McGill swim duo to represent Canada at FISU Summer Games
MONTREAL -- Steven Bielby, a swimmer from McGill University, and Redmen head coach Peter Carpenter, are among 41 student-athletes and a 10-member support staff selected to represent Canada in swimming at the 26th FISU Summer Universiade from August 12-23, 2011, in Shenzhen, China.
It will be the second FISU Games for Bielby, a native of Pointe Claire, Que., who competed at the 2009 event in Belgrade, Serbia.Bielby had a banner season, earning all-Canadian status and capturing two gold medals at the CIS championships in Calgary last February. All individual gold medalists at the CIS meet, automatically earned an invitation to represent Canada at the FISU Games. In three trips to the CIS championships, the 21-year-old electrical engineering junior has won a school record six gold medals -- to go along with one silver and a pair of bronze medals.
Carpenter, a 37-year-old native of Pointe Claire, Que., just completed his second year as head coach at McGill. Last fall, he received a Petro-Canada coaching excellence award, given annually to recognize coaches whose athletes have excelled at world championships and/or the Olympic and Paralympic Games. He previously guided the Pointe Claire swim club and the Quebec provincial team.
The Canadian swim team heading to China is coming off back-to-back solid showings at the biennial event with seven medals (1-4-2) in 2009 and 10 podiums (4-2-4) in 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand.
No sport has brought more Universiade glory to Canada over the years. Since the inaugural Summer Games in 1959, Canadian swimmers have won 95 medals including 21 golds - both record tallies for the country.
The Canadian squad will be comprised of 20 female and 21 male swimmers including 30 from CIS universities, 10 from NCAA schools and one from a Quebec CEGEP institution.
The University of Calgary Dinos - reigning CIS champions in both women's and men's competition - and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues lead the way with seven and eight selections, respectively.
One-third of the delegation (13) has previous world university games experience including two-time veterans MacKenzie Downing of Whitehorse, a graduate of the University of Victoria who was at the 2007 and 2005 Games (Izmir, Turkey), and Seanna Mitchell of Manotick, Ont., a fourth-year Dino senior who competed for the Red and White in 2009 and 2007.
Other returnees from 2009, aside from Bielby, include the U of C duo of Allison Long, also a native of Calgary, and David Dimitrov of Milton, Ont.; U of T teammates Heather Maitland of Toronto and Zack Chetrat of Oakville, Ont.; the UBC duo of Hanna Pierse of Edmonton and Kelly Aspinall of Nanoose Bay, B.C.; Laval's Marie-Pier Ratelle of Trois-Rivières, Que.; Dalhousie's David Sharpe of Halifax; and Stanford's Matthew Swanston of Newmarket, Ont.
UNLV's Kier Maitland of Edmonton is a veteran of the 2007 Games.
Rounding out the women's team for Shenzhen is the Varsity Blues' foursome of Zsofia Balazs of Toronto, Pamela Ruksys of Kingston, Ont., Paige Schultz of Toronto and Vanessa Treasure of Mississauga, Ont.; the Dinos' pair of Julianne Brown of North Vancouver, B.C., and Lindsay Delmar of Calgary; the UBC duo of Heather MacLean of Toronto and Tera Van Beilen of Oakville; Arizona State teammates Caroline Kuczynski of Montreal and Cassie Morrice of Victoria; Missouri's Dominique Bouchard of North Bay, Ont.; Victoria's Hilary Caldwell of London, Ont.; CEGEP Édouard-Montpetit's Sandrine Mainville of Boucherville, Que.; and Texas A&M's Paige Miller of Brampton, Ont.
Rounding out the men's squad are Dino teammates Jason Block of Calgary and Colin Miazga of Saskatoon; the U of T duo of Cam Cummings of Oakville and Mike Smerek of St. Catharines, Ont.; UVic teammates and fellow Victoria natives Craig Dagnall and Nicholas Sinclair; Jonathan Gagné of Montreal and Tim Ruse of Pointe-Claire, both students at Concordia; Ottawa's Adam Best of Ottawa; Michigan's Richard Funk of Edmonton; Simon Fraser's David Hibberd of Calgary; Laval's Dominique Massie-Martel of Ottawa; Texas A&M's Kyle Troskott of Lethbridge, Alta.; and Stanford's Michael Zoldos of Newmarket.
In addition to Carpenter, the support staff includes team leader Ken Radford from Swimming Canada; head coach Mike Blondal from University of Calgary, assistant coaches Martin Gingras from UQTR, Steve Price from Edmonton Keyano Swim Club and John Rogers from the University of Toronto's high-performance centre; managers Elizabeth El-Hawary and Kelly Steeves; and therapists Rick Pelletier and Yanic Szoghy.
The delegation is set to leave Canada on August 7. The Universiade swimming competition runs from August 14-19.
NOTES: Canadian swimmers won a team-record six events and 15 Universiade medals in Buffalo in 1993... Their second best performances came in Sheffield, England, in 1991 and in Edmonton in 1983 as they claimed three victories and 14 medals on both occasions...
