I am excited to share news the COC sent last week. Ohenawa Akuffo (Wrestling), Elise Marcotte (Synchronized Swimming) and myself are going to Greece to attend a conference that brings about 200 athletes from around the world together for two weeks (June 11 - 25).

Recently the IOC made a bold decision to recommend wrestling's removal from the Olympic program. This was met with great upheaval. I noticed a post on SWIMSWAM that caught my attention the day following the controversial vote. SWIMSWAM is run by Gary Hall Jr., one of the most decorated American swimmers of all time. I thought I'd share the link as we exchanged a number of messages and it was a lively discussion on a delicate topic.
http://swimswam.com/editorial-olympic-wrestling-cut-good-for-swimming-bad-for-olympic-spirit/

Take care! J

I love the Olympic Games and have had a passion from a young age. My life seems to have a srong affinity toward understanding Olympic matters. Participating in the IOA's Young Participant Session is the natural stepping point from what I've experienced thus far as a sportsperson and Olympian. From a very young age, Olympism has captivated me. Vivid childhood memories (1988 Calgary Games, meeting pentathlete Ian Soellner who competed in the 1992 Barcelona Games, 1996 Atlanta Opening ceremonies) set the lifelong tone of Olympic inquiry. My studies touched on the Olympic movement and my passion for sport marketing stemmed from the complex challenge of promoting performance sport from the youth levels to the elite. Fortunately through this journey I've had mentors who shared in the curiosity - my educators, and mentors. One mentor, Tom Ponting (3x Olympic medalist swimming), who coached me for five years, spent hours with me post workout debating the changes and future of the Olympic movement. Taking part in the Youth Olympic Symposium at COP was another great setting to explore theses topics. These are very special memories for me.
I suspect coming from a sport so tightly related to the bloodlines of the Olympic Games thanks to Pierre de Coubertin, drew me further into the Olympic narrative. I am certainly not blind to the challenges within the Olympic movement and perhaps that's why I am further keen on this opportunity. In applying, I thought I'd post share my video publicly (scroll to bottom if you can't see it on your screen yet). J

2007 was my first AthletesCAN (www.athletescan.com) Forum in Whitehorse, Yukon. It was mind-opening. On 100 different levels and with a depth I can’t share in a few paragraphs here. The experience influenced my outlook on sport, from how I participated, how I consumed sport media, how I critically evaluated our sport organizations. Outlook is an overused, under-understood concept with a lens that blurs, focuses, irritates, or positively affects the way we see our story unfold in front of us. Forum provides unmatched clarity. This weekend, I found myself at my sixth Forum, completing a 3 year tenure on its board. And there has yet to be a Forum that I was not given chills, saw tears, and tasted the passion of Canadian athletes. This weekend had participation from, I believe, 70 athlete representatives, Sport Canada, Own the Podium (CEO Anne Merklinger), TO2015 Pan/Para Pan Am Games CEO, and branding/marketing/cause leaders like Chimp, GoSocial, Matthew Diamond (from Hunter Straker (design and branding leader), and many others.

I can’t share all the awesomeness of Forum, but to encourage as many national team athletes as possible to participate in it. Because it changes one’s perspective and reminds me that there is a really broad value to sport. Even go through the crappy time that’s been the last few months, spending 3 days with great athletes and people who share a similar story. It is a firm reminder of sport’s value beyond the stress of performance goals. There is such a pressure to be everywhere and be everything to everyone (sponsors, NSOs, coaches) that the fun often disappears. We spent our first day at Bill Crothers Secondary School in Markham and did 6 sessions with 15-20 kids. This is a sport’s school, and the students were introduced to sports they’d never tried. We did fencing; I was with National Team Fencer Igor Ganstevich. There was wheelchair tennis, cricket, luge, diving, rowing and more. It tied very nicely into Sports Day in Canada.

Athletes leave Forum so pumped up about sport because it’s a retreat that reminds everyone how beneficial elite competition is, despite the baggage that comes with it. Big thanks to AthletesCAN for having me on the board the past three years and for the membership voting me in. I look forward to continuing to remain involved and to AthletesCAN progressing with more presence, improving every national team athlete’s experience.

