I thought that before the Canadian Olympic Committee names it's flagbearer on Wednesday for the opening ceremonies in Beijing, I should at least cover the potential candidates. TSN did a nice job of covering the possibilities and here is their list...with my comments...
The Veterans
* Susan Nattrass - Shooting. 6th Olympics. Her first was 1976. But no Olympic medals.
* Ian Millar - Equestrian. 9th Olympics. Ridiculous. Also no Olympics medals.
The Coming Off Injury Trio
* Alex Despatie - Diving. Coming off injury.
* Karen Cockburn - Trampolining. Coming off injury.
* Kyle Shewfelt - Gymnastics. Also coming off injury.
The Real Medal Contenders
* Marie-Helene Premont - Cycling. Consistent podium finisher in World Cup.
* Simon Whitfield - Triathlon. Same.
* Adam van Koeverden - Kayak. Probably our best chance for a repeat gold medal. Guy never loses in the 500m.
Personally I like the idea of giving the flag to one of the old guard. Nattrass or Millar would probably love it, and both of them have more upper body strength than Premont or Whitfield. Plus I always hear that athletes get tired from carrying the flag and thus underperform in their event. So let's avoid the medal contenders altogether (Despatie and Cockburn are also in that group). We'll see on Wednesday...
The Tour...today's stage in two sentences. Two huge HC climbs, but breakaway group managed to win after thrilling downhill finish. CSC was strong to defend Schleck's Yellow, but Menchov and Vande Velde dropped back. Ok, that's it. Actually Menchov lost only 30 seconds (so he is now 73 seconds back) but Vande Velde got dropped on the last climb and then crashed on the downhill and is now over 3 minutes back. No chance.
Canada's Ryder Hesjedal actually made the early breakaway and finished in 30th place (only 4 minutes back) and has now 56th overall (and second on the Garmin team). He is having a great first TDF and is definitely validating their decision to put him on the team!
One update from yesterday. Oscar Pereiro, who crashed hard and broke his shoulder, said "I thought I was going to die" and "hoped to feel nothing". Wow. He also said he crashed because a cyclist in front of him had a "slight fright". Wow.
I wanted to talk doping, but will put that off until tomorrow...enjoy the tour tomorrow as they tackle a long stage and end with the epic 21 switchbacks of Alpe D'Huez!
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