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Sports
Field of Play: 1 year out from Sochi, Canada is confident
With exactly one year to go until the opening ceremony for the Sochi Olympics, most of
the buzz has nothing to do with the athletes who will be the stars of the show. But they're out there toiling and, in the case of many Canadians, thriving.
Sports
Field of Play: Russians strive to recapture lost Olympic glory
The overwhelming impression the emerging Olympic city of Sochi leaves on visitors these days is of a Russian sports machine that's rebuilding in a hurry.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: 1st impressions of Sochi
CBC Sports Weekend host Scott Russell is on the scene as the venues for the Sochi Olympics begin to take shape in the rainy city along the Black Sea.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: From the Rockies to Russia
CBC Sports Weekend host Scott Russell joined five lifelong friends on a dream excursion to Vail, Colo.
Skiing
Field of Play: Celebrating our last king of Kitzbuehel
Todd Brooker, who is celebrating the 30-year anniversary of his victory on the famed Streif downhill course at Kitzbuehel, Austria this weekend by
broadcasting the event for CBC, is a link to the glory days of Canadian
alpine ski racing.
Sports
Field of Play: Speed skating is Canada's beast of burden
Hockey is the sport most Canadians associate with skating glory. But when it comes to delivering the goods year-in and year-out it is speed skating that is Canada's beast of burden. The numbers speak for themselves.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: In praise of the 'other' Scott Russell
Being in TV sports, it pays to be aware that there may be other much more accomplished people who share the same name, if only because it helps keep you humble.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: Sport and passion interrupted
Making the case that NHL hockey is instinctual to Canadians and therefore a part of how we conduct our affairs as a people.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: A slice of hockey heaven
It was that kind of New Year's Day. Beautiful and blue and where I live, which is down by the lake, snow lay all around. I scrambled to the basement and dug out my skates. I had on a wool hat with
the big, blue "M" of the St. Michael's Majors on it. I was
appropriately dressed for shinny.
Sports
Field of Play: The wonderful world of women in sport
Any way you look at it, Canadian women have dominated sports headlines in this country this year.And
in an arena where the "old boys" are usually at the forefront to the
exclusion of what the girls do, that's encouraging news indeed.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: Power and influence in Canadian sport
CBC Sports is about to reveal its Top 10 most influential people in Canadian sport on Sports Weekend this Saturday. The way I see it, there aren't enough athletes on the list.
Skiing
Field of Play: Life goes on for ski cross at Nakiska
For the first time since the tragic death of Canadian racer Nik Zoricic, ski cross returns to competition on the world stage this weekend. The World Cup picks up at Nakiska, Alta. in what is an exhilarating but at times, risky pursuit still in its' formative stages.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: The People's Pick
The ardent fan is the apple of every athlete's eye and gives sport credibility, so we are once again inviting the fans to select Canada's athlete of the year for 2012 with the People's Pick.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: Lake Louise, the start of winter
The way I see it every year winter officially begins in our own backyard at Lake Louise, the site of the return of championship alpine skiing to be broadcast of CBC Sports. There is the majesty of the Rocky Mountains to consider and the endless vistas that greet you.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: More cash for Canada's Olympians
This week's $50-million boost by the Canadian Olympic Committee to high-performance sport in this country didn't get the attention it deserved.
CBC Sports
Field of Play: Tales of the Unexpected
The decision not to let alpine skier Lindsey Vonn compete in a men's race is disheartening because now we'll never know what upset she might have staged or what sense of wonder it might have created.
Sports
The Field of Play: Patrick Chan's predicament
From my vantage point, two-time world figure skating champion Patrick Chan is in a bind.He
is no longer the boy wonder. Instead, he's been the leading man for
quite some time. And now, not surprisingly, people are trying to knock
him off his pedestal while others are anticipating his fall from grace.So
when Chan lost a major competition for the first time in almost two
years at Skate Canada last weekend, alarm bells started to ring.
Sports
Website offers athletes unique way to attract funding
Most high-performance athletes these days are forced to find creative ways to fuel their dream. Some are forced
to dig into their family's pocket. Others work full- or part-time jobs
while juggling the demands of training. Very few, and only those at the
very top of the ladder, enjoy the benefits of corporate sponsorship.Enter a new way to directly fund athletes called Pursu.it (www.pursu.it).
