Canadian women’s Olympic team named

Toronto (TC) – Canada is one of only eight countries sending three women to China for the 2008 Olympic Games – and all three will be making their Olympic debut, Triathlon Canada announced today. Team Teck Cominco members Lauren Groves of Vancouver, Carolyn Murray of St. Albert, Alberta and Montreal’s Kathy Tremblay will be donning the red and white as they gun for a medal in Beijing.

Groves qualified for the team based on 2007 results of a top-8 finish at a World Cup event and a top-16 result at the 2007 World Championships, while Murray and Tremblay were nominated to the team for submission to the Canadian Olympic Committee by Triathlon Canada’s selection committee.

“The strength of our women's team is our depth,” said Triathlon Canada’s Executive Director Alan Trivett. “Each of our athletes is among the best in the world and is capable of producing a top performance in Beijing.”

After struggling with injuries for a good part of 2008, Groves, 26, won the silver medal at the 2008 Mazatlan PATCO Pan American Championships and finished 13th at both the Tongyeong and Richards Bay World Cups. She placed eighth at the World Cup events in Edmonton and Vancouver and was 14th at the 2007 World Championships. She reached a career-high World Cup ranking of third after the 2006 Edmonton World Cup and again after the 2006 World Championships where she placed seventh and fourth respectively. Groves currently sits 46th on the World Cup rankings.

Murray, 31, had the best race of her career at the Richards Bay BG Triathlon World Cup in South Africa this past May, finishing first to capture her first World Cup gold medal. The win allowed her to crack the top-10 of the World Cup rankings, although she currently sits at No.17. Murray also had a top-20 finish at the New Plymouth World Cup this year and in 2007, she had three top-15 World Cup performances. She finished 24th at the World Championships in Vancouver this past weekend.

Tremblay, 25, is the top-ranked Canadian in the World Cup rankings at No.14, largely thanks to two impressive World Cup races this past spring. She raced her way to a fifth-place finish at Ishigaki in April and followed that up with a fourth-place performance at Richards Bay in May. Tremblay won her first World Cup medal in Mazatlan in 2006 where she won bronze medal. The 2007 Canadian Champion was also the top Canadian at the World Championships on the weekend, placing 21st. 

Groves, Murray and Tremblay join the men’s team of Victoria’s Simon Whitfield, Colin Jenkins of Hamilton, Ont., and Edmonton’s Paul Tichelaar. This marks the first time Canada has qualified to send a team of six triathletes to the Olympic Games. Only four other countries – the US, New Zealand, Germany and Switzerland – qualified to send both three men and three women to Beijing.

“Qualifying a full team for the Beijing Games for the first time is a major accomplishment for our team,” said Trivett. “Credit has to go to Brent McMahon and Kyle Jones for their efforts in achieving this milestone for our high performance program.”

Photo: Laurie Alpern/Triathlon Canada