Primzahlen » dded with a layup, then a 3-p

CALGARY -- Kyle Shewfelts Olympic gold medal in gymnastics shines bright a decade later because it is the first and only of its kind in Canada. Unlike the Olympic champion who has a teammate or hero to follow or emulate, Shewfelt blazed his own trail to win the floor routine in 2004. He is the only Canadian to win an Olympic medal of any colour in gymnastics. The Calgarian is among the athletes, builders and coaches who will be inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in June. Hell join speedskater Cindy Klassen, the victorious mens eight rowing team of 2008, speedskating coach Marcel Lacroix, hockey coach Pat Quinn and the late, former Alberta premier Ralph Klein among the 2014 inductees. Sports journalist Richard Garneau, who covered 23 Olympic Games, will receive the Canadian Olympic Order posthumously. While Shewfelt agrees no Canadian beat a path to the podium for him, he didnt feel isolated in his quest. "Why did it happen for me? I wasnt by myself," Shewfelt said. "I had tons of supporters, amazing teammates, my national federation was so supportive of the dream. They sent me around the world when I was 17 to get that experience. I just never wavered in my belief that it was possible. "I watched the Russians, I watched the Americans, the Chinese and the Japanese and I imagined myself being just like them. I did have incredible Canadian ambassadors in sport, Jennifer Wood was my idol, Curtis Hibbert, Stella Umeh, these are people I really looked up to. "For myself, I wanted to take it to the next level and I guess it took a lot of courage for myself to do that, but it was something I was willing to risk. I knew as an athlete that when I ended by career, I wanted to look back and have no regrets. I had to chase the biggest dream possible." Shewfelt, 31, retired in 2009 after competing in three Olympic Games. He broke both legs in competition less than a year out from the 2008 Summer Games, yet finished ninth in the vault and 11th in the floor routine in Beijing. Shewfelt, who has a vault named after him, recently opened a gymnastics school in the city. The Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame was established in 1949. It is housed in the Frank King Olympic Visitors Centre at Calgarys Canada Olympic Park about a kilometre from Canadas Sports Hall of Fame. Previous inductees into the Olympic Hall of Fame include wrestler Daniel Igali, swimmer Mark Tewksbury, synchronized swimmer Caroline Waldo and sprinter Donovan Bailey. The class of 2014 was revealed Wednesday in downtown Calgary along with the announcement that the city will host a three-day celebration June 4-6 of Canadas performance at the Sochi Games. Shewfelt and Lacroix, who coached Christine Nesbitt and the mens pursuit team to Olympic gold in 2010, attended the news conference. Quinn and members of the mens eight participated in a conference call. Klein spearheaded Calgarys bid for the 1988 Winter Games when he was mayor of the city. Albertas premier from 1992 to 2006 died last year at the age of 70. Winnipegs Klassen won five medals, including one gold, at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee at the time, labelled her "the woman of the Games." With six career medals, she and Clara Hughes are Canadas most decorated Olympians of all time. Klassen, 34, did not compete in trials to qualify for Sochi because of a concussion. She has yet to announce her retirement from speedskating. Canada won the first mens hockey gold in 50 years in 2002 with Quinn behind the bench. Canadians were still stinging from finishing out of the medals four years earlier when NHL players first participated in the Winter Games. It didnt help that Canada got off to a rough start in Salt Lake City with a loss to Sweden. "In the first game, we had eight lousy minutes," Quinn recalled. "Everybody was down after the first loss to Sweden. By the time we reviewed the tape of the game, we knew that we werent that far off. Even though the score was ugly, the game wasnt ugly." The leadership of Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Joe Sakic and Joe Nieuwendyk steered the team through choppy waters and also got young players on the team to toe the line, Quinn said. "Our leadership took over and said this is the way were going to do it," Quinn said. "That was when we simply had a change in our mindset about what team means. We got these young guys paying attention through the process. "Thats what saved us in Salt Lake. Our goal was to get better shift by shift because we had no real practice time and thats where the coach needs his team to come together is through practice. We used the early games as a practice to get ready for the final round." The mens eight of coxswain Brian Price, Andrew Byrnes, Ben Rutledge, Dominic Seiterle, Kyle Hamilton, Malcolm Howard, Jake Wetzel, Adam Kreek and Kevin Light led the final from start to finish to win gold in Beijing. It was a tale of redemption after a heavily favoured Canadian crew finished out of the medals four years earlier. The Canadians dodged early pitfalls in Beijing. Primed and ready for their first heat, races were cancelled that day due to lightning. "Picture a bunch of racehorses or dogs at a race track and theyre all revved up to go and attack and they have all this energy and adrenaline built up," Kreek explained. "We were like these racehorses ready to run, these hunting dogs ready to pounce." With officials hustling boats off the course, Price used what little time they had to get hard rows in as they headed for the docks. "We didnt have to go back and sit on bikes or on the rowing machine and try to get some work in," Hamilton said. "We were able to manipulate the situation to make sure we got our work in and were ready to go. "Instead of just paddling back, Brian had already shifted us into the next day into the next race plan. That really kind of set us up for the next day, set us up for the regatta and told the young guys on the crew that we were ready to go, we knew what we were doing and we could handle every situation." They needed that composure the following day. Not 500 metres into their heat, the Australians blew a rudder and veered towards the Canadian boat. "Were seeing this Australian boat coming towards us and its going to pierce right through our hull," Kreek recalled. "The eight of us wont act unless Brian says something. Brian sees the Aussies coming at us and says take five strokes now. "All eight of us take the biggest strokes of our life. We barely missed the Aussie boat as it skidded right behind our stern." Lacroix coached Nesbitt and the mens pursuit team of Denny Morrison, Mathieu Giroux and Lucas Makowsky to gold at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. Now the associate director of sport at Calgarys Olympic Oval, Lacroix says Canadas sport system now recognizes and values the coachs contribution to an athletes performance. One example is the Canadian Olympic Committee now pays medal bonuses to coaches of Olympic medallists. "From the provincial level all the way to the national team and to the COC, there is a big push in terms of recognizing the profession of coaching," Lacroix said. "It has become a profession. Now with the bonuses that are given to the coaches for their effort, I think it is showing a lot of respect for that profession at all levels." 