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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Olympic dream crushed for now
Archer Lyon can still qualify via team event
KEN GIGLIOTTI WINNIPEG FREE PRESS / July 13 2009 - 090713 - Archers right Jay Lyon and left Kevin Tataryn ,
HOW does it feel to watch your Olympics dreams -- at least for now -- crash and burn in slow motion?
Ask Winnipeg archer Jay Lyon, whose second-last attempt to qualify for the 2012 London Games ended rather unceremoniously at the Canadian trials in Montreal on Sunday.
"I feel like I went swimming with a toaster," the 26-year-old said bluntly. "That's just how I describe how deflating and how upsetting it is. Incredibly disappointing."
That's the bad news: That the veteran of the Beijing Olympics -- who earned the Canadian berth by finishing fifth at the world championships in Turin last year -- wasn't able to lock down a guaranteed spot to London in Montreal.
The good news: Lyon is still eligible, with one day of competition remaining today, to earn a spot on a three-member Canadian squad that will compete for an Olympic team berth in Salt Lake City next month.
"If I could have gotten into that zone where you can do no wrong, it might have been a different story," Lyon reasoned. "But it was like poker and I was holding an ace, king, queen, jack of spades and couldn't get a ten. All I got was a two of hearts.
"It was one of those days where the archer gods were saying, 'I'm not going to let you have it.' "
Lyon was second after the first day of competition in Montreal and fell to third on Sunday.
More frustrating was that the spot was only available because of Lyon's record-setting performance in Turin last fall, where he shot a Canadian-best score of 1,350 to finish fifth in the world.
"That," he said, "is why it's such a kick in the pants."
Regardless, Lyon is running out of options. And arrows.
The top three archers in Montreal will be named to the Canadian team that competes in Utah next month, which means Lyon will have to ditch the toaster today.
"I've got to make sure I get my groove back and get on that team," he said.
Canada did qualify a team in Beijing, which included Lyon, that finished ninth overall.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 28, 2012 C1
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