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It began for one in the Royal Oak Middle School gym. For others, on the Hartland trails or the roads of Central Saanich. Volleyball player Fred Winters, mountain-biker Catharine Pendrel, triathlete Kirsten Sweetland are all part of it as the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics careen toward the back half of the final week.
They will try to add to an Island medal total at Rio that includes the silver won by Victoria rowers Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee and the bronze medals captured by the Langford- and PISE-based Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens team and Hilary Caldwell of Victoria in swimming. That compares with the five Island medals from the 2012 London Olympics.
The latter included Richard Weinberger as he came out of the Victoria Pacific Coast/University of Victoria Swim Club as an unheralded open-water swimmer to win an Olympic breakout bronze medal at London 2012 in the men鈥檚 10K in the Serpentine at Hyde Park.
A bit of a tumultuous post-London quadrennial ended Tuesday with Weinberger finishing 17th at the 2016 Rio Olympics in 1:53:16, behind gold-medallist Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands (1:52.59). Everything that went so well for Weinberger at London, in the lead-up quadrennial when he was based in Victoria, didn鈥檛 go as well in Rio. The biggest schism came when Weinberger left the Island to train in Vancouver in 2014. But his Victoria coach, Ron Jacks, denied national media stories of ill will between the two.
鈥淭here鈥檚 always going to be hard feelings when an athlete leaves a coach,鈥� Jacks said.
鈥淏ut that didn鈥檛 persist too long. We鈥檙e fine. We talk all the time. I told Richard: 鈥業 think you鈥檙e the best in the world.鈥� 鈥�
Unfortunately, he wasn鈥檛 on Tuesday, but there were less than 17 seconds separating 17th place and the gold medal. That鈥檚 how incredibly competitive and tight it was, as there is very little open water now in open-water racing.
Weinberger believes his post-Victoria training was fine since leaving the Island. 鈥淚鈥檓 really happy with my preparation,鈥� Weinberger said in a statement following the race. 鈥淭he past two years, I put a lot of preparation into working with my sleep issues and consistent training. I improved tenfold with that. I knew I was strong enough to win this race. It just wasn鈥檛 my day.鈥�
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鈥� The 33-year-old Fred Winters and sa国际传媒 play Russia today in men鈥檚 volleyball quarter-finals after the 3-1 upset victory over group-leaders Italy to close out pool play. Asked about potential quarter-final opponents before the Russian match-up was decided, the Claremont Secondary product said: 鈥淭hey are all good.鈥�
As one would expect in the Olympics, an event in which sa国际传媒 hasn鈥檛 qualified in men鈥檚 volleyball since 1992 in Barcelona.
Winters鈥� Canadian teammate, Gavin Schmitt, was to the point: 鈥淥ur objective is just to keep going. We want a medal. We are not here for doing tourism. We are going to see how far we can go.鈥�
As far as these guys are concerned, the cable-car ride up Sugarloaf Mountain can wait.
But this is the point where the story ended Tuesday night for sa国际传媒, and assistant coach Shawnee Harle of Campbell River, in the 68-83 quarter-final loss to France in women鈥檚 basketball.
鈥� You look back into your reporter鈥檚 notebook and sometimes the words appear prescient. Derek Drouin of Sarnia, Ont., won the high jump at the Victoria International Track Classic at Centennial Stadium in June. As the defending world champion, a lot of Rio expectation was riding on his sinewy shoulders during that Island visit, and he said: 鈥淎ny pressure is self-inflicted. What I鈥檝e done in the past doesn鈥檛 mean a whole lot to me. This year is this year and I want to be the best on the day it really matters, in Rio. I will try to make the country proud. That鈥檚 all I can ask of myself.鈥�
On Tuesday night, Drouin turned those words into gold.
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鈥� Scott Hend, who won the 2002 Victoria Open at Uplands, and David Hearn, who captured the 2004 Victoria Open title at Gorge Vale, were a part of it in these Games as golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years. Ripples from the Victoria Open flowed into Rio as Canadian Hearn tied for 30th at minus one and the Aussie Hend, who replaced Jason Day, tied for 39th at plus one.
