2012 Olympic's Track and Field: Canadian Recap

Sunday Saw London 2012 Draw to a Close

This past Sunday, August the 12^th, marked the close of the XXX Olympiad, more commonly known as London 2012. As is tradition, the final event contested at the Olympics was the Men’s Marathon paying tribute to Pheidippides’ quest from the ancient Greek city of Marathon to Athens. This event featured 3 Canadians who finished with remarkable placing’s. In today’s post, Weekend Warriors recaps the Canadian Men’s and Women’s Track and Field team and how we fared in London 2012.

100m Dash

In the women’s 100m dash Kerri-Ann Mitchell ran for Canada and posted a time of 11.49 seconds to finish 6^th place in the first race of the quarter final rounds. Mitchell’s time was not good enough to advance her to the semi finals. The men’s 100m heats saw Canadian Justyn Warner post a personal best clocking of 10.09 seconds, good enough for 3^rd place in his heat and a spot in the semi finals where he would line up alongside eventual Silver medalist Yohan Blake. Warner equaled his personal best in the semi final, but finished 5^th in his heat and did not advance to the finals.

200m Dash

In the women’s 200, Crystal Emmanuel ran for Canada and finished her quarterfinal heat with a time of 23.10, good enough to grab her the last time qualifying spot and advance her to the semi finals. Her 23.10 was a season best time.  Unfortunately Emmanuel was not able to advance to the finals and posted a time of 23.28 seconds which earned her 7^th place in her semi final. In the men’s 200m, Canada was represented by a trio of sprinters in Aaron Brown, Jarred Connaughton, and Tremaine Harris. Brown and Connaughton advanced through the heats to the semi finals running 20.55 and 20.72 respectively. Harris ran 20.70 for 5^th in his heat but did not advance. Both Connaughton and Brown were stymied in their semi final races. Connaughton ran 20.64 for 7^th in his semi final, and Brown ran a personal best of 20.42 for 4^th in his heat, only .05 seconds shy of a time qualifying spot.

400m Dash

Jenna Martin ran for Canada in the 400m dash and advanced from the heats to the semi finals with a time of 51.98 seconds, good enough for 3^rd in her heat and an automatic qualifying spot. Martin came short of qualifying for the final by running 52.83 seconds and finishing 7^th in her semi final race. In the men’s 400m dash Daundre Barnaby ran in the first heat and crossed the finish line in 46.04 seconds, a time not swift enough to qualify for the semi finals.

800m Run

Canada had two representatives on the women’s side in the 800m run.  Jessica Smith ran first in the 3^rd heat and finished 2^nd with a time of 2:07.75 and automatically qualified for the semi finals where she would run 2:01.90 for 7^th in her race, which was not enough to advance her to the finals. Melissa Bishop also represented Canada and finished in 6^th place in her heat with a time of 2:09.33, not enough to make it to the semi finals. Geoff Harris ran for Canada on the men’s side and claimed 2^nd place in his heat with a personal best time of 1:45.97 to advance to the semi finals. In the semis, Harris would run 1:46.14 and come just short of advancing to the finals.

1500m Run

Canada’s Hillary Stellingwerf and Nicole Sifuentes would both advance to the semi finals of their event with times of 4:05.79 and 4:07.65 respectively. Neither advanced to the final of the event, but both bettered their times from the heats with clockings of 4:05.57 for Stellingwerf and 4:06.33 for Sifuentes. Nathan Brannen ran for the men’s team and advanced from the heats to the semi final by finishing 5^th in his heat with a time of 3:39.95. A favourite to make the final, Brannen suffered heartbreak when his Achilles was stepped on in the semi and he went down, leaving him well back of the pack. Even though he fell, Brannen was still able to run 3:39.26 seconds for 12^th in his semi. Brannen was looking to chase a podium spot in what may have been his last Olympics.

Brannen's Calf/Achilles

5000m Run

Canada’s lone representative on either side in the 5000m made history. Cam Levins, days after an 11^th place finish in the 10 000, ran a personal best of 13:18.29 seconds, good enough to qualify him for the final. Levins became the first Canadian in 100 years to make the final in the 5000m. Unfortunately a cold that Levins acquired after the heats compromised his lungs and over the final two laps of the final he faded to 14^th place in 13:51.87.

10 000m Run

As was previously mentioned, Cam Levins finished 11^th place in the 10 000 while wearing the red and white (and black) of Canada. His time of 27:40.68 was only 10 seconds back of Great Britain’s Mo Farah. Canada was also represented by 21 year old Mohammed Ahmed who finished 18^th in 28:13.91. The Canadian women did not have a representative in the 10 000.

