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LONDON—One suffered a broken pelvis during a race in November, the second only became a Canadian citizen last year and the third, the indomitable leader of the group, is competing while taking a break from her studies as a PhD candidate in neuroscience.
With a cheerleading, flag-waving Paul McCartney in the crowd evoking memories of the Fab Four, Canada got a huge performance from its cycling Fab Three on Saturday.
It takes more than one element to make bronze and together, a very diverse group of Canadian woman melded together, stronger than the sum of their parts, for a nearly perfect race in the velodrome. Pumping hard and patiently lap after lap, the underdog Canadians ignored the fact that their Australian opponents were more seasoned and faster out of the gate to gut out a win in the 12-lap bronze medal showdown. The Canadians won the 3,000-metre race by less than two-tenths of a second.
“The last three laps I was seeing stars. I probably had my eyes closed half the time,” said Gillian Carleton of Victoria, who spent more a month unable to walk just before Christmas thinking bones broken in a crash during a race in Kazakhstan had ended her Olympic dreams.
But she’s gone from seeing stars to being a star, standing on the podium with teammates Jasmin Glaesser and Tara Whitten, all beaming widely as Canadian and one-time IOC vice-president Dick Pound slipped those bronze medals around their necks.
On a day when Canada hit for the Olympic cycle — picking up a gold, silver and bronze — cycling was a hit for Canada. It is Canada’s first cycling medal since Lori-Anne Muenzer won gold at Athens in 2004.
“This is just amazing,” shouted the German-born Glaesser, standing on the infield of the velodrome, the crowd revved up by Sir Paul and some tremendous results for Britain created a deafening din. Glaesser moved to Canada when she was 8 but had to wait until she was 18 to became a Canadian. Wearing the red maple leaf in competition became her dream
“I’ve lived in Canada for the last 10 years. I love the country. I love the people and I love being part of that. I’ve wanted to represent that for such a long time,” said the Coquitlam, B.C., resident who just turned 20. “We’re just ready to share the moment with the rest of Team Canada. We watched some other amazing athletes from Canada get some medals this week. We’re able to join them and hopefully inspire some other Canadian performances. I think that will be the most special part of it.”
Whitten, the 32-year-old neuroscience student, was not available for interviews after the win, her coach — one-time world champion sprinter Tanya Dubnicoff — said the priority was her to get a proper warm down in preparation for her omnium event on Monday and Tuesday. But in a tape circulated by the Canadian cycling press attaché, not surprisingly Whitten took an analytical approach saying the team made a conscious effort to use the noise in the velodrome to their advantage.
“We really made a decision to use the energy of the crowd because it was so loud,” she said. “You can let it distract you or you can feed off that energy. We were prepared for the noise. We were really fighting. It’s an amazing feeling to have done it.”
The day didn’t necessarily start like it was going to unfold in an amazing way. Facing the powerhouse Brits in a race to get into the gold medal final, the Canadians were crushed by about three seconds, despite setting a national record. Their time was also slower than what the Aussies had posted in losing to the Americans in their last race.
So, they gathered together — as they do before each race— and talked themselves into believing they had a chance.
“We stand together before the race and we tell each other we can do it,” said Carleton.
Dubnicoff then went over the game plan. Ignore the Australians for the first six laps, don’t worry that they like to come out fast, and then drive hard for the final six loops around the 250-metre track.
Then she looked each girl in the eye and asked the same question: “Are you ready?”
The answer showed on the scoreboard at the end.
“We knew it would be a dog fight, so we pulled the jerseys over our heads and we started fighting and of course Canadians are always going to come up on top,” said Dubnicoff, channeling her inner Don Cherry. “We knew after six laps, that was our race. So it was just lap, after lap, patiently waiting, patient, patient, stay on the gas and I knew we would survive in the end.”
Canada, indeed, trailed after 1,000 metres by about two tenths of a second. At 2,000 metres it was a virtual dead heat. Then the Canucks, stars in their eyes, survived.
The bronze augers well for Canadian cycling. While it is uncertain whether Whitten will train with an eye towards 2016 or return full time to her studies, Glaessar and Carleton, who is 22, are both young. Laura Brown, the team’s substitute here, is only 25 and a very strong rider.
For Carleton, the future might be especially bright. She just started track racing last year and it was at her first international event that she broke her pelvis and lost more than a month of training.
“Even just being here today was a total bonus,” she said giving credit to the Canadian medical and support staff. “After breaking my pelvis I didn’t think I was going to be on a bike as soon as I was. I was able to enter rehab quickly and get into a test event in February. This is a win for everybody in the program. (The medal) just doesn’t seem real.”