CBC Sports
New kids in Canada's Sports Hall
The nine men and women inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 brings the honour roll to a total of 529 since the Hall started counting in 1955.
CBC Sports
Sports Day: National Jersey Day in Ottawa
When you're young, sport often requires that you become part of a group and accept the responsibility of joining a team. All in all, Jersey Day at Elgin Street Public School in Ottawa on Friday was one great, big, team-building exercise.
CBC Sports
Sports Day: Sowing seeds of excellence
The vast majority of Canadian sporting stars have traditionally emerged from Quebec, Ontario or the West. That's partly changing, thanks to the Canadian Sport Centre Atlantic in Halifax.
CBC Sports
Sports Day: Giving back in Winnipeg
Winnipeg is a city so in love with the Jets that, even in the midst of a lockout-threatened season, the beloved NHL team seemingly can do little wrong.
CBC Sports
Sports Day: Celebrating the coaches
At Mosaic Stadium, which will always be Taylor Field to the local football faithful, some of the Saskatchewan Roughriders are helping to put the provincial high-school champion Riffel Royals through their paces.
CBC Sports
Sports Day: Sports and the family
There is a comfortable feeling in a hall of fame which reflects pride, but also an aura that implies there's a lot to live up to. So it is at the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
CBC Sports
On the road in search of sport
Sports Day in Canada is Saturday, Sept. 29. It's our annual celebration of sports at the grass roots level in this country. But what I'm discovering is that every day is -- or at least should be -- a sort of Sports Day in Canada.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
A country of team players
The "team" word kept surfacing with reference to Canada at London 2012, reinforcing that this is a country of team players and a group that chose to focus on the success of the entire delegation rather than the near misses of talented individuals.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Back on Track: Olympic Stadium sessions were electrifying
Usain Bolt was the undoubted star of the show, writes Scott Russell, but others such as Jessica Ennis, Mo Farah and some Canadians, too, made the athletics sessions at Olympic Stadium an electrifying experience.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Canadian swimmers on ambitious Olympic path
Canada's three-medal performance in the water at the London Olympics isn't an overwhelming total when compared to the glory days of Alex Baumann and Victor Davis, but there seems to be an indication that the tide has finally turned.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Canada's female wrestlers continue medal tradition
Canadian women wrestlers initially appeared at the 2004 Games in Athens and Canadians have been at the forefront ever since.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Damian Warner, athletics team provide hope for Rio
As the likes of Despatie, Hayden and Whitfield come towards the end of their Olympic career, Canada will need some younger faces to step up to prominence pointing to Rio and the 2016 Games.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Twist of fate brings Canada a bronze medal
The doubters were beginning to surface, with no Canadian medals for two days running. Suddenly, at the end of Tuesday evening, high jumper Derek Drouin gave Canadian fans a reason to allow their hopes to soar ever so slightly.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Ian Millar a constant Olympic presence
Canadian show jumper Ian Millar, quite rightly, took a back seat to teammate Eric Lamaze's gold medal win at the Beijing Olympics. Millar is back in the spotlight, the subject of much international discussion because he's 65 years old and still, apparently, near the top of his game.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
The Games: Actions and words
Sometimes the greatest of athletes speak out on issues that matter to them, and Michael Phelps and Simon Whitfield did just that on Sunday, writes Scott Russell.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Gold, guts and glory
For Canada, the spectrum of colours was complete. Gold, silver and bronze medals won on the busiest 24 hours of the Games, as well as some gutsy performances.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Connecting with people lifeblood of Olympics
The great thing about being in the Olympic Park is the chance to connect with the people who are the lifeblood of the Games.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Name of the game: Armstrong, Zelinka carry Canadian hopes
The heartbeat quickens on the eve of the track and field at any Olympic Games, writes Scott Russell, and shot putter Dylan Armstrong and heptathlete Jessica Zelinka, Canada's best medal hopes, begin their quest on Friday.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Last call for Clara
Clara Hughes found a fifth place showing in Wednesday's time trial tough to take, but said it was a thrill to be an Olympic competitor once again, and for the last time ever.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
The Games: Les belles medailles de bronze
All six of Canada's athletes involved in podium finishes at the London Olympics have done the bulk of their training in Quebec. It may be a coincidence but, then again, it may not. We've seen this before.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
The Games: Canadians vaulting forward
For Canadian women competing in artistic gymnastics at the Summer Olympics, it has meant generations of being an also-ran country. Not anymore.
