A Canadian in Sweden

Yay for Zina Kocher!

Since this will probably slip through the mainstream media without much fanfare, allow me to congratulate Canada's Zina Kocher for her third place finish, which is her first podium performance in a World Cup for biathlon. This is also, unless I am completely out of the loop, Canada's first World Cup medal since the days of Myriam Bedard in the mid 1990's.

I will be going down to Östersund on Friday to take in the last two days of the World Cup competitions down there. With a bit of luck, I will try to hook up with the Canadian athletes (all of whom, including Zina, were at my condo in Quebec last year at my post-national biathlon championships party, so they owe me one).

My friend Håkon will be driving down with me and he know some folks in Östersund, so we should have a floor to sleep on at least. Östersund is not a big town, and when a World Cup comes around there is an influx of about 15 000 people, so finding beds is a real problem.

I just realized to my shame that although virtually every T-shirt I have here has CANADA written on it, I don't have a single Canada flag to wave at the race. I may have to improvise with a bedsheet and a red marker or something.

P.S. While I am thinking about her - which I try to avoid, to be honest - it seems that Myriam Bedard is just getting weirder with time: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061109.BEDARD09/TPStory/National

posted by Jeff @ 12:51 PM