Posted: March 25, 2006

Commonwealth Games: Messages from Melbourne - Steph's Postings Stephanie McCaan is a Canadian pole vaulter. She is in Melbourne, Australia to compete in the Commonwealth Games and has posted these notes on her Commonwealth Games experience.

March 25, 2006:
Bronze
It was a long night at the MCG this evening. I left the village at 3:30pm and did not return from the competition until midnight! But it was a successful evening, none the less. I won my second Bronze medal for Canada this evening at the 18th Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The competition this evening was fantastic. Kym Howe jumped 4.62m for the Gold Medal, which was a National and Commonwealth Games record! Tatianna won the Silver with a good clearance at 4.35m. Stay tuned for more updates over the weekend.

Track has begun
It was a bit of a wait but track and field competition has finally begun. We got off to a good start with all 3 of our 1500m girls making the final, Jen winning a silver in the Hammer, and Mark a Gold in the High Jump. Dana, Kelsie and myself got underway last night in the qualifying round of the pole vault while Diane advanced in the 800m, Jason and Dariusz took home silver and bronze in the discus and Achraf won a silver in the mens 800m. Things are starting to wrap up so stay tuned for more results this weekend as the games come to an end. For details on the pole vault qualifying check out my Meet and Results link.

Games are Under Way
The fun part about Games is the opportunity to meet athletes from different sport outside of track. After a fun match of Family Feud with our Rugby 7's, a group of us track girls made a few trips out to the Telstra Dome to support our team. The atmosphere was amazing when the Dome filled up the evening of the semi-finals and finals. We all enjoyed the fast pass game and had fun cheering on our boys to a Top 8 finish.

Opening Ceremonies
It felt a bit like i was back in Athens when they marshalled all the athletes into the Gymnastics Facilities on Wednesday night before we marched out into the MCG (track stadium) for the first time. I have been to several opening ceremonies now and it is always an amazing feeling to walk into a stadium with close to 80,000 people cheering for your team and several hundreds of people waving your flag. It sends shivers down my back just typing about it now. It was a short ceremony once we all got out onto the track. The baton was carried up to the Queen and she officially opened the Games. Some amazing fireworks were let off throughout the city to mark the beginning of the 18th Commonwealth Games.

Count Down
Well it's been another week so I figured i better let everyone know what i have been up to in Melbourne. The village really started to fill up last Tuesday as all the athletes arrived for Opening Ceremonies. The track and weight rooms were packed making training a little more tricky! We have all started to meet more people in the village and managed to keep ourselves pretty busy with meetings, receptions, dinners and training. Please check out my new Melbourne pictures under the Photo Album.

Pictures
Well i finally had time to post a few pictures. Check out my Photo Album Melbourne Link for a little preview of what i have been up to over the last two weeks. I will try to keep it up to date as the games go along.

Village
Well I made the move over to the village on Sunday evening. I was very sad to leave my new friends in Box Hill (Cam, Hannah, Heidi and Hugo!). But the village is fantastic!! Much smaller then what we had in Athens since there are only 71 countries in the Commonwealth. The food has been fantastic and our training venue is top notch. A good majority of our team competed at or training venue last night in the Melbourne Grand Prix Meeting. The atmosphere was fantastic and gave us all a glimps of what the fans will be like at the games. For more details on the meet check my Meet/Results Link under competitions. Stay tuned for some new pictures this weekend!!!

Melbourne
Sorry for the delay in updating. I arrived in Melbourne a week ago and have settled in nicely thanks to my two housemates Hannah and Cam. They have made me feel right at home and driven me here and there whenever possible. It's also been entertaining since they have two large, somewhat excitable dogs! I was greeted by 36 degree weather on arrive (that's celcius). It dramaticly change to the teens and rain over the weekend but lucky for me the sun came back and has gotten progressively warm as the week went on. I had my first outdoor competition today at Box Hill. A season best for me but there is definitely still a lot to work on. I'm happy i have three more weeks before i jump at the Games. I'm moving into the village tomorrow and will be competing in one more meet next week before the Games get underway. For more meet info please see my compeitions link. Will be in touch again soon.

Commonwealth Games!
Well it's official...Athletics Canada posted the team list for Commonwealth Games on Wednesday afternoon and I am heading off to Australia to compete in my second Commonwealth Games. The team is a bit larger than orginially expected, with 43 track and field athletes making the trip to represent Canada. Since all of my pole vault training has been indoors this year, I have decided to head over early to prepare outdoors before the games begin. I depart out of Seattle Wednesday afternoon so stay tuned for updates from Australia next week!

Nationality: Canadian Hometown: Surrey, B.C. Residence: Surrey, B.C. DOB: April 22, 1977 Height: 5' 7 ¾”/ 171cm Weight: 135 lbs/ 61 kg Email: steph_mccann@yahoo.com Event: Pole Vault Club: Valley Royals Coach: Pat Licari / Les Gramantik Ranking: 17th in the World (www.iaaf.org) Hobbies: Drawing, Painting, Creative Memories, Stamping. Favourite Foods: Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Sushi (salmon-favourite!) Other Interests: Hiking, biking, swimming & camping Other Sports: Volleyball, basketball, tennis,climbing, skiing & surfing (still learning)

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