With Canada gaining a berth in the team final in London, there is a feeling that inclusion to the sports' inner circle has been achieved.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
The Games: Canada dives into Olympic record books
Clara Hughes gave it a gutsy effort, while Emilie Heymans and Jennifer Abel engineered a landmark performance for the nation's first medal at the London Olympics.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
The Games: What's not to love?
Swimming's top rivalry, a Canadian record from Scott Dickens, and the leadership of Sebastian Coe - Scott Russell says there's a lot to love already about the London Games.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
United Kingdom brings amateur sport to life
There's something about the United Kingdom that says sport. It's just a feeling you get when you visit the place where the Corinthian spirit and the notion of the amateur came to prominence.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Olympic Games are about living the dream
They are almost here. The days number in the single digits now and the Olympics loom larger than life.London has made itself ready for the thousands of dreamers who are descending upon it even as we speak. And make no mistake the Olympics are unabashedly about hopes and dreams.
The Games : Opinion and Analysis
Olympics opening up to female athletes
In the shadow of Parliament Hill on Thursday, as Canada formally
introduced the team that will complete in London this summer, there was
plenty of evidence that females have evolved into an essential part of
the heart and soul of the delegation.
A male will be the flag-bearer
and lead the team into the Olympic Stadium, but on the squad of 277
athletes, nearly 56 per cent are women. Simon Whitfield will indeed be
"Captain Canada." But, for the first time, women make up the bulk of the
team.
CBC Sports
High Stakes... High Hurdles... A Canadian Race
The women's 100-metres hurdles final at the Canadian Track and Field Trials in Calgary will be run Saturday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 4 p.m. ET) and act as an Olympic qualifier for London.
CBC Sports
The Queen's Plate and Canada's Olympic Head of State
Mark Tewksbury, Canada's Olympic chef de mission, made the draw for the 153rd running of the Queen's Plate on a scorching hot day in the walking ring at Toronto's Woodbine, the venerable track where the three-year-old colts and fillies will run Sunday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 4:30 p.m. ET).
CBC Sports
The unsinkable Alexandre Despatie
He is the king of comebacks and the latest twist in diver Alexandre Despatie's road to London may not sink his Olympic aspirations.
CBC Sports
Jerome Drayton and the oldest Canadian record
It is one of the great mysteries left in Canadian sport.
How is it, in this day and age, when athletes are full-time
professionals with substantial financial and scientific resources at
their disposal, that a Canadian marathon record set more than 36 years ago can
still stand?
That is the puzzle that 67-year-old Jerome Drayton presents.
CBC Sports
Women, Sport and Horse Sense
Jennifer Heil, the Bobbie Rosenfeld winner as Canada's female athlete of the year for 2011, drew the post positions for Sunday's $500,000 Woodbine Oaks, the most prestigious horse race for three-year-old fillies in the country (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 4:30 p.m. ET).
CBC Sports
Five for the flag: Who should carry the Maple Leaf in London?
The Olympic season is upon us and the Canadian team continues to take
shape. As
always, speculation is beginning early as to who will carry the
Canadian flag into the opening ceremony at London's Olympic Stadium on July 27.Let's stir the pot and put five names forward as potential Canadian flag bearers.
CBC Sports
The giants of Volleyworld
It's quite literally like walking into the land of the giants.
The Canadian National Exhibition grounds on the shore of Lake Ontario in
downtown Toronto are playing host to a massive celebration of one sport
over the next five days. Let's just call it Volleyworld.
The Canadian Open Volleyball Championship brings together club teams
from all over the country and pits them against each other under one
enormous roof.
