Canadiens Hopeful to Surprise in Summer Olympics

With a little over a month to go before the Beijing games two questions on many peoples' minds are: What the hell can we expect from this group of athletes? and Who is really going to care that much? 

These questions may never be answered for a lot of simple minded people. With that being said, these Canadian Olympians have the potential to turn some heads.  While the Canadian performances have gone drastically down since their impressive 22 medal haul in Atlanta in '96, the potential is there to cause a few surprises.

In trampoline, Karen Cockburn of Toronto has steadily improved with time. With a bronze in Sydney and a silver in Athens, a gold to complete the collection is definitely attainable for her. 

Sam Cools was ranked No.  1 in cycling and could definitely compete.  Tonya Verbeek, who won a silver at the '04 Olympics in women's wrestling, is also capable of winning.  In track and field, the goal for Canadians is to attain two medals. It may be tough, however, seeing as one of their biggest threats, hurdler Perdita Felicien pulled out due to injury. 

Tyler Christopher is a major medal contender in the men's hurdles as the Edmonton native goes in as the world indoor games champion.  Nicolas Macrozanaris has gone through some tumultuous times but is more than capable of causing a surprise. 

In soccer, Evan Pellerud looks to end his tenure with the Canadian team with an Olympic medal.  The women's soccer program has taken great strides in the past World Cups and has a team capable on being on the podium. 

In swimming, the Americans and Australians look stronger than ever and will be tough to beat.  However there are a few Canadians who could sneak in for a medal. Some of these swimmers include Calgary's Mike Brown and Victoria Native, Rick Say, and even Vancouver's Brian John has potential. 

In baseball, Ernie Witt has the Canadian team poised to improve from their narrow loss in the semi-finals to Cuba from the Athens games.  Adam Van Koeverden looks stronger than ever in Kayak and is expected to repeat as Olympic gold medalist. 

Alexandre Despatie had a tough year but is still favored to come away with some hardware in diving.  In triathlon, Canada has the ability to pull off an upset as Sydney gold medallist Simon Whitfield tries to regain his form that made him one of the most dominant triathletes for so long. Also Beaumont native Paul Tichelaar has shown flashes of brilliance in past races and could possibly challenge at the Olympics. 

Finally, Canadian show jumper Erik Lamas, who has gone through his career marred with drugs and controversy, is out to prove he is for real and anxious to regain his pre 2000 form which made him the most dominant show jumpers at the time. 

All in all, the outlook for Canadian athletes in Beijing could be a lot better than what people expect.  While it seems clear the Canadian Olympic committee is putting less emphasis on these games and much more on the Vancouver games in 2010, this group of Canadians could be better than in past Olympics. 

I expect a decent medal haul for Canada.  Canadian summer Olympic fans should not get their hopes up for anything better than their Los Angeles output of '84 but they should definitely improve from the 12 medals they received in 2004. 

My prediction is that Canada will get between 15-20 medals in Beijing with many coming as surprises.  While this will be far less medals than the Americans and Australians, it will be a good sign that the Canadian summer Olympic program is back on the right track.