KIDWCKED
02-14-2010, 02:34 PM
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c\p from tsn
CYPRESS MOUNTAIN - When Team Canada gathered in the bowels of B.C. Place Stadium for Friday's opening ceremonies, Jenn Heil lay on a mat back in her hotel room.
As the team marched in and soaked up the adoration of billions of viewers, Heil worked her core. A masseuse later kneaded the 26-year-old to evacuate lactic acid from her muscles. She went to bed early. "I don't feel like we're missing out on something," her coach and boyfriend, Dominick Gauthier said.
That routine, honed to a meticulous degree this season, was Heil's shield against enormous expectations she faced the yesterday to deliver Canada's first gold medal on home turf. In the pressure-cooker of Vancouver, routine ranked above once-in-a-lifetime thrills. "I'm doing everything I can to manage that pressure," she has said repeatedly in interviews.
Saturday night at Cypress Mountain, the pressure may have won. Heil, who entered as the skier to beat wearing Bib No. 1, hit an incredible run in front of a rain-drenched crowd that included Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Former Prime minister Jean Chretien. But it wasn't enough to defeat Hannah Kearney of the United States, who bounced back from bitter disappointment in Turin to deliver the perhaps the best run of her life. Her teammate, Shannon Bahrke, took the bronze.
As the Kearney and Bahrke jumped and waved during the flower ceremony that followed, Heil smiled but looked slightly dazed between the elated Olympic gold and bronze medalists.
"There's no doubt about it I was going for gold," she said later at a press conference. But she added of her fellow teammates at these Olympics: "Canadians can be assured that that gold medal's coming."
c\p from tsn
CYPRESS MOUNTAIN - When Team Canada gathered in the bowels of B.C. Place Stadium for Friday's opening ceremonies, Jenn Heil lay on a mat back in her hotel room.
As the team marched in and soaked up the adoration of billions of viewers, Heil worked her core. A masseuse later kneaded the 26-year-old to evacuate lactic acid from her muscles. She went to bed early. "I don't feel like we're missing out on something," her coach and boyfriend, Dominick Gauthier said.
That routine, honed to a meticulous degree this season, was Heil's shield against enormous expectations she faced the yesterday to deliver Canada's first gold medal on home turf. In the pressure-cooker of Vancouver, routine ranked above once-in-a-lifetime thrills. "I'm doing everything I can to manage that pressure," she has said repeatedly in interviews.
Saturday night at Cypress Mountain, the pressure may have won. Heil, who entered as the skier to beat wearing Bib No. 1, hit an incredible run in front of a rain-drenched crowd that included Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Former Prime minister Jean Chretien. But it wasn't enough to defeat Hannah Kearney of the United States, who bounced back from bitter disappointment in Turin to deliver the perhaps the best run of her life. Her teammate, Shannon Bahrke, took the bronze.
As the Kearney and Bahrke jumped and waved during the flower ceremony that followed, Heil smiled but looked slightly dazed between the elated Olympic gold and bronze medalists.
"There's no doubt about it I was going for gold," she said later at a press conference. But she added of her fellow teammates at these Olympics: "Canadians can be assured that that gold medal's coming."