CBC Sports
The Olympic spotlight: At long last
It was a good day for Canada's Olympic athletes. In Montreal the sun rose in a clear blue sky only to reveal the national
newspaper filled with pictures of boxers, divers, paddlers and
swimmers. "Give Your Everything," the slogan blared or "Tout Donner," in
French.
CBC Sports
Alexandre Despatie unafraid to be great
Celebrated Canadian diver Alexandre Despatie is preparing for his fourth Olympics with a desire to improve that has seen him overcome major injuries and, at times, even a lack of motivation.
CBC Sports
The Olympics and the broken hearted
Less than 100 days to go until London 2012 and much of the talk surrounds the number of medals Canadian athletes will win at the upcoming Olympics.
CBC Sports
Coolsaet leads Canada's running renaissance
Canada gets a close-up look at Reid Coolsaet this coming weekend at
the Toronto Yonge Street 10 km, which is expected to attract a field of
7,500 runners less than 100 days out from the Olympics.
CBC Sports
Remembering our friend Randy Starkman
I always believed you were the best, Randy. You had the most passion, the most
understanding, you never wavered from what you figured was the right
story to tell. You were a lone wolf and rarely part of the pack.
CBC Sports
Our season's end and beyond the cut
Sports Weekend, CBC's weekly television program focusing on the exploits of Canada's high-performance/amateur athletes, has come to the end of its season and now faces the cut.
CBC Sports
Despite recent scandals, good coaches should be praised
The coaching profession has taken a beating this year. It seems like the only headlines that the mentors of sport are making are frightening testaments to the crimes that a small minority commit when they find themselves in control of what happens to their charges on the field of play.
CBC Sports
Kershaw blazes a new cross-country trail
Devon Kershaw has gone further than any cross-country skier from this country
has ever gone before. He's put in more miles, spent more time on the
road and had more success than anyone might have imagined.At the time of this writing, Kershaw stood second overall in the World
Cup standings in arguably the deepest and most hotly contested of the
winter sports. It is a sport that has, for the
most part, eluded North American men until Kershaw came along.
CBC Sports
March weather brings out the magic of play
A freakish, glorious spring day surfaced in Toronto mid-week. The sun
shone, a warm wind rustled the leafless trees, and it reached 15 degrees
on the temperature gauge. I'm told it was just that way in many parts
of the country.I ran in shorts and sleeveless, with my bounding
terrier Davey leading the way, down to the shore of Lake Ontario. On the
way we encountered cyclists, a legion of joggers, children on scooters,
soccer players, and someone flying a giant-sized kite. Then we sprinted
past the skateboard park where literally hundreds of kids were
rocketing over jumps and turning impossible tricks.People were playing.
CBC Sports
Beyond the deadline: 5 reasons to love sport
The overhyped NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and in spite of all
the anticipation and all the deals that never happened, the talk about
the deadline lingers agonizingly on.Here are five better reasons to love sport, from celebrating the comebacks of Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, Jan Hudec and Alexandre Despatie to admiring the brilliance of Jean Beliveau and Canada's figure skaters.
CBC Sports
Lee-Gartner's '92 victory a Canadian alpine treasure
This past week has been one of memories for Canadian fans of Olympic sport with some great anniversaries to mark. But for those of a certain generation, Kerrin Lee-Gartner's gold medal
in the women's downhill at the 1992 Albertville Games may be the
sweetest of all.
CBC Sports
Gridiron guys turn bobsleigh beasts
They walk into the upstairs office at the Bob Niven Training Centre in Calgary and they literally fill the room.Lyndon
Rush and Jesse Lumsden are the emerging stars of Canadian sliding
sport. Together they are a dynamic and overwhelming physical presence
aboard the premier sled in the country.But the pilot and the pusher of Canada 1 weren't always icebound.
CBC Sports
Canada's Kingsbury is king of the moguls hill
Canadian moguls skier Mikael Kingsbury stands on the brink of something very big
this weekend in Deer Valley, Utah, where he has a chance to set the record for the
most consecutive World Cup wins by a male freestyle skier - ever.
CBC Sports
Is Corporate Canada really a good teammate?
