The last shall be first. Or so they hope.
The 2012 London Summer Olympics careen into the final weekend with the last of the 48 Island athletes.
The darkhorse could be swimmer Richard Weinberger of Victoria in the Olympic men's openwater 10K today at 4 a.m. in the Serpentine at Hyde Park. He won the official Olympic test event in the Serpentine last year before capturing the 2011 Pan American Games gold medal in Guadalajara, Mexico, and later finishing second in the London Olympics qualifying race in Portugal.
Victoria diver Riley McCormick goes into men's 10-metre qualifying today at 11 a.m. PDT realistic in terms of expectations.
"I've been stuck at ninth [his placing at the last two world championships]. If I get into the top-six, I would be ecstatic with that," he said. "I'm still hungry."
And wiser after having gone through his first Olympics four years ago.
"Having already been there [Beijing], you know what to expect [in London]," he said.
Islander Cam Levins, the running prodigy from tiny Black Creek, qualified Wednesday and is in the men's 5,000-metre final Saturday at 11: 30 a.m. in that raucous cauldron which the London Olympic stadium has become during these Games.
Then, just before the closing ceremonies on Sunday, UVic mechanical engineering grad and three-time Olympian Geoff Kabush of Courtenay, and Tofino-native and Olympicrookie Max Plaxton of Victoria, race the men's mountain bike final on the last day of the Games at 5: 30 a.m. PDT at Hadleigh Farm just outside London.
If any of these latter performing Island athletes need advice from the athletes who went before them in London, the best might not necessarily come from medallists such as swimmer Ryan Cochrane or cyclist Gillian Carleton, both of Victoria, or the Elk Lake-based Canadian men's rowing eight.
Maybe Nanoose Bay high-jumper Mike Mason or Crofton soccer player Emily Zurrer may be more instructive to the late competitors of just what a fine line it can be in the Olympics. Mason appeared to have a medal won this week when he cleared 2.33 metres and was on his back in the pit, only to see the bar tremble and fall at the last agonizing moment.
Zurrer injured her hamstring at the Games and did not receive a bronze medal Thursday with her Canadian women's soccer teammates.
It's all part of the sporting pageant that is the Summer Games as Weinberger, McCormick, Levins, Kabush and Plaxton look to close it out in London.
ON TV
TODAY
3 a.m., SNP: Men's swimming, synchronized swimming
7: 30 a.m., OLN: Women's field hockey
5: 30 a.m., CTV: Men's boxing, BMX, men's basketball semifinal
10 a.m., SNP: Women's rhythmic gymnastics, men's volleyball, men's diving, men's soccer.
11 a.m., CTV: Athletics, men's basketball semifinal
4 p.m. , TSN: Men's volleyball, synchronized swimming.
EARLY SATURDAY
1 a.m. , CTV: Canoe sprint, cycling, men's soccer.
2 a.m. , TSN: Men's diving, men's race walking, women's rhythmic gymnastics