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The 28-year-old joins Scottish striker Kenny Miller and Argentine midfielder Matias Laba as designated players on the Whitecaps roster. Kyzir White Jersey . The future hall of famers stole the show at the Bell Centre on Tuesday night, with Jagr moving into seventh place in all-time goal scoring and Brodeur stopping 29 shots as the Devils downed the Montreal Canadiens 4-1. OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Portland Trail Blazers braced themselves for a late onslaught from Kevin Durant. They still failed to stop him. The 6-foot-9 forward scored 11 of his 46 points in the final 3:23 to help the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Trail Blazers 105-97 on Tuesday night. "When the basket is an ocean, you cant really do much about it," Portland guard Wesley Matthews said. "Hes been on a roll." Durant has scored at least 30 points for eight consecutive games, the longest such streak of his career. He made 17 of 25 field goals, including 6 of 7 3-pointers. "He did what hes been doing the last two weeks," Portland guard Damian Lillard said. "You look up, hes hitting 50 and 45 and 50 again and 40 and up. We knew coming in that hes been shooting the ball well." Reggie Jackson added 15 points for Oklahoma City (32-10), which took a one-game lead over Portland in the Northwest Division. Oklahoma City improved to 9-5 since point guard Russell Westbrook was taken out of the lineup after having surgery on his right knee. LaMarcus Aldridge had 29 points and 16 rebounds, but he went 1-for-8 from the field in the fourth quarter. Durant said Aldridges late struggles might have been a combination good defence by Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka and the Trail Blazers being worn out from their loss to Houston the night before. "Perk and Serge did a great job early on contesting LaMarcus jump shot, but hes a great player and he was knocking them down," Durant said. "In the fourth quarter, of course, after playing last night, hes a little tired. We forced him all the way out close to the 3-point line and made him shoot some tough ones and we were able to rebound and hit shots on the other end." Matthews added 21 points for Portland (31-11), which lost its last two games of a four-game road trip. "Pissed," Matthews said. "Were not happy. Last year we were happy coming off a road trip at .500. Were not that team any more. We didnt come out with the right energy and the right mentality against Houston and they were ready for us. We came out with the right mentality early in this game and KD had a hell of a fourth quarter, so its bitter." Oklahoma City held Lillard to 14 points, well below his average of 21.4 points per game. Portland led 93-90 when Durant was called for an offensive foul. Durant was unhappy after the call, and after Perkins was called for a foul, Durant, still frustrated, hit the scorers table and was issued a technical foul. Portland made two of the three free throws to go up by five. A fired-up Durant respondded with a layup, then a 3-pointer to tie the score with 2:52 remaining.dddddddddddd "It was really a stupid, stupid reaction by me," Durant said. "I could have hurt my team really badly. I was just more frustrated with myself, turning the ball over. I cant hurt my team like that. This time, it went in our direction. Next time, Ive got to be smarter." Durant seemed to reach another gear after the technical, though. He hit a 3 with 48 seconds left to give the Thunder a 102-95 lead, then another with 26.8 seconds remaining to ice the game. Portland led 48-40 late in the second quarter before Durant sparked a rally with a 3-pointer. The Thunder took the lead with 8.3 seconds left in the first half on a jumper by Thabo Sefolosha, but Lillard responded with a layup with 0.2 seconds left to give the Trail Blazers a 52-51 lead at the break. Portland shot 57 per cent in the first half. Durant scored 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting in the first half, but his teammates shot 13 for 38. Durants jumper early in the second half finally gave the Thunder the lead, but the Trail Blazers handled the surge. A 3-pointer by Nicolas Batum and a bucket from Aldridge gave Portland a 67-62 lead and caused Oklahoma City to call a timeout. The Trail Blazers extended their lead to 75-66, but again, the Thunder closed out a quarter strong. Oklahoma City held Portland scoreless for the last 2:35 of the period. Durant hit a 3-pointer to close the quarter and give the Thunder a 77-75 lead. Portland made just one field goal in the final 3:45. "Total team effort," Durant said. "We didnt get discouraged after they hit tough shots and we missed shots, and we got a good win." The Thunder play at San Antonio on Wednesday night with the top record in the Western Conference on the line. "We know how tough it is to win there," Durant said. "We know how tough that team is. Youve just got to come prepared and with a lot of energy. I think our group is ready to come out there and play our game, and well see what happens." NOTES: Thunder coach Scott Brooks said he plans to vote for Lillard as an All-Star. ... Batum had been playing with a broken left middle finger. He aggravated the injury to his non-shooting hand on Monday night against Houston, but played through it. ... Portland scored the first seven points of the game. ... Durant scored 15 in the first quarter. ... Portland shot 59 per cent in the first quarter to take a 27-21 lead. ... Aldridge became the first NBA player with at least 11 field goals and 12 rebounds in five straight games Antonio McDyess did it from Jan. 3-10, 2001. 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