4x100m Relay

Canada’s only relay representative of the London Olympics experienced the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows. The relay quartet of Gavin Smellie, Seyi Smith, Jarred Connaughton and Justyn Warner finished 2^nd in their semi final and posted the 3^rd fastest qualifying time of 38.05 seconds to qualify for the final. In the final of the event, all of Canada cheered when Justyn Warner ran from 5^th place to 3^rd place in the final 100m of the relay, earning Canada what seemed to be a bronze medal. However after video review, it was determined that Connaughton ran on the line and thus Canada was disqualified and the Bronze medal was awarded to Trinidad and Tobago. However, as you can see in the photo below, Trinidad’s anchor leg, Richard Thompson, also stepped on the line, which should have resulted in a disqualification.

Richard Thompson (TRI) Also Steps on the Lane Line

100m Hurdles

Both Phyllicia George and Jessica Zelinka advanced to the finals of the 100m hurdles where they finished 6^th and 7^th respectively. George equaled her personal best with a run of 12.65 seconds in the final. Canada was also represented by Nikita Holder who advanced to the semi finals but bowed out after a clocking of 12.93 seconds earned her 6^th place in her semi final. Canada did not have a male entrant in the 110m hurdles.

400m Hurdles

Sarah Wells ran for Canada in the 400m hurdles and after a clocking 56.47 seconds in the heats, she advanced to the semi finals. Wells was unable to advance to the finals and finished 8^th in her semi final with a time of 56.71 seconds.

3000m Steeplechase

Canadian Alex Genest ran in the 3^rd heat of the 3000 steeplechase and posted a time of 8:22.62 seconds, good enough for a season’s best and 7^th place in his heat, but not enough to advance him to the final.

Heptathlon/Decathlon

Canada had very strong performances in both the Heptathlon and Decathlon where we had 2 representatives on the women’s side and 1 on the men’s side. Canada’s Jessica Zelinka finished 7^th in the Heptathlon with a total of 6480 points. First time Olympian Brianne Thiesen posted an 11^th place finish for Canada with 6383 points. It should be noted that Thiesen’s fiancé, Ashton Eaton, won gold in the Decathlon for the United States and is the current Decathlon World Record holder. Hello amazing gene pool. In the Decathlon Canada was treated to one of the most surprising and heart warming performances of the Games. 22 year old Damian Warner of London, Ontario came out of relative obscurity to place 5^th in the Decathlon with 8442 points, just 81 points off of the medal stand. Warner will be a definite medal contender in Rio in 2016.

High Jump

Canada’s new Golden (well Bronze) Boy, Derek Drouin surprised most of the country by an amazing 3^rd place finish in the High Jump, and Canada’s only medal of the Athletics competition. Drouin finished in a 3 way tie for Bronze after successfully clearing 2.29m and exiting the competition at 2.33m. Michael Mason also jumped for Canada and cleared 2.29m as well, but finished in 8^th place due to misses at the previous heights.

Derek Drouin and His High Jump Bronze

Javelin Throw

In the women’s Javelin, Canadian Elizabeth Gleadle advanced to the final of the competition where she finished in 12^th place with a throw of 58.78m. On the men’s side, Canada’s entry Curtis Moss finished 13^th in his qualification flight with a toss of 78.22m, well short of qualifying for the final.

Discus Throw

Canada did not have an entrant in either women’s or men’s discus.

Shot Put

Julie Labonte of Canada heaved the shot 17.47m in the qualification flight of the Women’s Shot Put, but would not advance to the final due to her 10^th place finish in the preliminaries. On the men’s side, medal favourite Dylan Armstrong easily qualified for the final where he unfortunately fell short of reaching the podium and finished 5^th with a throw of 20.93m. Justin Rodhe also competed for Canada, but did not advance past the qualifying rounds after failing to post a legal throw.

Hammer Throw

Sultana Frizell and Heather Steacy represented Canada in the women’s Hammer Throw but neither advanced past the qualification rounds, posting throws of 67.45m and 63.40m for 14^th and 17^th places, respectively. On the men’s side, James Steacy competed for Canada but did not register a legal throw in qualification.

20km Race Walk
Canadian Rachel Seaman finished 52nd in the 20km women's event with a time of 1:37:36. Canada's entrant in the men's event, Inaki Gomez set a Canadian Record in the men's 20km race with a time of 1:20:58.

Marathon

Canada only had 3 entrants in the Marathon and all were on the men’s side. The Canadian trio ran a conservative, team race and were bunched up at the finish line, led by Dylan Wykes’ 20^th place finish in 2:15:26 seconds. Eric Gillis crossed the line next in 22^nd place with a time of 2:16:00 and was followed by Reid Coolsaet in 27^th place with a time of 2:16:29.

This is the final installment of Weekend Warrior’s look at the 2012 London Olympics’ Athletics Programme. With the hockey season nearing and CBA talks heating up, as well as the PGA Tour’s Fed Ex Cup Playoffs and the Ryder Cup looming just around the corner, we will be returning to golf and hockey posts within the next week.