Category — Canada

Just when I finished slightly making fun of those who quote Baron de Coubertin’s overused “not the triumph but the struggle, not to win but to take part”, I came across this story of Canadian Greco-Roman wrestler Ari Taub which made me want to bow my head in shame.

To understand why, here’s a list of things you should know about Ari Taub:

1. He is a Canadian wrestler who qualified for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He, however, lost his spot when he agreed to a wrestle-off with another wrestler.

2. Doctors told him that he developed bone spurs in his neck and that he was at risk of being a quadraplegic if he continues to wrestle. His dream crushed, he then goes to law school. Eight years later, it was discovered that he was misdiagnosed and that he can actually wrestle.
3. He returned to wrestling in 2004 and won the Canadian open. He was on the verge of going to Athens but was told that he is not eligible because he lacked international matches.

4. In 2008, he got a spot for the Beijing Games but he has to finance his own training, his trip to the Olympics and other international competitions. Odd, no? Here’s why according to our reliable source: For some inexplicable reason, freestyle wrestlers are funded athletes but Greco-Roman wrestlers are not.

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Don’t look now but it turns out that we are not the only ones who think that one of them Canadian Olympic outfits look like pajamas.

From a woman quoted by the National Post: “It looks like your pyjamas. It’s pretty busy. Usually, women like men in uniforms, but I don’t think this one cuts it.”

Meanwhile, over at CBC the Olympic uniforms, not just the unfortunate pajama-looking one which caught our attention, are also being dissed by commenters. A sampling of the comments:

Just my opinion, but these have got to be the ugliest uniforms I have ever seen! If you are going to use other colours besides red and white, then they need to pop. These are dull and faded, not bright and vibrant.

It may just be me but one of the biggest turn offs of these new outfits is that they don’t look new. The outfits look like they have been through the washing machine a 100 times and look faded.

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So did Canada and New Zealand agree to release their Olympic uniforms in the same day? You can read the story about Canada’s launching of its Olympic uniforms here. But here’s the part that interests us most at The Olympian Blog.

Each Olympic team member will receive 25 items, including jackets, pants, shorts, hoodies, T-shirts, shoes and luggage, as well as “team only” products such as the opening ceremony outfit and medal podium jacket.

By the way, the second picture features Canadian Olympic rower Krista Gulien. We don’t know the people in the first picture but we are wondering why one of them is wearing something that looks like a pajama. Do Canadian athletes want to be seen wearing that during the parade of nations? Seriously, it looks like the pajama that a blogger we know loves to wear.

Edited to add: As a commenter pointed out, it’s Krista Guloien not Gulien. Thanks for the note, anonymous

Update: More reactions to Canada’s Olympic pajamas.

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Because he will sue you and you’ll end up paying him. From Reuters:

Olympic gold-medal-winning snowboarder Ross Rebagliati has settled a lawsuit over a television series that he had accused of defaming him.

The Canadian snowboarder reached the out-of-court settlement with CTV Television network and producers of the series, “Whistler,” according a statement released by his spokesman on Friday. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

What was the lawsuit about?

Rebagliati said he was defamed by a character in the syndicated series named Beck MacKaye, who was portrayed as a former Olympic snowboarder and resident at the Whistler, British Columbia, ski resort whose death was linked to alcoholism, womanizing and blackmail.

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You gotta admire the way this Canadian organization is trying to raise money for Canadian athletes. They’re asking for donations in street corners and they’ve apparently raised over $6 million for the past ten years.

CanFund then distributes the donations to athletes who apply for funding. Pretty neat, eh?

By the way, if you’re wondering what those “eights” are about, the “$8 for 08.08.08″ its a summation of the campaign’s goal which is to ask Canadians to donate $8, and tell eight friends to donate $8 as well.

Of course, 08.08.08 or August 8, 2008 is also the opening date of the Beijing Olympics.