Glebe Report

SPORTS
An Olympic dream that didn't quite come true
For every athlete who makes it
to the Olympics, there are many
more who do not. One who has
spent a great deal of time, energy
and money trying to qualify to
compete in the ultimate sporting
competition, the Olympic Games,
lives here in the Glebe. However,
these Winter Olympic Games in
Japan will not see her competing.
It has been a long, hard road, and
not making it after such time and
effort is not without its
disappointments.
Joanne Thomson, 24, a resident
of the Glebe, is one of the many
athletes who has worked hard to
compete for Canada at the Olympic
Games. Her sport, biathlon, is the
vigorous combination of cross
country skiing and rifle shooting.
In November, Joanne was among
the top seven Canadian women
competing for the remaining three
spots on the Canadian Olympic
biathlon team. The competition
was strong and very, very close,
but unfortunately for Joanne, she
was not one of the three selected.
Myriam Bedard had already
secured the other position with
her double gold medal
performances at the 1994
Olympics.
Joanne grew up with cross
country ski racing in Ottawa. She
learned to ski and race with
Nakkertok Ski Club.
first ski race was around the St.
James Tennis Club snow-covered
courts during the Glebe Winter
Carnival in the late 1970s! But it
was in 1988, while in Grade 9 at
Glebe Collegiate, that she earned a
place on the Ontario team for the
Canadian Junior Cross Country Ski
Championships in British
Columbia. On her way there she
had the fOrtunate experience to be
able to stop off at the 1988 Winter
In fact, her
Olympics in Calgary. After
watching a couple of biathlon
races there, Joanne came away
with a strong desire to try
biathlon. Through the Biathlon
Ontario organization she obtained
a special biathlon rifle and
started competing in biathlon
events throughout the province.
TRAINED IN SKIING
AND SHOOTING
Her years as a junior biathlete
were both successful and exciting.
She had her share of second and
third place finishes, but also a
great number of first place finishes.
Each race taught her another
lesson that became part of her
repertoire
of experiences.
Throughout the spring, summer and
fall, Joanne could be found every
Saturday and Sunday roller skiing
in the Gatineau Park. After that
she would head to the shooting
Joanne Thomson
range at Camp Fortune to spend
another couple of hours
painstakingly shooting at targets,
practising her routines, firing
hundreds of rounds of .22 calibre
ammunition at paper and metal
targets, learning how to hold her
rifle steady with her heart racing
from the high intensity of cross
country skiing. As her skiing and
shooting proficiencies improved,
she competed in such places as:
Lake Placid for summer run &
shoot biathlon competitions; Prince
Edward Island on the Ontario team
for the Canada Winter Games in
1991; Finland on a Polar Cup competition;
the Czech Republic, Slovakia
and Germany with the
Canadian team for World Junior
Biathlon Championships; and numerous
places in Western Canada.
As the Canadian Junior Woman
champion, she did this while attending,
full time, Glebe Collegiate
and then Queen's University.
Joanne shared her enthusiasm for
the nordic sports by coaching the
cross country ski teams at both
Glebe and Queen's, and in 1996,
when she was too old to compete in
the Canada Games, she coached the
Ontario Biathlon Team.
TRAINED FULL TIME
IN CANMORE
In the spring of 1996, after completing
the first three years of a
dual BSc and BPHE degree programme,
Joanne began a two-year
stint of full-time training, primarily
at the Nordic Centre in
Canmore, Alberta. She trained every
day, flrst spending a couple bf
hours on the shooting range, then
a couple of hours running, roller
skiing or other high intensity
physical activity, then returning
in the afternoon to do more for a
couple of hours. She continued
her education through distance
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education courses. It was tough,
but she never turned away from
the challenge. She remained focused
on her goal of competing in
the Olympic Games.
Last fall, there was a final
attempt to make the Canadian
team. Team trials were in Norway,
north of Lillehammer. There, she
came within a hair of making the
team. Close, but not quite! It was
not to be, this time. However,
Joanne realized that this was not
the last opportunity to reach her
Olympic dream.
There will be
others, and she will only become
stronger as she gets older.
So now, instead of being in Japan
this winter, she has temporarily
changed her priorities and life
direction. She is back at school,
taking some final courses so that
she can graduate this year, then
move on to begin a career of her
choice. Who knows? She might be
back on the training circuit again
in a couple of years, to try to make
the Olympic Biathlon team for the
Skating, continued from p. 1.
Dudleigh Coyle's platoon of 28
dads plus four teen supervisors
had the ice ready Dec. 28. This
volunteer neighbourhood group
invests the city's contract proceeds
back into the community,
hiring local high school students
to supervise part of the time.
Inez Kettles of Glendale Ave. says
it's so well organized that people
are happy to volunteer for two
nights a season. There's a great
sense of community spirit as the
Glebe Report February 6,1998 1 4
2002 Games in Salt Lake City.
This year she will cheer fro m
Calgary as her close friends and
teammates compete in Nagano.
Has this experience been a waste
of time? Not in the least! Joanne
has acquired superb time management
skills that she can use
throughout her whole life. Her
visits to Europe, Scandinavia and
all the provinces of Canada have
enriched her knowledge of the
world. She has learned how to
promote herself to others, to get
along with others - especially her
competitors - learned how to
handle unsuccessful aspects of
her life and to refocus and
redirect herself when certain
avenues come to an end or are
temporarily blocked. These are
life skills that only come when
one has savoured both success and
some failure. Joanne has an
excellent outlook on life, and
sport will always be a part of it.
Everyone in the Glebe will be
watching her with pride.
En th usiastic hockey players from Mutchmor rink win awards.
Dr. Joan A. Craig
Dr. Robert W. Crook
GENERAL FAMILY DENTISTRY
residents shovel snow and flood
the ice together.
MEMORIAL RINK PARTY FEB. 22
The annual rink party, planned
for Feb. 22, brings the neighbourhood
together for a day of fun
on the ice. Dudleigh hopes to keep
the rink going into March, if possible,
well past the Feb. 28 date
required by the city agreement.
All agree, these rinks are an
important part of our community.
Fiffh Avenue Court
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Ministers Award for
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