UNews - Beijing

London Games a change in focus

trevor.kenney — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 22:22:57 +0000

This was supposed to be Jim Steacy's Olympics. It was supposed to be his time to strive for the podium, until debilitating foot and ankle injuries took away nearly two years of his training.

But you won't hear any complaints coming from Steacy (BASc '09), who will be competing in his second Olympic Games in London. Instead, you'll get the perspective of an athlete who knows just how fortunate he is to have the chance to perform on the Olympic stage.

"I really feel grateful going in," says Steacy, the eight-time national hammer throw champion, Canadian record holder and Horns Athletics product. "There's 45 athletes on the track team and only seven of us who have been on the team before, so to have the opportunity again is a blessing and not something I take for granted."

Horns alumnus Jim Steacy still sees himself as a medal contender if he can earn his way into the finals in London.

Injuries have not made Steacy bitter; rather they have reinforced his will and put into perspective just what it means to be an Olympian.

"After the injuries that I had in 2010 and 2011, it was seriously in question as to whether or not I'd make the Olympic team again or even if I would compete again," he says.

"It's been a rough four years but it's taught me to appreciate things a lot more and to take things for granted a lot less. Getting to do what I do is something that one percent of one percent of people get to do, so I'm definitely proud and honoured to be a part of the team again."

Competing in Beijing in 2008, Steacy qualified for the Olympic final and managed a respectable 12^th-place finish. For a 24-year-old in a sport where age and experience play huge roles, he was seen to be on the fast track to a podium performance in London. A broken foot and torn ankle ligaments have changed the expectation level.

"A medal opportunity is definitely a possibility in 2016 if he continues to throw. Making the final this year would be a good stepping stone in that direction," says his coach Larry Steinke. "He had 18 to 20 months where he wasn't able to train, period, and there's no shortcut to getting back to the top level. It's simply a matter of time, getting the volume of throws in and getting the timing back – it takes time."

Steacy echoes the words of his coach and is fully committed to being ready to attack the podium in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

"I'm not going to be at my peak performance or at my prime in London, so for me, a successful experience is making it into the final," he says. "I'll try and claw my way in, throw a season's best and if I do that, it'll be a tremendously successful experience. So the shift in focus is to four years from now in Rio. If I can stay healthy and do things right in training and rehab, there's no reason I shouldn't be on the podium."

Steacy eyes Rio 2016 as his next target, hoping for an injury free future.

Steacy is grateful for the support he's been shown over the years, and especially during the struggles of the past two years.

"Being an athlete and trying to get to this level is not an individual thing. You have to rely so much on your family and friends, coaches, your physio teams to get there," he says, giving a nod to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community that came out to support the athletes at an Olympic Send-off Celebration before the group jetted to London.

"Knowing you have the support of the community behind you, you wan to do well for them. They took the time out of their day to come wish us well and we want to thank them and perform well for them."

Competition Schedule

Hammer Throw Qualifying – Friday, Aug. 3 at 11:20 a.m. GMT (5:20 a.m. MDT)

Hammer Throw Final – Sunday, Aug. 5 at 8:20 p.m. GMT (2:20 p.m. MDT)

Chance to wish our Olympians well

trevor.kenney — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:10:35 +0000

The Lethbridge Sport Council and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge have partnered to host a community send-off for a group of athletes who are participating in the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics which take place July 27 – Aug. 12 and Aug. 29 - Sept. 9 in London, England.

Paralympic swimmer Zach McAllister has been named to the Canadian team to compete in London this summer, while hammer throwers Jim Steacy and Heather Steacy, and javelin thrower Liz Gleadle are participating in Track and Field events.

Larry Steinke, Track Coach with Pronghorn Athletics at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, will be attending the 2012 London Olympics after being selected as Throws Coach by Athletics Canada.

The community is invited to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Upper Track of the 1st Cloice Savings Centre for Sport and Wellness on Monday, July 16 at 12:30 p.m. for a brief send-off ceremony.

A large Canadian flag will be available for signing, and will travel with the athletes to London.