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With a cheerleading, flag-waving Paul McCartney in the crowd evoking memories of the Fab Four, Canada got a huge performance from its cycling Fab Three on Saturday.
It takes more than one element to make bronze and together, a very diverse group of Canadian woman melded together, stronger than the sum of their parts, for a nearly perfect race in the velodrome. Pumping hard and patiently lap after lap, the underdog Canadians ignored the fact that their Australian opponents were more seasoned and faster out of the gate to gut out a win in the 12-lap bronze medal showdown. The Canadians won the 3,000-metre race by less than two-tenths of a second.
“The last three laps I was seeing stars. I probably had my eyes closed half the time,” said Gillian Carleton of Victoria, who spent more a month unable to walk just before Christmas thinking bones broken in a crash during a race in Kazakhstan had ended her Olympic dreams.
But she’s gone from seeing stars to being a star, standing on the podium with teammates Jasmin Glaesser and Tara Whitten, all beaming widely as Canadian and one-time IOC vice-president Dick Pound slipped those bronze medals around their necks.
On a day when Canada hit for the Olympic cycle — picking up a gold, silver and bronze — cycling was a hit for Canada. It is Canada’s first cycling medal since Lori-Anne Muenzer won gold at Athens in 2004.
“This is just amazing,” shouted the German-born Glaesser, standing on the infield of the velodrome, the crowd revved up by Sir Paul and some tremendous results for Britain created a deafening din. Glaesser moved to Canada when she was 8 but had to wait until she was 18 to became a Canadian. Wearing the red maple leaf in competition became her dream
“I’ve lived in Canada for the last 10 years. I love the country. I love the people and I love being part of that. I’ve wanted to represent that for such a long time,” said the Coquitlam, B.C., resident who just turned 20. “We’re just ready to share the moment with the rest of Team Canada. We watched some other amazing athletes from Canada get some medals this week. We’re able to join them and hopefully inspire some other Canadian performances. I think that will be the most special part of it.”
Whitten, the 32-year-old neuroscience student, was not available for interviews after the win, her coach — one-time world champion sprinter Tanya Dubnicoff — said the priority was her to get a proper warm down in preparation for her omnium event on Monday and Tuesday. But in a tape circulated by the Canadian cycling press attaché, not surprisingly Whitten took an analytical approach saying the team made a conscious effort to use the noise in the velodrome to their advantage.
“We really made a decision to use the energy of the crowd because it was so loud,” she said. “You can let it distract you or you can feed off that energy. We were prepared for the noise. We were really fighting. It’s an amazing feeling to have done it.”
The day didn’t necessarily start like it was going to unfold in an amazing way. Facing the powerhouse Brits in a race to get into the gold medal final, the Canadians were crushed by about three seconds, despite setting a national record. Their time was also slower than what the Aussies had posted in losing to the Americans in their last race.
So, they gathered together — as they do before each race— and talked themselves into believing they had a chance.
“We stand together before the race and we tell each other we can do it,” said Carleton.
Dubnicoff then went over the game plan. Ignore the Australians for the first six laps, don’t worry that they like to come out fast, and then drive hard for the final six loops around the 250-metre track.
Then she looked each girl in the eye and asked the same question: “Are you ready?”
The answer showed on the scoreboard at the end.
“We knew it would be a dog fight, so we pulled the jerseys over our heads and we started fighting and of course Canadians are always going to come up on top,” said Dubnicoff, channeling her inner Don Cherry. “We knew after six laps, that was our race. So it was just lap, after lap, patiently waiting, patient, patient, stay on the gas and I knew we would survive in the end.”
Canada, indeed, trailed after 1,000 metres by about two tenths of a second. At 2,000 metres it was a virtual dead heat. Then the Canucks, stars in their eyes, survived.
The bronze augers well for Canadian cycling. While it is uncertain whether Whitten will train with an eye towards 2016 or return full time to her studies, Glaessar and Carleton, who is 22, are both young. Laura Brown, the team’s substitute here, is only 25 and a very strong rider.
For Carleton, the future might be especially bright. She just started track racing last year and it was at her first international event that she broke her pelvis and lost more than a month of training.
“Even just being here today was a total bonus,” she said giving credit to the Canadian medical and support staff. “After breaking my pelvis I didn’t think I was going to be on a bike as soon as I was. I was able to enter rehab quickly and get into a test event in February. This is a win for everybody in the program. (The medal) just doesn’t seem real.”
MORE
Cyclist Tara Whitten expects medal in omnium
Canadian cyclists hope to burn rubber at steamy Olympic velodromeE
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