DPCDSB SHSM support doc.

1. Olympic Profiles:
Athletes, Coaches & Teams
A Source Bank for the class to use if research access is limited.


2. 1. Athletes
 During this unit you will get to focus on a specific Olympic athlete of
your choosing and build a character profile of them:
 Identify their physical character traits.
 What is the role of their coach?
 What makes them strong emotionally
and mentally?
 What are their weaknesses?
What was their big story?
 Did they win a medal? What did they place?
 Is there something unique about their history?
 Find out about the most important thing that happened to this athlete.

3.  Carmelina Moscato is a 28 year old born in
Carmelina Mississauga and attended St. Francis Xavier
Secondary School in D-PCDSB.
Moscato  She qualified for the Under 20 national team
at only 16 years of age where her team won
silver. She has been on two Canadian World
Cup teams, has played for Canada
internationally 54 times and just won bronze
in the London Olympics in what was some of
the most dramatic team soccer play the
Olympics has seen in a long time.
 She has worked as a University Assistant
soccer coach and has played professionally in
Sweden and Italy.
 She attributes her strong skill development to
early coaching from her brother when she was
only ten years old.
 She spends all her time devoted to improving
her physical, mental and spiritual outlook.
She believes that everyday is an opportunity to
do something great with your life.
Articles to read:
Special Interview Handout: Read the interview Moscato
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmelina_Moscato
completed just for this SHSM CLA. 2nd interview on video:
http://olympic.ca/team-canada http://www.cbc.ca/player/Sports/Olympic+Sports/Audio/ID/
/carmelina-moscato

4. Oscar Pistorius  South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius began his
London Paralympic campaign in scintillating
fashion as he smashed the 200 metres T44
Competes in the world record in his heat on Saturday.
Paralympics and  Pistorius ran 21.30, shaving more than half a
second off the previous record set by
Brazilian Alan Fonteles Cardoso Oliveira in
Regular Olympics an earlier heat.
 The 25-year-old, who is dubbed the ‘Blade
Runner’, is defending the 100m, 200m and
400m Olympic titles he won in Beijing four
years ago.
 Pistorius, who wears carbon fibre prosthetic
blades after he was born without a fibula in
both legs, became the first double amputee to
run in the Olympics, where he made the 400
metres semi-finals. Pistorius won the
Olympic gold 400m race in the Paralympics.
 There was a lot of controversy surrounding
his running in the Olympics and whether or
Official Website: not he had an unfair advantage because of
his blades. Scientific testing proved this to be
http://www.oscarpistorius.com/ false.
Articles to read:
http://www.oscarpistorius.com/news/1293-the-most-incredible-summer-of-my-life-

5.  Carol Huynh is a 32 year old wrestler who
Carol Huynh
has been wrestling since she was 15. It was
something her older siblings also did.
 She is used to overcoming challenges as her
own parents were ethnic Chinese refugees
from North Vietnam who settled in Canada
at a very young age
 She was the first gold medalist for Canada in
women’s wrestling and was the first gold
medalist for Canada at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics. She won Bronze in London 2012.
She is an eleven time national champion and
is one of Canada’s best international athletes.
 Her coach describes her as dangerous as
other athletes are afraid to wrestle her. This
is due to her extremely fast attack skills and
quickness on the mat.
If you visit her website you can see just how

busy a schedule an elite Olympic athlete has,
Articles to read: as well as see the challenges she has had to
overcome to become an Olympic Athlete.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Huynh Her website allows you to send messages to
http://www.carolhuynh.com/Pages/home.asp her and also shows how an athlete can make
a living from their sport.

