RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL — The investigation of how sprinter Tyler Christopher went AWOL from the Pan American Games may prove as slippery as the discus a Canadian thrower hurled in a downpour for a bronze medal Saturday night.
Investigative panels of the Canadian Olympic Committee and Athletics Canada met through the day to establish the facts of Christopher's early departure and snubbing of a relay assignment Friday.
Meanwhile, the track squad picked up its 11th and 12th medals of the meet, two more than the country earned at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, four years ago.
The men's young 4 x 100-metre relay Richard Adu-Bobi, Anson Henry, Jared Connaughton and Brian Barnett carried the baton to a silver medal. Dariusz Slowik of Winnipeg fought the rain to pick up his bronze.
Related Articles
In other Canadian performances on the closing day of track, Montreal's Achraf Tadili, who set a Pan Am record four years ago, waited too late to make his move and finished fourth in the 800-metre final. A hastily assembled women's 4 x 400 relay ran sixth in its final.
"I'm disappointed Tyler decided to leave the team," said Canadian head coach Les Gramantik. "I only heard about it [Thursday] 10 minutes before he got on the bus. Apparently he informed the event coach he wouldn't be around."
Christopher's personal coach, Kevin Tyler, told The Canadian Press that Christopher has a hip flexor injury and left abruptly when a flight came open. Christopher paid his how own ticket and did not use the one supplied by the COC, Gramantik said.
The head coach remains miffed that no one from Christopher's camp reported an injury or took him to the team's medical staff.
Christopher won a silver medal at 400 metres in a race marred by controversy over bad starting. The Canadian couldn't hear the commands or the gun and wound up giving the field a head start of a few steps before he realized the race was on. He ran brilliantly to get the silver, knocking off personal bests in the 100-metre splits along the way.
But when he went to accept his medal, he wasn't wearing the podium gear supplied by a COC sponsor and mandated in an agreement signed by athletes.
That issue is under the COC's jurisdiction. His early departure is the domain of Athletics Canada. Theoretically, Athletics Canada could withhold its endorsement of Christopher for next month's world championships in Osaka, Japan.
Gramantik does not forsee that drastic an action. Christopher was the bronze medalist at the last worlds in Helsinki, Finland and one of the world's top-ranked 400-metre runners.
"I can't comment on what the outcome will be," Gramantik said. "But to suspend an athlete and disallow him from competing is to take away his livelihood. I don't think that's being considered. Also, recognizing he's a medalist from 2005, the IAAF [International Association of Athletics Federations] could allow him to compete without the endorsement of Athletics Canada."
The dozen medals was positive for Gramantik. He said that while the fields in the Pan American Games may not be deep, the quality at the top is world class and vy being on the podium 12 times, Canadians were learning how to win. Six of the medals were gold.
He said Canadians who came to such second tier Games could outperform their United States counterparts who let their performances be hampered by the distractions of a multisport environment — village life, bad crowds, bad weather, bad food.
"You've got to learn how to deal with all that to win," he said.
The worst news of the Games for Canada is that heptathlete Jessica Zelinka is out for the rest of the season with a torn tendon in her foot, the plantar fascia. Thye fourth-ranked heptathlete in the world, she was a medal prospect for Osaka.
"It's a complete rupture of the plantar. She'd had a heel injury at the Canadian championships in Windsor. It looked like a bruise, but it became a complete rupture," he said. "She's got some issues to deal with, emotions and if she was going to do well in Osaka, that was cash in the bucket."
The quick young relay team brings life back into the program. They ran through the puddles in 38.87 seconds, only 0.06 off Brazil's gold medal time, and held off the United States.
"A lot of people counted us out as a program that was at its peak 10 years ago (the prime of Olympic champions Donovan Bailey, Bruny Surin and Glenroy Gilbert). But most of us are college guys who could be together for seven years. Our pool is deep and we could go a long way," said Connaughton.
"There's always been a Canadian sprint team that's grown to become dominant," said Henry, 28, who has been around the longest. "I can share what I know, the impact of the crowd and weather. And I can make them feel more relaxed, knowing there's someone with them who has been through the war."
Slowik's discus bronze was Canada's third throwing medal, after golds by hammer thrower James Steacy and shot putter Dylan Armstrong. On a sloppy night — the rain contributed to 28 bad throws and gold medalist Michael Robertson of the United States actually passed twice because he couldn't keep his equipment dry — Slowik made his first throw his best, 57.37 metres. Robertson won at 59.24.
Slowik was also the bronze medalist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
16
