CANADIAN PRESS
BEIJING — Canada added two more medals to its increasingly impressive haul at the Beijing Olympics on a day when who didn’t reach the podium was as notable as who did.
Karine Sergerie won silver in women’s taekwondo while Thomas Hall claimed bronze in the C1 1,000-metre canoe race, but the talk Friday among Canadians was flag-bearer Adam van Koeverden, who finished a shocking eighth out of nine kayakers in the K1 1,000 metres.
Considered one of the country’s surest bets at these Games, the native of Oakville, Ont., had an off-day at the wrong time, fading badly in the final 100 metres after putting himself in position to challenge for the gold.
His time of three minutes 31.793 seconds was well back of the 3:26.323 posted by gold medallist Tim Brabants of Britain.
"There’s not much to say," said van Koeverden, who seemed completely shocked by the result. "I planned on sitting behind Tim, just off his shoulder and using his pace and then popping him at the end.
"He had a very strong pickup at the 500 and I countered it, went with him a little while and then people just started blowing past me and I couldn’t handle it. I’m extremely disappointed."
Despite that disappointing result, Canada is now up to 17 medals — three gold, eight silver, six bronze — for the country’s fourth highest total ever at the Summer Games.
The team is poised to surpass the 18 medals claimed at the 1992 Barcelona Games, though the 22 medals won at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics may be out of reach.
Sergerie and Hall did their part to keep pushing Canada up the medal standings after a slow start in China.
Sergerie, from Sainte-Catherine, Que., lost the 67-kilogram class final 2-1 to Hwang Kyungseon of South Korea, picking up silver in Canada’s top finish ever in the sport at the Olympics.
"Disappointed, very disappointed," said Sergerie. "It was really, close, I mean it was right there.
"In the end, I think I lacked a bit of energy and endurance mostly."
The 23-year-old was left off the 2004 Olympic team. She’d won a silver medal at the world championship, but the Taekwondo Federation of Canada required her to win gold at the Pan American Games, where she was third.
En route to the Olympic final, Sergerie defeated Asuncsion Ocasio Rodriguez of Puerto Rico 2-0 in the semifinal, downed Vanina Paola Sanchez Beron of Argentina 3-0 in the quarter-final and opened with a judges’ decision victory over Tina Morgan of Australia.
Hall, a 26-year-old from Pointe-Claire, Que., pulled off an impressive comeback to win his medal, reeling in Vadim Menkov of Uzbekistan in the final 200 metres for third.
Hall was among the leaders most of the way before making his move, ending up about half a second ahead of Menkov in a time of 3:53.653.
"I knew with about 100 (metres) left I was going to pass him," Hall said. "I couldn’t really feel anything. It was there but it was not there. I knew my body was not happy but mentally I knew I had enough to hammer through to the end."
Attila Sandor Vajda of Hungary won gold in 3:50.467. David Cal of Spain, who won gold four years ago in Athens, took silver in 3:52.751.
"It feels pretty wild," Hall said. "It’s a bit surreal. It was an awesome race for me. I went out and raced like I know I can and like my coach told me to. It really panned out. It was a great one, really good."
It was a different story for van Koeverden.
He won bronze in the 1,000 metres four years ago in Athens to go with gold in the K1 500, his best event. He’ll go into Saturday’s 500 as the defending Olympic champion and will need to brush off Friday’s disappointment to make it happen.
Hall, who only learned of van Koeverden’s poor result after earning his bronze, has no doubt that he will.
"I think anyone who’s met Adam knows he’s an awesome ambassador for our nation," said Hall. "He’s intelligent, well-spoken and a phenomenal athlete who’s a hero to children and adults all over the country. I think his result is still phenomenal and I think he’ll be ready to race (Saturday) without a doubt."
Earlier, Sam Cools crashed and didn’t finish in the women’s BMX final.
The Airdrie, Alta., native smacked into the dirt about five seconds into the race. The tumble followed a mid-air collision with Argentina’s Gabriela Diaz between the second and third jumps in the first-ever Olympic BMX final.
"I’m alive, I can, walk, that’s all the matters," said the 22-year-old. "It was frustrating when I was dusting myself off but really, I was there.
"I learned a lot and experienced so much for my first Olympics. I will take that onto the next one."
In other results Friday:
— The Canadian men’s 4×100-metre relay team asserted itself well, finishing sixth in the final. The team of Hank Palmer of Pierrefonds, Que., Anson Henry of Pickering, Ont., Jared Connaughton of New Haven, P.E.I., and Pierre Browne of Toronto, raced to a time of 38.66 seconds.
— Edmonton’s Tim Berrett, making his fifth Olympic appearance, raced to 38th place in the men’s 50-kilometre race walk.
He crossed the finish line in four hours eight minutes 18 seconds, his legs almost buckling as he limped off the track.
"Everything (hurts), I’m just totally, absolutely drained," Berrett said.
— Canada defeated China 8-7 to finish 11th in men’s water polo.
"It’s obvious that we wanted to win our last match," said Jean Sayegh, a Ste-Foy, Que., native who scored two goals. "We came here to win the most matches possible. It’s great to finish the tournament with a win. China was in our reach, and we played a good game.
"Our team is young, so it’s sure that our next objective is London 2012."
— Andrew Russell of Dartmouth, N.S., and Gabriel
Beauchesne-Sevigny of Trois-Rivieres, Que., were sixth in the men’s
C-2 1,000-metre canoe race.
— Brady Reardon of Burlington, Ont., Chris Pellini of Port Credit, Ont., and Rhys Hill and Angus Mortimer of Ottawa, placed ninth in the men’s K4 1,000-metre kayak race.
— Sebastien Michaud of Quebec City lost his quarter-final bout to Rashad Ahmadov of Azerbaijan by judges’ decision in the 80-kilogram taekwondo.
Michaud won his first-round bout 2-1 over Angel Roman Martinez of Puerto Rico.
— Monica Pinette of Langley, B.C., was 27th in the women’s modern pentathlon with 5,192 points. Kara Grant of Stratford, P.E.I., placed 31st at 4,976.
— Tabia Charles of Pickering, Ont., finished 10th in the women’s long jump at 6.47 metres.
— Megan Metcalfe of Edmonton was 15th in the women’s 5,000 metres, crossing the line in 17 minutes 6.82 seconds.
— Alexandra Orlando of Toronto placed 18th in qualifying for the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics final, and failed to advance.
— Both Canadians in the men’s 10-metre platform diving event advanced to the semifinal. Riley McCormick of Victoria finished 14th with 425.95 points for his six dives. Reuben Ross of Regina placed 15th in 425.60.
— Canada is tied for fifth place after the technical routine in women’s synchronized swimming.
The Canadian team, featuring Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon of Riviere-Du-Loup, Que., Jessika Dubuc of Mercier, Que., Marie-Pierre Gagne of Montreal, Dominika Kopcik of Surrey, B.C., Eve Lamoureux of Montreal, Tracy Little of Pointe-Claire, Que., Elise Marcotte of Ancienne-Lorette, Que., and Jennifer Song of Calgary, is tied with the U.S. at 47.584 points.