6. Patrick  Patrick Anderson was Canada’s most
celebrated Paralympian during the London 2012
Paralympics.
Anderson  He is considered to be the best wheelchair
basketball player in the world and one of the
greatest that have ever played the sport.
 Patrick’s road to athletics was a difficult one as
at the age of nine he was struck by a drunk
driver which caused the loss of both his legs.
The following year he started playing
wheelchair basketball and within seven years
was on the national team for Canada.
 He is currently coached by Jerry Tonello and
was one of the most frequent faces seen on
television in Canada during the Paralympics.
Because of his great style and skill on the court
and his charisma off the court he is considered
to be an international ambassador for the sport
of wheelchair basketball.
 He has led is team to three Olympic gold
medals in 2000, 2004, 2012 and one silver
Articles to read: medal in 2008.
http://www.wheelchairbasketball.ca/Patrick_Anderson.aspx
 Following 2008 he took time off from
Website: http://patrickanderson.ca/ Basketball to pursue his other great passion
which is music, by pursuing a degree in music at
Hunter College in New York.

7. Shin A-Lam Shin A-Lam's failure to advance on from
her semifinal match against Germany's
Britta Heidemann was through no fault
of her own.
The South Korean fencer was tied at five
with the defending Olympic gold
medalist when the clock struck zero. She
would have been awarded the upset
victory and a chance at the gold medal if
she lasted through the sudden death
round due to a "priority ruling," but that
was not the case.
Shin allegedly committed a violation just
before the buzzer. One second was added
to the clock because of said violation.
The match then restarted, but the clock
stayed at one second. Heidemann took
Articles to read: three swipes at Shin, the third of which
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_a_lam connected as time expired to give her a
buzzer-beating victory
Shin's camp appealed the ruling while the
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1278593-shin-a-lam-fencing-controversy-exposes-embarrassing-olym
fencer sat in a heap of tears in front of the
flaws
entire crowd.

8. Usain Bolt
 Usain Bolt was perhaps the most exciting and
best known story coming out of the London
Olympics. The “fastest man on earth” is a title
given to the 100m runner who sets the world
record. He is the first man to ever win the double-
double by achieving gold in both the 100m and
200m races in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. His
4x100m relay team also won gold in London in
2008 & 2012.
 His world record time of 9.58 seconds for the 100
metre is attributed to the fact that he can run his
race in fewer strides than all other competitors.
He has elevated the profile of this sport higher
than any other sprinter that has come before him.
 These achievements are what earned him his
nickname, “lightning bolt.” He is currently the
highest paid athlete ever in track and field, was
the IAAF World Athlete of the Year and was the
Laureus Sportsman of the Year twice. His high
profile has made him an extremely marketable
athlete. Through advertising and marketing Bolt
will build for himself more than just a career in
athletics.
Articles to read:  Like other Jamaican athletes before him, he came
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt from a small town without much financial
Website: http://usainbolt.com/ opportunity. His dedication to sport and strong
Video: coaching have made him the premiere elite athlete
of this past decade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O7K-8G2nwU

9. 2. Coaches
 During this unit you will get to focus on a specific Olympic athlete of
your choosing and build a character profile of them:
 Identify their physical character traits.
 What is the role of their coach?
 What makes them strong emotionally
and mentally?
 What are their weaknesses?
What was their big story?
 Did they win a medal? What did they place?
 Is there something unique about their history?
 Find out about the most important thing that happened to this athlete.

10. Glen Mills (Jamaica)
Mills is the former Jamaica head coach
who now runs the Racers Track Club in
Kingston, where he trains elite sprinters
like Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and
Warren Weir. That means Mills, 63, had
a hand in five of the six medals won in
Glen Mills the men's sprints at the London
Olympics.
Bolt has identified what makes Mills
Glen Mills's 2012 Medals: special as a mentor: "There's times
when you want to doubt yourself," he
admits.
100m: Gold (Bolt) and silver
"But coach is always there to say,
(Blake)
'Don't worry, I know what I can do to
200m: Gold (Bolt), silver make you run faster, and what you need
to do to go faster.'"
(Blake), bronze (Weir)
4x100m relay: Gold (Blake Mills's runners won all of the
individual sprint golds in London,
and Bolt) finishing off in style when Jamaica
smashed the world record in the
4x100m relay final.