The bottom line in any sport is that it takes solid backing to be a winner. That support comes from many sources, including the understanding of family and friends, great coaching, ardent fans and yes ... cold hard cash from investors.
That's why it's disturbing to see a cyclical trend playing itself out in Canadian high performance sport.
CBC Sports
Olympic education: spreading modern Games message
Another mile marker has been passed. The Games are getting closer. Now there are less than six months to go until the 2012 Olympics open in London.
CBC Sports
Kitzbuhel: The Legend
It's just a little town in Austria. To most observers it's just another ski resort in the Tyrol. But the mountain, which looms over Kitzbuhel, is notorious. It's called the Hahnenkamm, translated into German, "the Rooster's Comb." Since 1931, and more importantly since the World Cup of alpine skiing began in 1967, a downhill ski race which descends this treacherous mountain has spawned a fable of gigantic proportions.
Hockey
Abegweit Ice: Reflecting on Hockey in Charlottetown
I was just a "kid from away" who had been weaned on the rivalry between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. Therefore, my first CBC assignment covering hockey for the supper hour news program "Compass," in Prince Edward Island, specifically Charlottetown, amounted to navigating uncharted waters.
CBC Sports
Risk and sport: The nature of the beast
Spare a thought for freestyle skier Sarah Burke.
Pray that she recovers from the fall, which has left her breathing through a tube and in a coma in a Salt Lake City hospital.
CBC Sports
Crunch time for Canadian Olympians
There's no looking back now.
We're in an Olympic year, and already the rush is on to the London 2012
Games. Canadian summer athletes are facing the inevitable "do or die"
scenarios right out of the gate, even as winter deepens in the land of
ice and snow.
CBC Sports
2011: The Big Picture
At one point during the final voting for the Lou Marsh Award (Canada's
2011 athlete of the year), one of the committee members spoke up with a
point of clarification.
"Wait a minute," Damien Cox of the Toronto Star interjected.
"You're telling me that in Canada we have the best figure skater, the
best shot putter, the best speed skater and the best show jumper?"
Those of us gathered around the table paused for a brief moment and then nodded our heads in agreement
CBC Sports
Christine Nesbitt is the athlete Canadians should know
Christine Nesbitt is the best in the world. The trouble is not enough Canadians know it.It was interesting to note during the deliberations over the Lou Marsh Award for Canada's athlete of the year that Nesbitt's exploits, as well as those of shot put giant Dylan Armstrong and show jumping star Eric Lamaze, had to be itemized and justified just as the resume of the eventual winner, figure skater Patrick Chan, was gone over with a fine-toothed comb.
CBC Sports
Chan still learning to be champion
There can be no mistaking the fact that Patrick Chan's words ruffled more than a
few feathers and illustrated once again that he is still learning to be
the honourable champion worthy of our undying loyalty. Most of the
time he gets it right. This time he booted it.
CBC Sports
The legend of Lake Louise
Another alpine season is underway and there is little snow in Europe.
Near the Arctic Circle at Levi, Finland, the slalom has been cancelled. Magnificent Wengen is bare ... not a flake. Glorious Val d'Isere is struggling as well. Even in Kitzbuhel they are worried.
Not so Lake Louise, Alta.
CBC Sports
Canada's Athlete of the Year
It's hard to believe that 2011 is almost done.
Seasons come and seasons go but sport never sleeps and suddenly thoughts are turning to the inevitable measurement of which Canadian athlete has shone above the rest in this calendar year.
CBC Sports
Sustaining our shrine to sport
The chairman of the board of Canada's newly minted Sports Hall of Fame
stood before the throng at this week's induction ceremony and made it
plain.
"We have completed the construction on time and slightly under budget,"
said Dr. Roger Jackson, an Olympic gold medallist and a member of the
Hall himself. "Now we are open for business."
More importantly, the time has now arrived for Canadians to patronize this country's shrine to athletic achievement.
CBC Sports
Hickstead was a national superstar
Hickstead was, after all, only a horse. But on a personal level, news of his death hits hard.
Sometimes, when you're a sports commentator you can't help but be a fan.
