It was another day of wrenching mixed emotions Friday for Island athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Victoria swimmer Ryan Cochrane, the bronze medallist from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, emphatically qualified for the 1,500-metre freestyle final at the London Aquatics Centre and goes for gold today at 11: 30 a.m.
But there was grim disappointment across town at the Games rowing venue in Eton where Dave Calder of Victoria and fellow Brentwood College-grad Scott Frandsen, the Beijing Olympic silver medallists, faded to sixth in the pairs final while New Zealand took the gold.
In the pool, there was no question this time for Cochrane. The Claremont Secondary graduate overcame the bitter disappointment of failing to qualify for the 400-metre freestyle final by qualifying for the 1,500-metre free final Friday at the London Games.
"Step [one of two] complete. Felt good this morning in prelims. Now I have 36 hours to get ready for the swim of my life," tweeted Cochrane.
Cochrane made sure of being there by decidedly winning his preliminary race Friday by nearly eight seconds to qualify third overall among the eight men who have made it through.
Cochrane was across in 14 minutes, 49.31 seconds, behind world-record holder and defending world champion Sun Yang of China (14: 43.25) and defending Beijing Olympic champion Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia (14: 46.23).
Today's 1,500-metre freestyle is shaping up as a classic with Cochrane, Yang, Park, Mellouli, Connor Jaeger of the United States, Daniel Fogg of Great Britain, Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy and Mateusz Sawrymowicz of Poland comprising the field. Cochrane will be in lane three.
Cochrane was silver medallist to Yang last year in Shanghai at the 2011 world championships and few in swimming believe those placings will shift at the London Olympics. But at least the Islander has a lane in the final to prove those prognosticators wrong. That's more than can be said for the 400-metre freestyle.
Although the 400 free is Cochrane's minor event, he headed into the 2012 Summer Olympics wanting two medals at London. But those hopes were dashed during the whiplash 400-metre free qualifying process in which Cochrane won his preliminary race but still placed ninth and failed to advance.
When defending Olympic 400-metre free champion Park Tae-hwan of South Korea was disqualified for false-starting in his preliminary race, Cochrane was bumped into eighth spot and the final. The South Koreans, however, appealed the disqualification, Park was reinstated for the final and Cochrane was again out.
Cochrane moved out of the Athletes Village to a hotel after the 400-metre debacle to better concentrate. Whatever he did, it worked.
Ironically, Park was the second-place finisher behind Cochrane in Friday's third qualifying preliminary race.
On the water in Eton, Calder and Frandsen had titled their four-year quest as "Turning Silver into Gold." That didn't leave much room for error, but unlike the timidity of some Canadian athletes, Calder and Frandsen really laid it out there. But it will not be. Beijing will remain the career highlight for both Calder and Frandsen, who tightly hugged on the deck following the London final.
Calder, a father of two young children, had taken a two-year leave of absence from his position with the provincial government in order to pursue his dreams of Olympic gold and will now go back to his job.
"Obviously, it's not what we wanted," said Calder, by phone from London.
"We performed less than we thought we were capable of doing. We didn't do what we wanted to do. For an athlete, that's the hardest thing. That was the beautiful part about Beijing, that we did what we set out to do. Here in London, we didn't live up to expectation. But that's part of sport. Most importantly, I'm proud of myself for having represented Canada at four Olympics," added the 34-year-old Calder, who will retire from competitive rowing.
"In my career in high-performance sport, I've seen the good and the bad. In Victoria, we have so many Olympians in so many sports and an incredible support system in place for high-performance sport and I want to be a part of that moving forward and want to help the next generation of athletes."
At Olympic Stadium Friday, the Victoria-based runner Nathan Brannen finished fifth in his preliminary 1,500-metre qualifier and advanced to the semifinals.
"[It] felt incredible, my fitness is great, when I had to go I was able to," he said, in a statement. "I am very happy, ran well the whole way, eased up with 100 metres to go. The plan was top six for the auto qualifier and that's what I did."
And at the velodrome, Canada, with Gillian Carleton of Victoria, qualified fourth Friday in women's team pursuit track cycling and are into today's final with a chance to medal.
ISLAND TRAILS: The London Olympics are over for Comox Valley beach volleyball player Martin Reader after the former Camosun College Chargers star and Josh Binstock were beaten 21-16, 22-20 late Thursday by Italy in a quarter-final play-in match at Horse Guards Parade . . . Also eliminated were Island Swimming/Victoria Swim Academy performers Hilary Caldwell, 18th in the women's 200-metre backstroke and two positions away from the semifinals, and Alexa Komarnycky, 11th in the women's 800-metre freestyle and three agonizing spots out of the final.
ON TV
TODAY
4 a.m. on Ch. 23 (SNP) - TBA.
6: 30 a.m. on Ch. 24 (OLN) - TBA.
9 a.m. on Chs. 9, 23, 24 (CTV, SNP, OLN) - TBA.
4 p.m. on Ch. 5 (TSN) - TBA.
EARLY SUNDAY
3 a.m. on Ch. 5 (TSN) - TBA.
4 a.m. on Ch. 23 (SNP) - TBA.