Meet the athletes and wish them good luck on their journey!

The dates and times of the athletes' appearances on TV (local/mountain time in brackets) are listed below, along with brief biographies.

Athlete bios

James Steacy (men's hammer)

Competing: Qualifying – Aug. 3 at 11:20 a.m. GMT (5:20 a.m. MDT)
Finals – Aug. 5 at 8:20 p.m. GMT (2:20 p.m. MDT)

Steacy (28) (BASc '09), a Lethbridge, Alta. and Winston Churchill High School product, is one of the most decorated athletes in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) history. During his time as a Pronghorn track athlete, Steacy was undefeated in the weight throw, winning five Canada West and five CIS titles. He also captured three Canada West shot put titles and won three gold medals and one silver medal in shot at the CIS level. He last competed for the Horns in 2009.

The Canadian record holder in the men's hammer throw at 79.13m, Steacy set the mark at the 2008 Chinook Throws Gala. That season also marked his first Olympic appearance where he qualified for the Olympic final in Beijing, China and finished 10th overall.

Steacy, coached by Larry Steinke of the Chinook Track and Field Club, is the eight-time defending national champion in hammer throw.

Heather Steacy (women's hammer)

Competing: Qualifying - Aug. 8 at 10 a.m. GMT (4 a.m. MDT)
Finals – Aug. 10 at 7:35 p.m. GMT (1:35 p.m. MDT)

Steacy (24), a Lethbridge, Alta. and Winston Churchill High School product, heads to her first Olympics after dominating the competition at the Canada West and CIS levels in recent years. Steacy has won four Canada West weight throw titles to go along with two CIS gold, one silver and one bronze medal. She last competed for the Horns in 2011 when she was the Canada West gold medalist and CIS silver medalist.

Steacy won her second consecutive Canadian Track and Field Championship hammer throw title this spring with a throw of 70.48 metres and achieved her personal best of 72.16m at the Sun Angel Classic in Tempe, AZ earlier this year.
Steacy is coached by Larry Steinke of the Chinook Track and Field Club.

+++++

Elizabeth Gleadle (women's javelin)

Competing: Qualifying – Aug. 7 at 10 a.m. GMT (4 a.m. MDT)
Finals – Aug. 9 at 9 p.m. GMT (3 p.m. MDT)

Gleadle (23), originally from Vancouver, came to Lethbridge to train with throws coach Larry Steinke this past year, taking time away from her kinesiology studies at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia. She won gold at the 2012 Canadian Track and Field Trials with a throw of 60.13 metres, establishing a new meet record. Her personal best of 61.15 metres was set earlier this year at a National Track League event in Burnaby, B.C. It also stands as the Canadian record.

"I took this year off so I could make London," she told the Calgary Herald. "I took time off school, I moved cities; I did everything I was supposed to do. I napped, ate, slept some more, trained really hard, everything I was told to do by my coach (Larry Steinke). I trust him completely and it really paid off."

She'll be the first Canadian woman to compete in javelin at the Olympics since Seoul 1988, ironically, the year of her birth.

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Zachary McAllister (men's swimming 400m freestyle S8)

Competing: Qualifying – Aug. 31 at 9:30 a.m. GMT (3:30 a.m. MDT)
Finals – Aug. 31 at 5:30 p.m. GMT (11:30 a.m. MDT)

McAllister (18), a Lethbridge native and Lethbridge Collegiate Institute product, has come up through the Lethbridge Amateur Swim Club (LASC). He will be representing Canada at the Paralympic Games, Aug. 29 to Sept. 9 in London.

The Canadian record holder in the men's S8 400-metre freestyle event, McAllister earned his spot on the Paralympic Games team by swimming his personal best and Canadian record time of four minutes, 49 seconds at the Olympic Trials in Montreal this spring.

McAllister represented Canada at the Para Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mex. in fall 2011, and after enrolling at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in January 2012, attended meets in Los Angeles, Colorado and Sheffield, England. McAllister's disability is a condition by which he has too many bones in his limbs, thereby restricting growth and range of motion in both his arms and legs.