CBC Sports
Quebec's passion for sport stands out
If you ever start to wonder about the lack of attention Canadian high
performance sport receives in between Olympics, do yourself a favour:
connect with Quebec.On the way to a press conference where cross-country skier Alex Harvey was to be introduced as
the spokesman for Operation Red Nose, the anti-drunk-driving campaign, I
saw plenty of billboards for winter sport stars like Alexandre Bilodeau
and Joannie Rochette.The Olympics in Vancouver are long gone, but in Quebec the local heroes still resonate in a huge way.
CBC Sports
Can Toronto be a worthy Pan Am host?
For the 2011 Pan American sports extravaganza in Guadalajara, Mexico, it's almost "game over."
That means it's "game on" for the 17th Pan American Games to be held in
several southern Ontario communities, including Toronto, in the summer
of 2015.It's a big job given the nature of the city and its relationship with sport.
CBC Sports
Multi-sport Moyse an athletic throwback
There was a time when athletes weren't governed by one specific job description. You know, the way penalty killers, tough guys, place kickers or even designated hitters are.Sport has become so specialized these days. The end result is that in most pursuits you have finely trained specimens who perform a single function with incredible precision and technical success.Then there's Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I.
CBC Sports
Five people you meet on our field of play
What variety there is in sport. And if you travel to see the athletes in their natural habitat there's a boatload of wisdom to be found in their collective experience.
CBC Sports
CBC Sports Weekend is our field of play
CBC Sports Weekend is a Canadian original.
And it's very much alive and kicking.
In one form or another, this show has been telling the story of Canada's high performance/amateur athletes for 50 years. The struggles, the victories, the defeats, the joys and sorrows that occur whenever Canadians haul on the Maple Leaf and represent their country on fields of play at home and abroad.
CBC Sports
The struggle for sport
This week's symposium put on by the University of Toronto's Faculty of Physical Education and Health called, Game Misconduct: Violence, Abuse and Young Athletes, raises a lot of questions about sport and where it's heading these days.
CBC Sports
Germany's Prinz of players
At the training camp for Germany's national women's team in picturesque Bitburg, not far from the Luxembourg border, there is a photographer trying to get a shot of the queen of European soccer. Birgit Prinz isn't playing along.
CBC Sports
Tracing Canada's World Cup route
It's enlightening to be in Germany and to understand that the Canadian women's soccer team will be playing in the World Cup against a diverse and challenging backdrop in less than six weeks time.
CBC Sports
Outgoing sports minister Lunn will be missed
The election of Elizabeth May in the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands on
Monday night was a victory for the Green Party, but it was also a loss
for amateur sport.
While May will bring a strong voice to the House of Commons on issues
surrounding the environment, the man she defeated, Gary Lunn, Canada's
Minister of State (Sport), will be greatly missed by those who envision a
fitter, more physically aware Canada.
CBC Sports
Moscow's skating mystique
Before he went out and nailed his short program, Canadian figure skater Patrick Chan made an observation about his presence in Moscow.
CBC Sports
Women approach watershed World Cup
In the heat of a West Palm Beach afternoon, American soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo dives across her crease and takes a rocket off her throat. But Solo bounces up in time to punch the next drive off her hulking male coach's boot high into the blue, Florida sky.
CBC Sports
Post-season puck power
Power and politics. It pales to the popular Canadian consensus of the hockey puck.
Witness the leaders' debate on the eve of the annual Stanley Cup
pilgrimage. The party kingpins were shown getting off buses, out of
limousines, jauntily waving to the crowd on the arena threshold in the
winter nation's capital.
It looked a lot like the Canucks or the Hawks, on their way into the
rink moments before a much-anticipated playoff rivalry. They had a photo
op, shook hands, just like the hockey gods do before a big
international match.
CBC Sports
Ski jumping inclusion a giant leap for equality
Make no mistake - the inclusion of women's ski jumping beginning with
the 2014 Olympics in Sochi is a major victory for all females who love
sport.The decision takes the Olympics, long an archaic "old boys" institution, that much closer to equality of the sexes - a battle that's been going on for a very long time, and still isn't over.
