Post by SherbrookeJacobite on Aug 21, 2008 9:40:15 GMT -6
[glow=red,2,300]CONGRATULATIONS TRACY![/glow]
From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
AFTER a sluggish start, Canada added a flurry of medals to its Olympic total Sunday, and one of them belongs to a Nova Scotia rower from Shubenacadie.
Nova Scotia’s Tracy Cameron and her rowing partner, Melanie Kok, claimed the bronze in lightweight double sculls early Sunday morning, narrowly beating the fourth-place German team by just 0.04 of a second.
"It’s unbelievable. You want someone to pinch you and say that this is real," Ms. Cameron said on the phone from China.
"I don’t think I’ve taken the time for it to sink in. It’s just been a whirlwind."
With eight athletes from the province competing, it’s the first medal for a Nova Scotian at the Beijing Games.
Ms. Cameron and Ms. Kok, who’s from St. Catharines, Ont., finished the 2,000-metre race in 6:56.68. They led the race at the halfway point before giving way to the heavily favoured Dutch. Finland took the silver medal.
The battle for bronze was so close it went to a photo finish. The results were in doubt for several seconds before the Canadian pair learned they had beaten the Germans by a sliver.
"I was hoping the surge at the end was enough to put us out there," Ms. Cameron said. She and Ms. Kok looked to the scoreboard, and saw the first two medals announced.
"There was a pause. We were all hanging in that moment of suspense. It seemed like eternity. Until they flashed it up, we were definitely unsure."
After the race, Ms. Kok was whisked away to complete her drug test while Ms. Cameron was free to go. She was planning to go to the grandstand to meet her family but met her brother along the way — ordering a round at the beer tent.
After a few hugs, she asked if she could deliver the dozen or so suds to the grandstand.
"It was like, ‘OK, they don’t know I’m coming, so let me do the delivery," Ms. Cameron said with a giggle. "He took the flowers, I took the whole tray full of beer, and I’m like, ‘Anybody thirsty here?’ They went crazy!
"Truly Canadian."
Half a world away in River John, the 33-year-old’s grandmother nearly missed the bronze moment because of a thunderstorm wreaking havoc with her power.
"I was in my living room rowing along with her," said Marguerite Grant, 75, who got to see the race after a few nervous moments early Sunday morning.
A neighbour who lost her power trudged through the rain to Ms. Grant’s house to catch the race at about 4:40 a.m.
"I was just thinking of that little girl out on the water."
It’s not the first taste of success for the rowing pair. They were part of Canada’s world champion quad sculls team in 2005 and won the lightweight double sculls at a World Cup race in Poland earlier this year.
In Urbania, Hants County, Ms. Cameron’s other grandmother, along with 60 other friends, relatives and neighbours, were crammed in a living room to watch the final.
They erupted when the local girl took the bronze.
"It was tense right up to the end," Pearl Cameron, 79, said over the phone Sunday.
"We were all on the edge of our seats. Clapping, yelling, screaming, yes! It was wild. I wish she could have been here, but it would make her proud to know so many people were cheering for her."
Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald congratulated Ms. Cameron in an e-mail Sunday. He said the eight Nova Scotia athletes at the Games were all inspirational.
"On behalf of all Nova Scotians, I want to offer my congratulations to Tracy and Melanie on their exciting medal win; you’ve made us very proud," Mr. MacDonald said in a news release.
"It takes such tremendous dedication and perseverance to make the Olympics, let alone win a medal."
And it’s not bad for a woman who took up rowing when she was 25 years old. Ms. Cameron discovered the sport in Calgary, where she was taking a master’s degree in sport medicine. She was homesick and missed the water.
"Calgary’s so landlocked. I just hung out at the lake one night and saw this ‘learn to row’ program. During the first week, I fell in love with it," she told The Chronicle Herald in June.
"Right away, I set my goals that, ‘I love this, let’s see how far I can take it.’ "
Ms. Cameron made Alberta’s provincial team in her first competitive rowing season and jumped to the national team the following year.
After going without a medal in the first seven days of competition, Canadian athletes reached the podium seven times on days 8 and 9.
There was a storm of media controversy in the first week, with many questioning why Canada was performing so poorly. Ms. Grant said she’s glad her granddaughter helped to end the losing streak.
"You could almost cry," she said. "But, you know, every one of (the Canadian athletes) done their best. Whether they won a medal or not, they done their best."
The rowing races are held outside Beijing and Ms. Cameron said now that she’s back in the Olympic Village she can feel Canada’s momentum building.
"Last night you could feel this energy," Ms. Cameron said. "It was a different kind of pulse, so it was pretty neat to be part of that."
Ms. Grant said her granddaughter was the talk of River John on Sunday, and she thanked all those who offered their support. There were so many phone calls Sunday morning she couldn’t get off the phone. In the past, locals have asked if they could donate to finance the 33-year-old’s training.
"This was her dream since she was a little child," Ms. Grant said, laughing. "Her and her brother used to play that they were in the Olympics and they wanted their mother to judge them."
Pearl Cameron said her granddaughter lives in Calgary now, as does her father, Douglas, and mother, Sandra. Her brother Troy, 35, is a Calgary police officer.
There are tentative plans for the whole family — and the bronze medal — to travel back to Nova Scotia sometime in the fall. For the rest of the Olympics Ms. Cameron plans to go to every event she can and see the sights around Beijing.
