BEIJING - It's taken four years longer than she thought it would, but taekwondo world champion Karine Sergerie will finally get her chance to battle for an Olympic medal when she begins competition in the 67-kilogram class Friday.
"There is order in everything right now," said Sergerie, 23. "We're getting really close and I'm very comfortable with that.
"I'm really excited. I want to compete. I want to get it done."
Also fighting Friday will be Sebastien Michaud of Quebec City in the 80-kilogram class.
Canada will also be looking for some medals in canoe-kayak with flag-bearer Adam van Koeverden, Thomas Hall and the women's K-4 team all racing at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park
Sergerie, Canada's first world champion in taekwondo, had her heart set on fighting four years ago at the Athens Olympics but didn't qualify for the team because of a bureaucratic technicality.
The Sainte-Catherine, Que., native comes into Beijing confident after having lost only one major international tournament in the last two years. She will face Tina Morgan of Australia in her first bout at the University of Science and Technology Beijing Gymnasium.
"I have a really good draw," said Sergerie. "I am confident in what I've got.
"Training has been going really well so everything is good so far."
Michaud admits he is a bit in the dark over his opponent, Angel Martinez of Puerto Rico.
"I've never fought him," said Michaud, a bronze medallist at the 2007 world championships. "My partner did four times so I have video. I can see what he does."
The taekwondo team participated in the Games opening ceremony, then travelled to Korea for a training camp. They returned to Beijing just a few days before the competition.
Michaud said it was a wise move.
"We had more training time," he said. "Here, we have only one hour every day. It's not enough. There we had (four hours a day).
"We had time to do everything we wanted. We can (train) relaxed, with no pressure."
In other events Friday, van Koeverden of Oakville, Ont., will go for gold in the K-1 1,000 metres. Hall, of Montreal, will race in the C-1 1,000 while kayakers Brady Reardon of Burlington Ont., Ottawa's Angus Mortimer, Chris Pellini of Port Credit, Ont., and Rhys Hill of Ottawa will race in the K-4 1,000 final.
Marie-Helene Premont of Chateau-Richer, Que., a silver medallist in Athens, and Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, B.C., will tackle the Laoshan Mountain Bike Course.
In the pool, Reuben Ross of Pilot Butte, Sask., and Riley McCormick of Victoria dive in the preliminaries of the men's 10-metre platform. The women's synchronized swim team begins their technical routine.
On the track at the National Stadium, Massimo Bertocchi of Toronto will continue with the decathlon while Tim Berret of Edmonton will race in the 50-kilometre road walk.
The women's modern pentathlon begins with Kara Grant of Fredericton and Monica Pinette of Langley, B.C., wearing the Maple Leaf.
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