CBC Sports
Hayden thrives in swimming's post-suit era
Compared to most elite swimmers, Brent Hayden is a late bloomer.
That said, the former world champion and current No.1-ranked man in the
100-metre freestyle has blossomed into an aquatic predator as London
2012 approaches.
CBC Sports
Springtime's sweet season
In parts of the East and West, Canadians have been hammered by snow. Old man winter is refusing to loosen his grip.
But with the calendar having flipped into spring, the sweet season for Canadian sport is in full swing - curling, figure skating and hockey.
CBC Sports
Japan figure skating worlds should be moved
The time has come for the International Skating Union to make a courageous decision, and do it for all the right reasons.
With Japan struggling
in the wake of last week's natural disaster, the ISU should move the
world figure skating championships to another country, and do it as soon
as possible.
Canceling or postponing the event until October, when Tokyo may or may
not be ready to host it (the city is unable to do so now), should not be
viable options.
CBC Sports
Synchronized swimming: An unsinkable Canadian tradition
Over the years they've produced more than their fair share of international results. But somehow Canada's synchronized swimmers have only rarely surfaced to grab the headlines.
CBC Sports
Canada is 1st nation of speed skating
It's a sport taken for granted.Of all the icy disciplines it's the most traditional and also guaranteed to deliver medal success when the Olympics roll around.Speed skating is bred in the bone in Canada.
CBC Sports
Canada's Wide World of Sport
For Canada, these are halcyon days. Gone is the stereotypical notion that we are a country of hockey players and curlers. End of story.
CBC Sports
Sport needs to draw the line as casualties mount
The casualties are mounting and sport is facing its greatest crisis.How much risk is too much, and at what price is "Higher, Faster, Stronger," too dear?Think of it. In the space of a year, Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luger, lost his life at the Olympics. Then Austrian skier Hans Grugger lost control at the famed downhill ski course in Kitzbuhel and spent weeks in a coma.
CBC Sports
Erik the great, Erik the gracious
There is now proof positive that sometimes, nice guys actually finish first.
Hats off to Erik Guay, the leader of the Canadian alpine ski team, who
has claimed the world championship in Garmisch, Germany, by winning the
men's downhill in convincing fashion.
CBC Sports
Vancouver's legacy: No more 5th business
The Canadian home Olympics are a year gone.
But a change in attitude lingers.
While we rejoice in 14 gold medals and 26 podium results, the near
misses are more indicative of a seismic shift in expectations on the
part of Canadian competitors.
Almost winning doesn't count anymore - a good thing for a country that fancies itself a sporting nation.
CBC Sports
Golden dance revival
The impressive thing about champions is they don't know the meaning of the word quit.
Self-satisfied accomplishment runs counter to the nature of a champion.
It was heartening this week to hear straight from the horse's mouth that Olympic gold medallists and world champions in the ice dance, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, are returning to the field of play.
CBC Sports
From child star to hockey elder in the blink of an eye
The Great One has been the first truly remarkable hockey player to mature
in such a public fashion. More than one generation of Canadians clearly
recall him as the Chosen One.
He was the magician who transported Edmonton to the centre of hockey's universe. He had the Midas Touch.
CBC Sports
The great Canadian event
In a country that communes with winter like few others, a national championship involving ice really means something.
So it is that the Brier, which pits province against province, becomes paramount in the sport of curling. For Canadian women, the Tournament of Hearts is equally as treasured. There are many Canadian "Cups" to be won, lacrosse has the Mann and the Minto while junior hockey has the Memorial. They are all national gatherings that crown the best from various regions of a diverse land.
It's hard to beat the tradition and scope of the Canadian figure skating championships.
CBC Sports
Wake up, Canada: it's championship season
The Winter Olympics come around only once every four years, but in between high-performance
athletes are toiling on ice and snow in the name of Canada at huge events like World Cups and world championships every
year. It's not as if they suddenly appear to win or lose a gold medal
once a quadrennium at the Games.
It's championship season right now around the world in winter sport. So it's time to end our Olympic hibernation and feast on the bevy of high-performance sport that's out there.
CBC Sports
Canada's Nordic knight
Cross-country skier Devon Kershaw of Sudbury, Ont., is used to racing in the shadows.
