MacLennan captures Canadian gold at Pan Am Games
When a nasty bug took out half of Canada's trampoline team Tuesday, Rosannagh MacLennan and Keegan Soehn made sure to make up for their absence.
The 23-year-old MacLennan, from King City, Ont., claimed gold in the women's event at the Pan American Games, after three-time Olympic medallist and defending champion Karen Cockburn withdrew.
Soehn, from Red Deer, Alta., claimed the men's gold in a final that was missing teammate Charles Thibault, withdrawn with what team officials believed was the same bug that sidelined Cockburn.
"I was a bridesmaid at [Cockburn's] wedding, we've been training together since really young, we do synchro together, so we're really close friends," MacLennan said. "I was really sad that she wasn't able to compete today but you've got to play it safe sometimes."
MacLennan, who sat second behind Cockburn after Monday's preliminaries, scored 53.975 points for the victory, beating Americans Dakota Earnest (51.061) and Alaina Williams (48.380).
Cockburn, who'd been up all night ill and then spent Tuesday trying to sleep off the bug, came to the Nissan Gymnastics Stadium with her gym suit in her back hoping she'd be able to shake it in time to compete. But with the world championships next month, which are also an Olympic qualifying event, Cockburn said there was no point risking injury when she felt so weak.
"I knew it was a long shot," said Cockburn, who was beating a hasty exit back to the athletes village to rest. "I really don't feel well at all right now. It's heartbreaking, I really wanted to defend my title, and I really wanted to compete after it went so well [Monday]."
"But I was pumped to see Rosie win it," she added. "It shows the depth we have in the sport in Canada right now."
The 31-year-old Cockburn, who won bronze at the 2000 Olympics and silver in 2004 and 2008, has said the London Games will likely be her last.
"She's a really big trooper, previously she's been able to bust it out in very unfortunate circumstances and come back and fight and do really well, but unfortunately today she didn't fell well enough," MacLennan said.
MacLennan claimed the gold despite performing a more cautious routine after a frightening fall off the trampoline at a World Cup in Denmark.
"Travelled a little too much, and didn't quite stay on the tramp," she said. "But this time was a lot better, I felt really confident going into the finals and confident with my routine. Pretty pleased."
Soehn, the leader after the preliminaries, scored 55.535 points to win gold ahead of Brazil's Rafael Andrade (52.265) and Mexico's Jose Alberto Vargas (21.130). Soehn had been a last-minute replacement on the Canadian team, replacing Jason Burnett who pulled out with a foot injury.
"I didn't have any expectations because I didn't have time to get mentally prepared for the competition, so I came in just hoping to see what would happen and it worked out really well," Soehn said.
Sick and tired
Thibault, a Quebec City native and Soehn's roommate at the athletes village, had been third after the preliminaries before withdrawing.
"It's been a bit crazy, I was up all night listening to my roommate getting sick," Soehn said.
Canadian trampoline coach Dave Ross believed a flu bug had felled the gymnasts rather than something they'd eaten in the village.
"We were in Denmark for World Cup, then we had four days in Toronto for training camp and then straight here, plus on the plane here it was three different planes, airports, so you never know when you'll pick up a flu virus," he said. "It might have been at the village or it may have been before they arrived."
Can't get any better
Canada also won gold in the women's cycling team pursuit event. Calgary's Laura Brown and Stephanie Roorda and Jasmin Glaesser of Coquitlam, B.C., set a Canadian and Pan Am Games record with a time of three minutes 21.448 seconds to beat Cuba (3:25.335).
"I couldn't have asked for a better day. It was absolutely amazing," said Glaesser.
Added Roorda: "When I turned around and saw that time, it was almost better than winning the gold medal."
Canada added three bronze medals in rowing, a silver in shooting, a silver in rhythmic gymnastics' group competition, bronze in rhythmic gymnastics' individual clubs discipline, two bronze medals in badminton and a bronze in taekwondo.
The busy day increased Canada's medal total to 30 (six gold, seven silver, 17 bronze), which tied Brazil for second overall behind the Americans' dominant 63 medals.
Canadian pride
Steven van Knotsenburg of Beamsville, Ont., and Peter McClelland of Aurora, Ont., won bronze in the men's coxless pair event finished the final heat with a time of 6:50.80.