"Just live the life of someone who’s done," she said with a laugh.
( dstevens@herald.ca)
From the Halifax Chronicle Herald:
AFTER a sluggish start, Canada added a flurry of medals to its Olympic total Sunday, and one of them belongs to a Nova Scotia rower from Shubenacadie.
Nova Scotia’s Tracy Cameron and her rowing partner, Melanie Kok, claimed the bronze in lightweight double sculls early Sunday morning, narrowly beating the fourth-place German team by just 0.04 of a second.
"It’s unbelievable. You want someone to pinch you and say that this is real," Ms. Cameron said on the phone from China.
"I don’t think I’ve taken the time for it to sink in. It’s just been a whirlwind."
With eight athletes from the province competing, it’s the first medal for a Nova Scotian at the Beijing Games.
Ms. Cameron and Ms. Kok, who’s from St. Catharines, Ont., finished the 2,000-metre race in 6:56.68. They led the race at the halfway point before giving way to the heavily favoured Dutch. Finland took the silver medal.
The battle for bronze was so close it went to a photo finish. The results were in doubt for several seconds before the Canadian pair learned they had beaten the Germans by a sliver.
"I was hoping the surge at the end was enough to put us out there," Ms. Cameron said. She and Ms. Kok looked to the scoreboard, and saw the first two medals announced.
"There was a pause. We were all hanging in that moment of suspense. It seemed like eternity. Until they flashed it up, we were definitely unsure."
After the race, Ms. Kok was whisked away to complete her drug test while Ms. Cameron was free to go. She was planning to go to the grandstand to meet her family but met her brother along the way — ordering a round at the beer tent.
After a few hugs, she asked if she could deliver the dozen or so suds to the grandstand.
"It was like, ‘OK, they don’t know I’m coming, so let me do the delivery," Ms. Cameron said with a giggle. "He took the flowers, I took the whole tray full of beer, and I’m like, ‘Anybody thirsty here?’ They went crazy!
"Truly Canadian."
Half a world away in River John, the 33-year-old’s grandmother nearly missed the bronze moment because of a thunderstorm wreaking havoc with her power.
"I was in my living room rowing along with her," said Marguerite Grant, 75, who got to see the race after a few nervous moments early Sunday morning.
A neighbour who lost her power trudged through the rain to Ms. Grant’s house to catch the race at about 4:40 a.m.
"I was just thinking of that little girl out on the water."
It’s not the first taste of success for the rowing pair. They were part of Canada’s world champion quad sculls team in 2005 and won the lightweight double sculls at a World Cup race in Poland earlier this year.
In Urbania, Hants County, Ms. Cameron’s other grandmother, along with 60 other friends, relatives and neighbours, were crammed in a living room to watch the final.
They erupted when the local girl took the bronze.
"It was tense right up to the end," Pearl Cameron, 79, said over the phone Sunday.
"We were all on the edge of our seats. Clapping, yelling, screaming, yes! It was wild. I wish she could have been here, but it would make her proud to know so many people were cheering for her."
Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald congratulated Ms. Cameron in an e-mail Sunday. He said the eight Nova Scotia athletes at the Games were all inspirational.
"On behalf of all Nova Scotians, I want to offer my congratulations to Tracy and Melanie on their exciting medal win; you’ve made us very proud," Mr. MacDonald said in a news release.
"It takes such tremendous dedication and perseverance to make the Olympics, let alone win a medal."
And it’s not bad for a woman who took up rowing when she was 25 years old. Ms. Cameron discovered the sport in Calgary, where she was taking a master’s degree in sport medicine. She was homesick and missed the water.
"Calgary’s so landlocked. I just hung out at the lake one night and saw this ‘learn to row’ program. During the first week, I fell in love with it," she told The Chronicle Herald in June.
"Right away, I set my goals that, ‘I love this, let’s see how far I can take it.’ "
Ms. Cameron made Alberta’s provincial team in her first competitive rowing season and jumped to the national team the following year.
After going without a medal in the first seven days of competition, Canadian athletes reached the podium seven times on days 8 and 9.
There was a storm of media controversy in the first week, with many questioning why Canada was performing so poorly. Ms. Grant said she’s glad her granddaughter helped to end the losing streak.
"You could almost cry," she said. "But, you know, every one of (the Canadian athletes) done their best. Whether they won a medal or not, they done their best."
The rowing races are held outside Beijing and Ms. Cameron said now that she’s back in the Olympic Village she can feel Canada’s momentum building.
"Last night you could feel this energy," Ms. Cameron said. "It was a different kind of pulse, so it was pretty neat to be part of that."
Ms. Grant said her granddaughter was the talk of River John on Sunday, and she thanked all those who offered their support. There were so many phone calls Sunday morning she couldn’t get off the phone. In the past, locals have asked if they could donate to finance the 33-year-old’s training.
"This was her dream since she was a little child," Ms. Grant said, laughing. "Her and her brother used to play that they were in the Olympics and they wanted their mother to judge them."
Pearl Cameron said her granddaughter lives in Calgary now, as does her father, Douglas, and mother, Sandra. Her brother Troy, 35, is a Calgary police officer.
There are tentative plans for the whole family — and the bronze medal — to travel back to Nova Scotia sometime in the fall. For the rest of the Olympics Ms. Cameron plans to go to every event she can and see the sights around Beijing.
"Just live the life of someone who’s done," she said with a laugh.
( dstevens@herald.ca)