11. 3. Canadian Team Stories
 During this unit you will get to focus on a specific Olympic athlete of
your choosing and build a character profile of them:
 Identify their physical character traits.
 What is the role of their coach?
 What makes them strong emotionally
and mentally?
 What are their weaknesses?
What was their big story?
 Did they win a medal? What did they place?
 Is there something unique about their history?
 Find out about the most important thing that happened to this athlete.

12.  4. From bronze to banished
Canadian  Canadians jumped off their
collective couches for a few
minutes on the last Saturday
Men’s 4x100 of the Olympics with the
country’s huge bronze medal
Relay Team
in the 4×100 metre race.
Overshadowed by the
Jamaicans and Americans,
Canada ran a fantastic race, a
huge finishing leg and jumped
for joy with a clear bronze
medal. But, after celebrations
and hugs the tears started to
flow as our runners were
disqualified. Jared
Connaughton admitted he
stepped on the line. “The
rule’s pretty unforgiving,” he
said to Farhan Lalji or CTV.
“I’m sorry for costing my
teammates a medal.” That one
hurt. Bad.

13.  1. Team Canada soccer
Canadian  Bruce Arthur said this is a
bronze that’s as good as
Women’s gold. After finishing last
in the 2011 World Cup,
Soccer Team this tournament saw
Christine Sinclair lift
women’s soccer higher in
this country than ever
before. But it’s that
heartbreaking loss at Old
Trafford against the
Americans. The terrible
refereeing. The near
Miracle in Manchester.
That’s the other piece of
this tournament
Canadians will remember.

14.  The Canadian women's eight
has won silver at the Olympic
Canadian rowing regatta, capturing
Canada's seventh medal at the
Women’s London Games.
 The powerhouse Americans
Rowing won gold while the
Netherlands captured bronze.
 "We weren't worried about the
Dutch at all. We were out
there to win, and were
watching the whole field, but
we were focused on our own
boat and our race plan," said
Lesley Thompson-Willie of
London, Ont.
http://www.cbc.ca/olympics
/rowing/story/2012/08/02/sp-olympics-london-rowing-day-6.html
 Canada and the U.S. came
into the Games as rivals for
gold.

15. Canadian Men’s 8 Rowing
Team
Canada's men's eight rowing team members Gabriel Bergen, right to left, Douglas
Csima, Rob Gibson, Conlin McCabe, Malcolm Howard, Andrew Byrnes, Jeremiah
Brown, Will Crothers, and cox Brian Price catch their breath after placing second in
the repechage and earning themselves a spot in the Olympic finals at Eton Dorney at
the 2012 Summer Olympics in Dorney, England on Monday, July 30, 2012. THE
CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

16. Canadian Men’s 8 Rowing
Team Articles
Coaching Article:
http://www.canada.com/sports/2012-summer-
games/poetic+genius+behind+eight+Canadian+crew+Mike/7025658/story
.html
“The poetic genius behind the men’s eight Canadian crew: Mike Spracklen”
by Christie Blatchford, August 2, 2012.
Team Article:
http://www.canada.com/sports/2012-summer-
games/rowing+band+brothers/7013191/story.html “Canadian men’s Olympic
rowing success depends on unity” by Christie Baltchford, July 30, 2012.

17. Class Discussion Activity
For the team article by Christie Blatchford on how success depends on unity use
the following as a class activity or an assigned writing activity.
Instructions:
1) Read the questions below and scan the article for key words that are in bold in the
questions.
2) Highlight or underline these words in the article.
3) Read the article and discuss the answers in class with a reading peer and then the
class as a whole.
Questions: • Why is being on a rowing team like being in an army?
• How does the team deal with failure?
• Why is leadership important to this team?
• Why are team members compared to brothers?