. He went from being a World Cup medalist ‘06, to not making the national team ‘07, to an Olympic medal ‘08 – this is the sport of whitewater.

Yet David’s 4th at the Pre-Olympics, and 6th in the overall World Series (with an injured right elbow), a 5 time Olympian, and 4th in Athens Olympics, was not enough to secure him any funding according to Canada’s Road to Excellence fund in the year leading up to Beijing.

Now it’s over, this 4 year block where the total focus has been on development and working towards Beijing has run its course. The results are in. David finished 6th with a mysterious 2 second penalty which knocked him out of 4th place. No, David didn’t win a medal, but he did so much more than that. He continued moving forward when everything was pushing him backwards. No one was closer to him than I was through this journey, and no one will ever know how much of himself he put out there. He’s proud to be Canadian, and wanted nothing more than to make his country proud, and in the process fulfill his dream of standing on the Olympic podium.

If this had been Hollywood David would have won that medal. In my eyes, he did so much more than that. He has set new heights in his sport, blasted boundaries, and proven you can hold your head high after an Olympic 6th place finish. He was in the mix for a medal in Beijing, in whitewater kayak that’s all you can ever do.

David, I'm proud of you.

Opening Ceremonies

Goosebumps, every time I watch, I get goosebumps.

It’s the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, and Canada has just walked in. Ever since I can remember watching the Olympics it was this moment that filled me with excitement, anticipation, and pride. I’m lucky enough to call myself and Olympian, and even luckier to have been one who was in the hunt for a medal (sadly missing a third place finish in Torino by 3 hundredths of a second.)

I often ask myself what it means to be an Olympian and why the Olympics represents such grandeur in my (and the worlds’) eyes. I suppose its the chance to achieve an ideal, a level of excellence, the chance to inspire a nation, and the chance to rise above politics, war, and discrimination, to a playing field that comes down to hard work, dedication, and a pure connection to the moment and movement that is sport.

Sadly, this is the real world where very real problems and challenges face the Olympic ideals head on. There has been no more obvious an example where the world’s politics and Olympics have collided than in Beijing. Yet, when the gun goes off, the countdown begins, or the music starts, nothing else matters but the athlete’s performance, the moment. It is then, and only then, that true Olympic ideals are reached. It is my hope that those brief moments in time will extend beyond short-lived performances and reach the forgotten corners of society, like Darfur. It is my hope that the equality reached between races, religions, and countries on the playing field that is the Olympics, will someday reach every gym and playground around the world.

Sport has a way or bringing people together. It can unite a community, teach tolerance, and be used as a tool to enlighten our spirits. The opening ceremonies unite a world in one march, one celebration. I love its simplicity, its tradition, and the hope it gives me as I dream of a brighter future for everyone.