September 24, 2004

Karen Brain wins second bronze medal in dressage at Paralympic Games

ATHENS - Karen Brain of London, Ont., wins second bronze medal in dressage at Paralympic Games

Karen Brain of London, Ont., notched a second bronze medal finishing third in the freestyle dressage on Friday while Canada reached the final in wheelchair rugby at the 2004 Paralympic Games.

“I was really hoping for a medal of a different colour,” said Brain, a former member of Canada’s able bodied equestrian team. “I wish I could have scored higher. The freestyle is an opportunity to ride higher level movements, so I put in as much difficulty as I could. All in all it was a very good ride.”

Cathrin Ann Lubbe of Norway won the gold medal with a 79.318 score, Philippe Johnson of South Africa was second at 78.273 and Brain followed at 77.227 riding aboard Dasskara a 12-year-old German-bred mare.

Brain goes for a third medal in the team event on Sunday.

Wheelchair rugby

In the semifinal, Canada defeated the defending champion Americans 24-20 to advance to the gold medal game. Ian Chan of Winnipeg scored 12 goals to lead the Canadians while Patrice Simard of Quebec City added five and David Willsie of Belmont, Ont., three. The score was tied 12-12 at the half.

“We’d been waiting for this game a long time,” said Canadian player Allan Chartrand of Edmonton. “We wanted to make the sure the U.S., didn’t get the gold. We were fired up and did the job. As usual it was tight game all the way through but we expected that, it’s the Paralympics. We’re the world champions and everyone is out to get us.”

Wheelchair basketball

Canada men’s team continued to impress at the Games this time hammering Britain 63-45 to complete the round robin with a perfect 5-0 record. The Canadians, the defending champions, had won their previous four games by at least 20 points.

On Friday, Patrick Anderson of Fergus, Ont., scored 24 points and added 14rebounds while Jaimie Borisoff of Vancouver added nine points and Richard Peter of Vancouver eight. The Canadians started slowly and led 32-29 at the half. Canada faces Japan in a quarterfinal on Saturday.

‘We felt a little bit relaxed in the game,” said Anderson. “Great Britain is a very good team and they wanted to prove it to us. We have to remember every time we play, that all the teams will give their best in order to beat us. The expectations are high. Four years ago everybody waited to see us take the gold medal. Now the same thing is happening. We feel the pressure but we’re confident.”

Goalball

Canada’s women’s goalball left no doubt they’ll be hard to dethrone as Paralympic champions completing the round robin at 7-0 with 8-0 and 3-1 wins over Greece and Finland respectively. The Canadians have allowed only two goals so far and advance to the semifinals on Saturday.

Amy Alsop of Saskatoon and Nancy Morin of Longueuil, Que., scored three times each against the Greeks with singles to Contessa Scott of Clyde River, PEI and Annette Lisabeth of London, Ont. Morin, Alsop and Kelley Hannett of Calgary scored against Finland.

"We had a tough start against Finland,” said Alsop. “In the second half, though, we improved our performance. We have a very good team, a good coach and our goal is to win the gold medal.”

Boccia

In boccia, a sport similar to lawn bowls for athletes with cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury or stroke, Paul Gauthier of Vancouver, Alison Kabush of Surrey, B.C., and Tammy McLeod of London, Ont., all advanced the playoff rounds.

In the BC3 category. Gauthier, a bronze medallist in 2000, won his two matches on Friday including a 5-3 thriller over Greig Jackson of New Zealand in overtime. Kabush also won twice to advance. The two Canadians, who are pairs partners on the international circuit, face each other in the first playoff match-up. Gauthier won his pool with a 2-1 record while Kabush was second in her group at 2-1.

“I knew I needed those two wins to advance and I felt a ton of pressure,” said Gauthier, an 11-year national team veteran. “But I’m getting better and better with every match and getting use to the floor here.”

In the BC2 category McLeod also finished 2-1 with a 3-2 win over Alf Reidar Olsen of Norway. Francois Bourbonniere of Tracy, Que., lost his match.

In BC1, David Van Hoek of Cranbrook, B.C., won one and lost one, while Mirane Lanoix-Boyer of Gatineau lost both her matches. In BC4, Josh Vander Vies of Sarnia, Ont., was 1-1 while Daniel Gauthier of Sorel, Que., lost twice.

In the medal standings after eight days, Canada continues to climb the medal standings with 40 medals (15 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze) for sixth spot. China leads with 93 medals.

What Canada did:

BOCCIA

BC1 (preliminaries): David Van Hoek, Cranbrook, B.C., def. Susie Robinson, Britain, 7-5; Henrik Jorgen Jorgensen, Denmark def. Mirane Lanoix-Boyer, Gatineau, Que., 14-0; Liam Sanders, New Zealand, def. Van Hoek 6-2; Harald Groszmayer, Austria def., Lanoix-Boyer, 8-0.

BC2 (preliminaries): Tammy McLeod of London, Ont., def. Alf Reidar Olsen, Norway, 3-2; John Loung, Hong Kong def. Francois Bourbonniere, Tracy, Que., 13-0.

BC3 (preliminaries): Alison Kabush, Surrey, B.C., def. Gerry O’Grady, Ireland, 6-4; Kabush def. Radovan Krenek, Czech Republic, 9-0; Paul Gauthier, Vancouver def. Greig Jackson, New Zealand, 5-3; Gauthier def. Seong Hyeon Park, South Korea 6-3.

BC4 (preliminaries): Yuk Wing Leung, Hong Kong, def. Daniel Gauthier, Sorel, Que., 16-0; Emmanouil Mourtos, Greece def. Josh Vander Vies, Sarnia, Ont., 4-3; Yan Chi Lau, Hong Kong def., Gauthier 12-0; Vander Vies def. Fernando de Oliveira Pereira, Portugal 7-3.

EQUESTRIAN

Freestyle dressage grade 2 : 6. Lauren Barwick, Aldergrove, B.C., 73.056; 16. Dax Adam, Scarborough, Ont., 64.556.

Freestyle dressage grade 4: 3. Karen Brain, London, Ont., 77.227.

GOALBALL

Round robin: Canada 8- Greece 0; Canada 3-Finland 1. Canada ends round robin 7-0, first in pool, advances to semifinal.

SWIMMING

S8 400 freestyle: 8. Andrea Cole, Thunder Bay, Ont., 5:44.29.

S9 400 freestyle: 2. Stephanie Dixon, Victoria, 4:46.57; 5. Darda Geiger, Sarnia, Ont., 5:09.54.

S11 100 freestyle: 6. Jessica Tuomela, Waterloo, Ont., 1:15.43.

S13 200 individual medley: 1. Kirby Cote, Winnipeg, 2:31.20; 3. Chelsey Gotell, Antigonish, N.S., 2:34.97; 5. Rhea Schmidt, Winnipeg, 2:42.62.

TRACK AND FIELD

T52 400: 1. Lisa Franks, Saskatoon, 1:09.52 (world record); 8. Teri Thorson, Victoria, 1:25.62.

T54 1,500: 1. Chantal Petitclerc, Montreal, 3:26.89 world record; 3. Diane Roy, Hatley, Que., 3:38.62.

reprinted with permission