As the Canadian juniors were settling for silver in Buffalo, Kershaw was winning his first World Cup gold medal in Italy - his third podium result at the Tour de Ski. It's a gruelling event featuring the best Nordic skiers in the world from 17 countries who compete in sprints and marathons over the course of 10 days in Germany and Italy.
CBC Sports
Finding a sporting balance
On the surface it's the same old song. Live Right Now, the latest CBC initiative to connect with communities across the country, is hoping to get Canadians moving and in the process become more physically literate.
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New Year's resolutions from Canada's field of play
What to resolve for 2011?
How about that the Canadian hockey juniors reclaim the world championship?
That's a given.
Or that a Canadian based NHL team should, for the first time since the Montreal Canadiens of 1993, win the Stanley Cup?
Now that would be sweet.
But beyond the ice there are other pursuits that might warrant concerted effort and attention as the calendar flips to a brand new year and the onset of sporting seasons yet to be admired.
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Crosby at Christmas: The Gift of Sid
Few greater treasures exist for a hockey-loving nation than a player who has come to symbolize the sport most of us obsess over.
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Don't forget the true Olympians of 2010
The Canadian men's hockey team won a most coveted Olympic prize. But, in recognizing the best of the year, it would be folly to undervalue the other men and women who gave the country so much to cheer about in Vancouver-Whistler.
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Racing rivals, alpine allies
Lindsey Vonn's major rival, Maria Riesch of Germany, screams down the Lake Louise
downhill course to beat her by ten hundredths of a second. Had Vonn not slipped
during her run, she would have won handily."I hate to lose," Vonn says. "But if I have to lose then it might as
well be to my best friend."
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The Lou Marsh Debate
The debate over Canada's Athlete of the Year is about to heat up. In
a season where the Olympics were held on home turf, passionate
arguments will be made for a legion of remarkable competitors who stake a
claim to Lou Marsh Award consideration.Time to stoke the fires and stir the pot.
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Patrick Chan's Big Chance
Canada's boy wonder of figure skating will soon get the opportunity to prove he's ready to be the main man.
CBC Sports
Sports Hall of Fame inductees stellar
It is still an intangible thing, but to be in a room of a thousand people to see the gods and goddesses of sport get their due and enter Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is awe inspiring.
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Angela James: Hockey's Hall of Fame Pioneer
Each year the Hockey Hall of Fame inducts two kinds of people, players and builders.
On Monday as two women are welcomed, the old boys club will recognize pioneers of the game, Angela James of Canada and American Cammi Granato.
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Erik Guay: Skiing's constant Canuck
He carries his sport's greatest treasure in a silver case the size of a hatbox. Yet, Canadian ski racing star Erik Guay is anonymous as he strolls down Toronto's busy Yonge Street.
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Why the Games came to India
The XIX Commonwealth Games in New Delhi were in a hot, crowded place and they got off to an extremely slow start.
The athlete's village, which was supposed to be the jewel, wasn't ready and its unsanitary conditions threatened to keep many of the 6,000 athletes from 71 countries and territories home in the safety of Europe, Australia or Canada.
CBC Sports
Diamonds in the rough
It's a rare jewel to discover something completely out of the ordinary in sport.
Few are the spectacles that cause one to sit up and take notice.Brent Hayden's marvellous swim in the 100-metre freestyle, the fastest of the season, was certainly one. So was an evening in which Canadians won three gold medals as female grapplers made their debut at the Commonwealth Games.
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Sport and the global journey
The Queen's Baton passed through Canada this week on its way to the 19th Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.
Scott Russell
Scott brings vast experience, passion and knowledge to his role as host of CBC's Sports Weekend on CBC. A 20-year CBC Sports veteran, Russell has covered nine Olympic Games and co-hosted Olympic Morning for Beijing 2008: The Olympic Games. The Gemini-Award winning broadcaster and acclaimed author has also worked as a host and rinkside reporter on Hockey Night in Canada and has covered triathlon, gymnastics, rugby, cross-country skiing and biathlon at several Olympic Games, Pan Am Games and Commonwealth Games.
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