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Coach -- Larry Steinke (BA '94)

Steinke has been running the most prominent throws program in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) for years and has been consistently involved with Canada's elite athletes at the international level.

He began his national team affiliation as part of the 2007 Pan Am Games coaching staff and has since been to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Junior Track Championships, the 2010 Commonwealth Games and each of the 2009 and 2011 World Track & Field Championships.

He currently coaches three Olympians in Jim Steacy, Heather Steacy and Liz Gleadle and is a proud alumnus of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge and head coach of the Horns track program.

Wish our Olympians well

trevor.kenney — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 18:18:05 +0000

Healthy common ground

trevor.kenney — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:42:06 +0000

What do a former Olympic rower and a pilot have in common? If they are Zoe Hoskins Light and Brent Stock, they are both students in the new After Degree Nursing Program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Designed to increase opportunities for people interested in pursuing jobs in health care, the program is an accelerated course of study available to anyone who has previously earned a degree in any discipline or field of study. The 80-credit program is offered over six consecutive semesters and leads to a Bachelor of Nursing degree. Once complete, students have the option to write the Canadian Registered Nurse Examination to become Registered Nurses (RN).

The After Degree Nursing Program was a perfect fit for Zoe Hoskins Light.

"There is a growing shortage of Registered Nurses working in clinical, research, and teaching positions," says Jean Harrowing, assistant professor. "The After Degree program was created to address the urgent need for nurses in provincial, national, and global practice."

For Hoskins Light, the transition from athletics to nursing was a natural evolution, although the first degree she earned was far removed from anything related to health. Hoskins Light graduated from the School of Journalism at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Southern California in 2002. A profession in health care, however, always held appeal. Her father and brother are both physicians, and Hoskins Light developed an appreciation for the dynamics of the human body as an athlete. She attended USC on a rowing scholarship, and after graduation, went straight into training with the Canadian National Rowing Team leading up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. After taking a few prerequisite science courses, Hoskins Light enrolled in the After Degree program in 2009.

"My own interactions with health care got me interested in nursing," Hoskins Light says. "The dynamics of how the body works drew me to the profession, but I really like the human aspect of it – caring for people."

For Stock, the path to the program was slightly more practical. As the father of four young children, Stock was looking for a career that not only interested him, but also offered a high level of job security. Stock originally attended university in Utah, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Aviation Professional Pilot degree. The events of September 11, 2001 put his dream of flying for a living on hold indefinitely. Stock then moved his family to California to pursue a career in real estate. He worked in construction and owned a real estate investment company for several years, but after the market crash, he needed to switch gears again.

"I needed something that was recession proof," Stock says. "I moved my family to Canada with the intention of becoming a paramedic firefighter, but a friend told me about the After Degree program and I found it to be a perfect fit."

Hoskins Light and Stock are just two among a cohort of first-time nursing students in the program, and their diverse backgrounds are a microcosm of the balance of the students on the enrollment roster.

"Our students have degrees in sciences, humanities, arts and fine arts," says Harrowing. "They've worked in many different professions and disciplines, and bring a rich variety of experience to the program, as well as a certain level of maturity and wisdom."

Application deadline for the fall semester is May 1, 2010.

U of L Students Shine With Confidence

trevor.kenney — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:39:46 +0000

U of L student Theo Tams first grabbed the attention of the judges, then stole the hearts of a nation.

The psychology/music student captured CTVs 2008 Canadian Idol competition in September, capping a summer-long series of performances that demonstrated his well-rounded, powerful stage presence.

The 23-year-old turned the Idol program into a personal showcase, displaying his penchant for taking some of music's most-known ballads and interpreting them with his unique style.

His victory, on a live national broadcast that attracted more than 1,000 supporters to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's
1st Choice Savings Centre for Sport and Wellness, produced a hit

single, "Sing", and netted Tams a recording contract with Sony BMG Canada.

In athletics, a nine-year quest became reality for U of L Pronghorn athlete Jim Steacy when, on a hot summer night in Beijing, he competed for Canada in the finals of the Olympic hammer throw competition.