This is a letter in reply to Steve Buffery of the Toronto Star, for his article titled No Baseball, an Olympic-sized Mistake - http://bit.ly/NMSoYh

Hi Steve,
I will keep this is as brief as possible as I know you write for entertainment value, and not with the journalistic integrity expected from other papers. Some facts:
- Baseball and softball have limited global participation (in Beijing - 4 Asian teams, 3 Americas, 1 European). And, Baseball could not assure the world's best would participate in the Olympics. Softball lacks competitiveness; in all but one Games, the USA won gold. For these reasons, it was removed.
- Getting rid of Pentathlon would not make space for baseball. 72 athletes in Pentathlon, versus Baseball's 8 teams of 24 athletes (192) and Softball's (8 teams of 15 athletes).
- Pentathlon was one of the first sports to sell out in London. In Beijing, there were 40,000 people in the stands when I looked up.
- You allude to a rich mommy and daddy as a requisite for Pentathlon. Sadly sport is expensive in Canada, across all events. My parents saved every penny so I could compete, even remortgaging their home. Internationally many pentathletes serve in their military. Not typical moves of the elite last time I checked. By the way, you are welcome to train with me at my club, membership is 1200$/year. What did you pay for your kid to play hockey?
- Pentathlon is a small but growing sport in Canada as we don't have the tradition that built the sport elsewhere (limited military history). In fact we are shamefully limited in supporting summer sport as a whole. This is why it receives little TV attention as you mentioned - so Canadians do not have the opportunity (aside from the internet) to get exposure to the sport.

You ask for excitement - did our Women's Football team not provide this? Carol Huynh's repeat medal? Rosie's gold? You even contradict yourself in attempting to introduce your thesis - yes the Men's 8 medal was excitement!
Then you have the audacity to compare the sport the crime-challenged city of Mimico?

Your comments are unfortunate, as performance sport receives dismal attention as is, and you take this rare moment for the betterment of Canada's sports to belittle one of them.
It's not that Canadians or pentathletes are too busy with their "swords to read anything," it's that we spend our time reading pieces of substance.
You are the epitome of dated Canadian media; you will hibernate into NHL and MLBA action until just prior the 2016 Games before you appear again to share your uninformed and nasty opinions. You offend Canadian summer sport, Pentathlon, and me - someone who's been on the field of play; a place you are incapable of comprehending.

Take care and get enlightened.
J

Hi friends. This is a late post, really late. For those that don't know - I didn't qualify for London. And I've delayed writing this because pretty much every thought of the Games takes the wind out of my sail. I know it'll improve, just a time of mourning for those who aren't there. Gets more difficult with increased media (and lol media requests...) but Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow.... I think the healing begins when the Games close. Ahhhh, I love the Olympics, so wish I was there. My mom described it well; on the best days it feels like everyone's at a party you didn't get invited to, on the worst, it feels like someone close passed away. I guess that's how pervasive and important this journey is to those on it. And my mom, and family, to which I am grateful. Part of the reason I delayed so much in writing this is that I have so much on my mind regarding the journey and reflecting on it. Important stuff, but I haven't been sure how to put it down or when to, or what's even appropriate. I will though, in time. For now, I take the responsibility for not being the best I could have been this time. And I am cheering hard for my friends and the Canadian team members in London. I know I am on the outside of the party, but still wishing the athletes inside a great time.

I am going to cheat a bit and expedite expressing some of what's going on now. It's from an interview with one of my good friends and a sponsor (Steve Adam and adamlabs). This interview was pretty cool (as you'll see if you visit his other interviews). Interview - http://www.adamlabs.ca/index.php/frontpage-joshua-riker-fox

And on a final good note - a big thank you to ARC Resources in Calgary, who are a new supporter! (www.arcresources.com).
Take care friends. Enjoy the two weeks ahead, it flies by. J

Life is truly a time warp during these periods. Disappearing to compete, many friends and teammates not knowing where I am, and then reappearing. I don’t like to tell most people because they say 'good luck' a lot which makes me more nervous. Or sometimes they misunderstand and say have a nice trip, which is very thoughtful, but to every athlete leaving

I suppose the last chance I had to write this was a week ago while flying back from Guatemala, but I was tired… So here it is today, whilst flying to Hungary. The mission continues, to pursue as many points as possible to earn a spot for London. Obviously, and if you’ve read previous posts you know, the level of pressure is high. Every event has performances that

A few weeks to catch up on here. I would have hoped to get the updates Blog-wise happening faster, but I’ve been on the run.

So, last bit that I didn’t share was CANwest Track Champs in Saskatoon. I ran there 1. For fitness and 2. For fun. I think I achieved both.

A few weeks to catch up on here. I would have hoped to get the updates Blog-wise happening faster, but I've been on the run.

So, last bit that I didn't share was CANwest Track Champs in Saskatoon. I ran there 1. For fitness and 2. For fun. I think I achieved both. I ran the 1000m, 4 x 800m, and the 1500m. So again, a lot of racing in a short period of time. It came with a long bus ride I'd have skipped if the team would have allowed me to fly.