‘Chicken Charlie’ fries his way to fair fame

Sacramento Bee, USA

Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, August 17, 2008
Story appeared in OUR REGION section, Page B4

Canada on board with wrestling gold and bronze, rowing silver at Olympics
5 hours ago

BEIJING – Canada’s medal drought in Beijing is over – and it came to
an end with athletes winning one of each colour in quick succession
Saturday.

Freestyle wrestler Carol Huynh won the women’s 48-kilogram final about
20 minutes after rowers Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen finished second
in the men’s pair to earn the country’s first trip to the podium at
the Summer Games. Less than a half hour after Huynh’s win, fellow
wrestler Tonya Verbeek claimed bronze in the 55-kilogram event.

Huynh posted a 4-0, 2-1 win in a one-sided final against Chiharu Icho
of Japan. The 27-year-old from Hazelton, B.C., won gold at last year’s
Pan American Games and a bronze medal at the 2005 world championship.

She wiped away tears as O Canada was played after the medal
presentation.

"I was just thinking how proud I am to be Canadian," Huynh said. "And
I was just thinking about the road to how I got here. It’s been a long
one but a good one."

Huynh, making her first appearance on an Olympic podium, was thrilled
her parents could share the moment with her.

"I learned my work ethic from them," she said. "They worked so hard
for us to have a better life. There’s five of us kids that they had to
raise and support."

Calder, from Victoria, and Frandsen, from Kelowna, B.C., clocked a
time of six minutes 39.55 seconds, nearly five seconds ahead of the
bronze medallists from New Zealand.

The Canadians were about two seconds behind Australia for gold.

"I’m really proud of it and Scott is really proud of it," said
Calder. "The Australians had a great push through the middle. We
pushed back a little bit but congratulations to them. They definitely
deserved that.

"We’re very happy with a silver medal today."

Calder rowed in the men’s pair four years ago in Athens. That crew was
disqualified from the semifinal for leaving their lane.

Frandsen was a member of the men’s eight that finished fifth in 2004.

Verbeek completed the triple for Canada when she beat Sweden’s
Ida-Theres Nerell 1-0, 1-0. The native of Beamsville, Ont., won silver
at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

"On behalf of the Government of Canada and all Canadians, I would like
to congratulate Carol Huynh, David Calder, Scott Frandsen and Tonya
Verbeek for their exceptional accomplishments," said Prime Minister
Stephen Harper in a statement. "Canada is delighted to see them
standing tall on the podium with the world’s best athletes."

"We are extremely proud of Canada’s Olympic team competing in
Beijing. Each day, our athletes exhibit dignity, respect, and
dedication to their sport and to their country."

The medal flurry comes as a welcome relief after Canada went without a
trip to the podium during the first seven days of competition.

There were three agonizing near-misses over that span – weightlifter
Christine Girard fell three kilograms short of bronze, Mike Brown
missed a bronze in the 200-metre breaststroke by 0.09 seconds and
shot-putter Dylan Armstrong fell a centimetre short of third place.

The pressure both in China – where expectations were high for the team
coming in – and back at home – where anxious fans wondered how Canada
could trail countries like Togo, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia in the medal
standings – had been building, but should now start to ease.

Meanwhile, three Canadians advanced to women’s and men’s trampoline
finals next week.

Rosannagh MacLennan of King City, Ont., was third and Karen Cockburn
of Toronto fourth in the women’s preliminary round, while Toronto’s
Jason Burnett finished seventh among the men.

The women’s final is Monday followed by the men Tuesday at National
Indoor Stadium.

It was a bittersweet day for Canada at the women’s three-metre
springboard semifinal. Blythe Hartley of North Vancouver, B.C.,
qualified for the final, finishing 10th with a total of 324.6 points
from six dives. The top 12 advanced to Sunday’s final.

Jennifer Abel of Montreal just missed the cut, finishing 13th in
296.1.

The struggles continued for the Canadian baseball team, beaten 5-4 by
the United States for a third straight one-run loss.

This one really hurt as they blew a 4-0 lead in falling to 1-3 at the
Games, leaving them needing wins in their final three preliminary
round contests to have any hope of reaching the semifinals.

The women’s softball team suffered an equally stunning loss, falling
2-0 to Venezuela. Canada (3-2) put runners on second and third with no
outs, but couldn’t push a run across against the upstart Venezuelans
(2-3).

"I thought we played well and hit hard, but unfortunately, we could
not find the holes," said Canadian catcher Kaleigh Rafter. "They made
some big plays and we just could not (get) any runs across."

In other Canadian action:

-Zach Bell of Watson Lake, Yukon placed seventh in the men’s points
cycling race.

"It went pretty well," said Bell, one of two Yukon athletes competing
at the Games. "I mean I knew I could ride a top-eight if I rode a good
race for me, but if I rode a perfect race, it would be a top-five."

-The struggles continued for the men’s water polo team, which fell to
0-4 with a 13-7 loss to Greece. Kevin Graham and Aaron Feltham each
scored three goals for Canada.

"We played well three of the four quarters but Greece scored five
goals in the first," said Nathaniel Miller of Beaconsfield, Que. "We
can’t give up such a big lead in an Olympic tournament."

-Carline Muir of Toronto advanced to Sunday’s semifinals in the
women’s 400 metres. The 20-year-old ran a personal best 51.55 seconds
to finish third in her heat and move on.

"I pushed hard right to the end," said Muir. "It was an awesome way to
start my first Olympic experience."

-Jessica Zelinka of London, Ont., set a Canadian record of 6,490
points en route to a sixth-place finish in the heptathlon.

"I came here, I did my best, I got a Canadian record, and I got close
to what I was aiming for, and I finished off strong so I’m really
happy," said Zelinka.

-Kelsie Hendry of Saskatoon failed to advance out of the qualifying
round in the women’s pole vault. She cleared 4.30 metres, but missed
on all three attempts at 4.40.

"The experience I earned is great but my performance wasn’t," Hendry
said. "I have to take what I can from this and just learn."

-Ashley Holzer of Toronto placed 15th in the individual dressage Grand
Prix special, scoring 68.76 per cent aboard Pop Art.