More news clippings from Monday

Island triathletes gear up for Beijing Olympics

Cleve Dheensaw, Victoria Times Colonist
Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2008

When you have qualified for the Olympics, sometimes the best thing is to stay out of the way of those who have yet to. They know what they have to do.
"I try to stay clear a bit . . . because I know they will punch me if I give any more advice," chuckled triathlete Simon Whitfield of Victoria, who has qualified for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games.
Whitfield, the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics champion and who needs no introduction, was ranked No. 2 in the world last year and looks trim and determined with a buzz building about him as Beijing approaches.

Nineteen-year-old Stelly's-grad Kirsten Sweetland is considered the Next Thing on the women's side but needs a top-eight finish at the world championships June 5-8 in Vancouver in order to qualify for the Beijing Games.
As the big home-province hopefuls, Whitfield and Sweetland were featured yesterday at a press conference in Vancouver promoting the world championships.
"I try to be good enough that I don't have to know about or worry about or pay attention to the qualification criteria," Whitfield said yesterday en route to Vancouver.

More at the Victoria Times Colonist


Olympic berths can be won in Vancouver
Top-eight finishes crucial to Beijing hopes of both women and men


Terry Bell, The Province
Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
When Kirsten Sweetland was a kid she used to enjoy drawing little pictures of herself standing atop the Olympic podium.
On June 8 the 19-year-old Victoria triathlete will have a chance to inch her way closer to that Olympic dream when the 2008 world championships come to Vancouver's English Bay.
Sweetland, the 2006 world junior champion, needs to get a top-eight finish at worlds to secure one of the three berths Canada has in the women's triathlon in Beijing this summer.

Vancouver's Lauren Groves already has a berth because of her strong 2007 results. That leaves Sweetland, Edmonton's Carolyn Murray and Montreal's Kathy Tremblay -- who all have at least one of the necessary top-eight World Cup finishes this season -- to fight for a top-eight at worlds and the two remaining Olympic spots.
"I'm always racing for my best performance," Sweetland, who is trying not let the mounting pressure get to her, said Monday. "I'm trying not to have too many outcome goals. I just want to take it one step at a time."

More at the Province