"We had a decent start and stayed in the pack," said McClelland. "I felt we did good work through the middle of the course. Steve [Van Knotsenburg] told me to go and I went for it.
"I'm proud of the result today."
Michael Gennaro and Robert Otto finished in 6:47.07 to add another gold for the United States, while Brazil (6:78.74) won silver.
"The crowd and atmosphere here at Guzman was great," said Van Knotsenburg. "I'm looking forward to racing tomorrow (in the men's eight)."
At the end of Monday's events, Canada sat fourth in the medal standings with 18 — ranking behind the U.S., Brazil and Mexico.
Earlier, Isolda Penney, a native of Kingston, Ont., finished with a time of 8:06.88 in women's single sculls. American Margot Shumway (7:53.05) took gold and Argentina's Maria Best (7:55.55) won silver.
"The competition here was good and I am very happy to be part of the Pan Am Games experience," said Penney.
Metal motivation
Later, Edmonton's Terry McKall and Travis King of Grimsby, Ont., won bronze in the men's rowing lightweight double sculls despite losing an oar during the race.
"It's great to be able to go home with some hardware and it's motivation to go back and train hard throughout the winter," said King.
Mexico's Alan Armenta and Gerardo Sanchez won gold in the event, while Cuba's Yunior Perez and Eyder Batista finished second.
Canada earned a silver in women's trap shooting when Lindsay Boddez of Stony Plain, Alta., finished with 86 points.
"I wanted to perform and today all just came together," said Boddez. "I'm quite happy, but this is only just one stepping stone. I have to remain focused and go back to training and do what I did before."
Miranda Wilder of the U.S. won gold with a Games record of 87 points, while teammate Kayle Deann Browning scored 85 points to win bronze.
Rhythmic gymnast Mariam Chamilova of Toronto won bronze in the individual clubs discipline with 24.525 points. Mexico's Cynthia Yazmin Valdez (25.775) took gold and Brazil's Angelica Kvieczynski (25.150) earned silver.
The rhythmic gymnastic team of Katrina Cameron of Mississauga, Ont., Kelsey Titmarsh of Thornhill, Ont., Alexandra Landry of Ajax, Ont., and Toronto natives Rose Cossar, Anastasiya Muntyanu and Anjelika Reznik won silver in the group competition (two hoops, three ribbons).
The team scored 24.650 to finish behind gold-medal winner Brazil (24.775). The U.S. (24.625) were third.
"Really excited"
"I'm really excited about our preparations for the Olympics. We have a lot to work on but, at the same time, I think it's just going to bring us closer together," Cossar said.
Added Landry: "We're looking at a lot of brutal hours in the gym, but we're definitely going to become more of a team."
In the men's 80 kilogram taekwondo event, Francois Coulombe of Quebec City added a bronze to Canada's medal total after losing 5-3 to eventual gold-medal winner Cuba's Robelis Despaigne in a semifinal.
Canada earned two bronze medals in badminton after a pair of losses in the semifinals.
Derrick Ng of Vancouver and Adrian Liu of Prince Rupert, B.C., finished third in men's doubles after a 2-0 loss to Americans Halim Ho and Sattawat Pongnairat.
In women's doubles, Grace Gao of Calgary and Joycelyn Ko of Toronto took bronze after losing 2-1 to Americans Iris Wang and Rena Wang.
Christine Sinclair of Burnaby, B.C., scored her sixth goal of the year as Canada's women's soccer team won their opening match 3-1 against Costa Rica.
It was Sinclair's 118th career goal, while Christina Julien of Williamstown, Ont., and Amelia Pietrangelo of Laval, Que., also scored for Canada.
"It was that determination to win the ball," said coach John Herdman of Sinclair's goal. "She just took it back in behind the back four and she finished."
The team got off to a shaky start when fullback Lauren Sesselmann fouled Raquel Rodriguez Cedeno, earning a penalty shot for Costa Rica. Shirley Cruz capitalized to put Costa Rica up 1-0 in the 28th minute.
But Julien replied for Canada only a minute later, and two second-half goals by Sinclair and Pietrangelo secured the win.
It was the first international goal for Pietrangelo, who came on as a substitute in the 67th minute before scoring 15 minutes later.