Just 24, the Canadian record holder and five-time national champion

was the youngest of 12 competitors to qualify, serving notice for what's to come at the London 2012 Games.

"Until you're in that final, you're just another young kid. I'll be on their radar now," Steacy says.

He now focuses on his final season of CIS eligibility and maintaining his unbeaten weight throw record as a Pronghorn.

Heather Steacy golden at Canada Games

trevor.kenney — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:06:00 +0000

What did you do on your summer vacation – probably not as much as Heather Steacy.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge track and field star added another accolade to her impressive resumé on Thursday, winning gold at the Canada Summer Games in Charlottetown, PEI.

With a furthest throw of 59.92 metres, Steacy dominated the hammer throw competition, winning by more than six metres. Quebec's Annie Larose finished second at 53.62m, while Ontario's Kristin Obrochta was third at 52.89m.

"It was a really good throw technically today for me so I'm happy for sure," Steacy, who was ranked number one heading into the competition, says. "Obviously anything can happen in a competition, but I did think I could do this."

Steacy returns to campus this fall to begin her fourth year at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. In three seasons with the Horns, the 21 year-old Lethbridge native has claimed three Canada West titles in the weight throw to go along with two CIS titles. She has also earned a CIS bronze medal.

Steacy's golden toss is another step forward in her quest to compete for Canada internationally, including a possible trip to the Olympic Summer Games. Her brothers Jim and Sean Steacy have both competed at the international level and Jim, a multiple Canadian champion in the hammer throw, represented Canada at the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing last summer.

"It has been really good to have the experience of my brothers to rely on and it is definitely encouraging to see how well they have done," Steacy says. "It is definitely motivating, especially watching Jim compete in Beijing at just 24 years old."

Steacy named to Team Canada

trevor.kenney — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:40:51 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumnus James Steacy (BASc '09) is one of four Canadian Olympians and 29 athletes in total who have been selected to participate in the 25th Summer Universiade, July 1-12, in Belgrade, Serbia.

A total of 14 female and 15 male athletes will represent Canada at the international event, led by an Olympic foursome that includes hammer thrower James Steacy of Lethbridge, 400-metre specialist Carline Muir of Edmonton, high jumper Michael Mason of Nanoose Bay, B.C., and long jumper Ruky Abdulai of Coquitlam, B.C.

Another Team Canada member, sprinter Richard Adu-Bobie of Orleans, Ont., was an alternate for the Canadian 4x100m relay at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

Last summer in Beijing, Steacy became the first Canadian in 84 years to reach the Olympic hammer throw final, finishing in 10th place. Steacy was 13th in the event at the 2007 IAAF world championships and won gold medals in the discipline at the 2007 Pan American Games and the 2005 Jeux de la Francophonie. He holds the national record of 79.13 metres, 2.19m more than the toss which earned Belarus' Aleksandr Vashchyla Universiade gold in 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Steacy is one of the most decorated athletes in CIS track and field history. He was named male rookie of the year in 2002-03, was chosen athlete of the year in field events on four occasions, and in five appearances at the CIS championships with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Pronghorns he captured five weight throw titles and won the shot put competition three times. He remained undefeated in the weight throw his entire university career.

Steacy and Mason head a group of nine athletes who have Universiade experience. Steacy competed in the discus in 2005 in Izmir, Turkey, where he placed eighth in the qualifying round and did not advance. Mason jumped his way to ninth place in 2007 in Bangkok.

Canada has tallied 59 athletics medals in its history at the Universiade including four gold, 29 silver and 26 bronze medals.

The Summer Universiade is an international multi-sport event that takes place every two years, and is second only to the Olympic Games in the number of participating athletes and countries. The Universiade is open to competitors between the ages of 17 and 28 in the year of the Games who are full-time students at a post-secondary institution (university, college, CEGEP) or have graduated from a post-secondary institution in the year preceding the event.

U of L Students Shine With Confidence

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:58:39 +0000