Colonel The Orléans Star
Thursday, March 28
 
Search


e-Edition
March 28, 2024

e-Edition
28 mars 2024



 





Upcoming events


THE STRAY DOG BREWING COMPANY presents Dan Kelly with special guest Ryan King from 7 p.m. at 501 Lacolle Way in the Taylor Creek Business Park. For more information visit facebook.com/straydogbrewing.

CUMBERLAND TOWNSHIP PIONEERS CLUB 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION starting at 12 noon with a full roast beef dinner at the Bearbrook Community Centre, 8720 Russell Rd. Cost $17 per person. Reservations are required. Everyone welcome. For more information and to RSVP, contact Christine Lanthier at totalfootspa@xplornet.ca or call 613-835-3397.

THE ORLÉANS BREWING CO. presents Oyster Wednesdays every Wednesday Co. is located at 4380 Innes Rd. near the Innes Road McDonalds. For more information visit www.facebook.com/OrleansBrewingCo.

THE STRAY DOG BREWING COMPANY presents Taproom Trivia from 6:30 p.m. at 501 Lacolle Way in the Taylor Creek Business Park. For more information visit facebook.com/StrayDogBrewingCompany.

53rd ANNUAL MAPLEFEST hosted by the Cumberland Lions Club from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lions Maple Hall, 2552 Old Montreal Rd. in Cumberland Village. Tickets $12 for adults and $8 for children under 10. Includes pancakes, sausages, maple syrup, tea/coffee, hot chocolate and orange juice.

STEAL MY SUNSHINE PARTY at the Stray Dog Brewing Company, 501 Lacolle Way in the Taylor Creek Business Park. Come celebrate the solar eclipse from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information visit facebook.com/StrayDogBrewingCompany.

 

 

Redemption at last for Orléans speedskating queen
Fred Sherwin
March 3, 2022

It’s been a long four years for Orléans native and three-time Olympian Ivanie Blondin. In 2018, she was one of the co-favourites to compete for the gold medal in the Mass Start event in long track speedskating.

Unfortunately, her dreams of winning an Olympic medal were dashed when she fell in the semifinal. It was arguably one of the lowest points in her life, but the École secondaire Garneau grad and Gloucester Concordes member was determined to give it one more shot and for the past four years she’s been training diligently to give herself a shot at redemption and chance at that elusive medal.

In a phone interview with the Orléans Star, the now 31-year-old Blondin admitted that she was struggling to find her groove in the individual events during the first four races of the World Cup season even though the women’s pursuit team of which she’s a member along with Isabelle Weidemann and Valerie Maltais, had been doing extremely well.

Her best result in the 5,000-metres was a 5th place finish in Norway in November, while her top result in the 3,000-metres was a 6th place finish in Salt Lake City in December. Even in her specialty, the Mass Start, she had only won once in three events.

“I hadn’t really hit my peak heading into the Olympics, so mentally I really wasn’t doing well,” Blondin said from her home in Calgary.

If her mental state wasn’t that great head-ing into the Olympics, placing a distant 14th in the 3,000-metres on the opening day didn’t help.

After placing 13th in the 1,500, which is admittedly her weakest distance, two days later, Blondin decided to pull out of the 5,000 to focus on the Team Pursuit and Mass Start events.

Blondin, Weidemann and Maltais were the number one ranked team in the world heading into the Olympics, having won all three of the World Cup events so far this season. Japan was ranked number two and the Netherlands number three.

Seeding in the semifinals was determined by how fast each team skated in the quarterfinals. The Canadian girls had the second fastest time behind Japan and ahead of the Netherlands, meaning they would have to beat the veteran Dutch team to gain a berth in the final.

The semis and the final took place two hours apart on Feb. 15.

Skating in front of a large contingent of fellow Canadian athletes, including mem-bers of the men’s and women’s hockey teams, Blondin, Weidemann and Maltais were able to best the Netherlands threesome in their semi-final to set up a gold medal showdown against Japan who easily beat the Russian team in their semi-final. In the gold medal race, Japan got out to fast start, building up a full second lead after two and half laps.

By the midway point of the 12-lap race, they had narrowed the gap down to less than 0.6 seconds. With two laps to go, they were only 0.4 seconds behind. And when the bell sound signaling the final lap they were just over three-tenths behind.

The Japanese were clearly tiring, while the Canadian girls were continuing to apply the pressure. That combination of fatigue and pressure ultimately resulted in one of the Japanese girls losing an edge on the final curve, causing her to crash out of the race and give the Canadians the win and the gold medal.

“At first I wasn’t sure we had won, because I didn’t see what happened. Issy did, because she was at the front, so she was already celebrating. I didn’t believe we had won until I saw it on the screen,” recalled Blondin. “It all came down to us relying on each other and knowing what we were capable of.”

The picture of the three girls celebrating together after receiving their gold medals taken by Canadian Speed Skating photog-rapher Greg Kolz is one of the most iconic images of the Beijing Olympics.

As proud as she was of winning the gold medal in the Team Pursuit, Blondin still had some unfinished business: the Mass Start, and a shot at that individual medal which had eluded her in 2018.

“Going into the (Mass Start) semi-final, I was really quite nervous, which I never am during the World Cups,” said Blondin. “As much as I didn’t want to think about the fall in Korea, I guess it was still in the back of my mind.”

Despite the pre-race jitters, Blondin easily won her semi-final and was surprisingly at ease at the start of the final.

When her name was announced on the PA system she smiled ear to ear and waved to the Canadian supporters in the stands.

The race went pretty much as predicted with Blondin, Irene Schouten of the Netherlands and Francesca Lollobrigida from Italy all jockeying for position.

Blondin was in the lead heading into the final turn with Schouten on her hip. As they both approached the finish line, Schouten was able to edge her skate blade ahead of Blondin’s, winning the event by just six one-hundredths of a second.

Despite having to settle for silver, Blondin was pleased with the result.

“We’ve been skating against each other for so many years, to all finish on the podium together in what could be our last Olympics was pretty special,” said Blondin who joined the Gloucester Concordes Speedskating Club when she was just eight years old. By the time she was 12, she was already winning the provincial age class championships.

She started out as a short track specialist but became disillusioned over the cliqueishness of the sport being the only non-Quebec member of the national team at the time. She switched to long track in 2010 and moved to Calgary to be nearer to the national team training facility. The rest, as they say, is history and now Blondin is a multiple Olympic medalist.

So is this really her last Olympics? “I’m a pretty strong cyclist, so you never know,” says Blondin, perhaps hinting at a Clara Hughes-like Summer/Winter Olympic double.

 
Entertainment

  Sports


The musical alter ego of local city councillor Matt Luloff

Music recital showcases amazing young talent

Remembrance Day play an homage to the homefront


13-year-old gymnast wins first international medal

Orléans own Rachel Homan captures World Championship gold

Orléans youngster a budding tennis prodigy

 
Local business

  Opinion

 


MAKER FEED CO. Cumberland Village restaurant unveils new fall menu

 

SANTÉ CHIROPRACTIC & WELLNESS CENTRE: Where healthy people go

 

180-FITNESS CENTRE: Home of the Biggest Loser

 

 

 


VIEWPOINT: Young cancer victims a lifelong inspiration

 


Vanxiety_life #13: VanLife couple arrive at Rocky Mountain foothills

Sections
  Services
Contact information


www.orleansstar.ca
745 Farmbrook Cres.
Orléans, Ontario K4A 2C1
Phone: 613-447-2829
E-mail: info@orleansstar.ca

 

OrléansOnline.ca © 2001-2019 Sherwin Publishing