2011 Summer Universiade website: http://www.sz2011.org/Universiade
Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/summer
TEAM CANADA ROSTER
Women
Name University Hometown
Zsofia Balazs Toronto Toronto, Ont.
Julianne Brown Calgary North Vancouver, B.C.
Dominique Bouchard Missouri North Bay, Ont.
Hilary Caldwell Victoria London, Ont.
Lindsay Delmar Calgary Calgary, Alta.
MacKenzie Downing Victoria Whitehorse, Yukon
Caroline Kuczynski Arizona State Montreal, Que.
Allison Long Calgary Calgary, Alta.
Heather MacLean UBC Etobicoke, Ont.
Sandrine Mainville CEGEP Édouard-Montpetit Boucherville, Que.
Heather Maitland Toronto Toronto, Ont.
Paige Miller Texas A&M Brampton, Ont.
Seanna Mitchell Calgary Manotick, Ont.
Cassie Morrice Arizona State Victoria, B.C.
Hanna Pierse UBC Edmonton, Alta.
Marie-Pier Ratelle Laval Trois-Rivières, Que.
Pamela Ruksys Toronto Kingston, Ont.
Paige Schultz Toronto Toronto, Ont.
Vanessa Treasure Toronto Mississauga, Ont.
Tera Van Beilen UBC Oakville, Ont.
Men
Kelly Aspinall UBC Nanoose Bay, B.C.
Adam Best Ottawa Ottawa, Ont.
Steven Bielby McGill Pointe-Claire, Que.
Jason Block Calgary Calgary, Alta.
Zack Chetrat Toronto Oakville, Ont.
Cam Cummings Toronto Oakville, Ont.
Craig Dagnall Victoria Victoria, B.C.
David Dimitrov Calgary Milton, Ont.
Richard Funk Michigan Edmonton, Alta.
Jonathan Gagné Concordia Montreal, Que.
David Hibberd Simon Fraser Calgary, Alta.
Kier Maitland UNLV Edmonton, Alta.
Dominique Massie-Martel Laval Ottawa, Ont.
Colin Miazga Calgary Saskatoon, Sask.
Tim Ruse Concordia Pointe-Claire, Que.
David Sharpe Dalhousie Halifax, N.S.
Nicholas Sinclair Victoria Victoria, B.C.
Mike Smerek Toronto St. Catharines, Ont.
Matthew Swanston Stanford Newmarket, Ont.
Kyle Troskott Texas A&M Lethbridge, Alta.
Michael Zoldos Stanford Newmarket, Ont.
STAFF
Position Name University/Club Hometown
Team leader Ken Radford Swimming Canada Victoria, B.C.
Head coach Mike Blondal Calgary Calgary, Alta.
Assistant Peter Carpenter McGill Montreal, Que.
Assistant Martin Gingras UQTR Quebec City, Que.
Assistant Steve Price EKSC Edmonton, Alta.
Assistant John Rogers UTHPC Toronto, Ont.
Manager Elizabeth El-Hawary - Halifax, N.S.
Manager Kelly Steeves - Toronto, Ont.
Therapist Rick Pelletier - Calgary, Alta.
Therapist Yanic Szoghy - Montreal, Que.
CANADA'S SWIMMING GOLD MEDALS AT THE SUMMER UNIVERSIADE (21):
2009 (Belgrade, Serbia): Kevyn Peterson, women's 400m freestyle
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): MacKenzie Downing, women's 100m butterfly
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): Audrey Lacroix, women's 200m butterfly
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): Darryl Rudolf, men's 100m butterfly
2007 (Bangkok, Thailand): Brian Johns, men's 200m individual medley
1993 (Buffalo, USA): Guylaine Cloutier, women's 100m breaststroke
1993 (Buffalo, USA): Marianne Limpert, women's 200m individual medley
1993 (Buffalo, USA): Nancy Sweetnam, women's 400m individual medley
1993 (Buffalo, USA): Women's 4x200m freestyle relay
1993 (Buffalo, USA): Turlough O'Hare, men's 400m freestyle
1993 (Buffalo, USA): Turlough O'Hare, men's 800m freestyle
1991 (Sheffield, Great Britain): Guylaine Cloutier, women's 100m breaststroke
1991 (Sheffield, Great Britain): Patricia Noall, women's 400m freestyle
1991 (Sheffield, Great Britain): Deke Botsford, men's 100m backstroke
1983 (Edmonton, Canada): Mike West, men's 100m backstroke
1983 (Edmonton, Canada): Alex Baumann, men's 200m individual medley
1983 (Edmonton, Canada): Alex Baumann, men's 400m individual medley
1977 (Sofia, Bulgaria): Marion Stuart, women's 100m breaststroke
1977 (Sofia, Bulgaria): Graham Smith, men's 100m breaststroke
1977 (Sofia, Bulgaria): Anne Gagnon, women's 200m breaststroke
1977 (Sofia, Bulgaria): Graham Smith, men's 200m breaststroke
About the Summer Universiade
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 who are at least 17 and less
than 28 years of age as of January 1 in the year of the Games.
Participants must be 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.
For more information:
Earl Zukerman
Communications Officer
Athletics & Recreation
McGillUniversity
514-398-7012