Three more for Canada

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This article was published 09/08/2012 (4986 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON — Carol Huynh and Adam van Koeverden returned to the Olympic podium Wednesday and Mark Oldershaw delivered his famous family its first medal in 64 years and eight Olympics.

Van Koeverden raced to silver in men’s kayaking and Oldershaw followed about 15 minutes later with a bronze in canoeing.

Later in the day, Huynh captured bronze in women’s wrestling.

The medals boosted Canada’s total at the London Games to 14 — one gold, four silver, nine bronze, just four shy of the Beijing count.

Winning medals on the same day at the same venue was special for van Koeverden and Oldershaw. The pair have trained together at the Burloak Canoe Club in Oakville, Ont., since they were teenagers.

“Oh man, I’m happy for him,” van Koeverden said of Oldershaw.

For van Koeverden, it was his fourth Olympic medal. He won gold and bronze at the Athens Games in 2004 and a silver in Beijing four years ago.

After setting the pace with a blazing start in the men’s K-1 1,000-metre final, van Koeverden lost gold to friend and longtime training partner Eirik Veras Larsen of Norway in the final stretch.

“I started the way I wanted to,” said van Koeverden, an Oakville, Ont., native. “I was super-comfortable. Going through the 500, I had tons of energy. It’s not a case of a screwed-up race plan; this is a case of one guy in the whole world being better than me, and I can live with that.”

Oldershaw, who comes from a family of Olympic paddlers, was a full second out of fourth place with 250 metres remaining in the C-1 1,000, but powered his way onto the podium.

What made it extra special for the third-generation Olympian was that almost his entire family was at Dorney Lake to share his joy.

“My mom, my dad, my sister, my girlfriend, cousins, uncles, aunts — everyone is here,” the Burlington, Ont., native said, before breaking off to give his mother, Connie, a big hug.

Huynh made it a three-medal day for Canada when she beat Isabelle Sambou of Senegal to finish third in the 48-kilogram category.

Huynh, who grew up in Hazelton, B.C., but now lives in Calgary, won gold at the 2008 Games but missed out on a chance to defend her crown when she lost to Japan’s Hitomi Obara in the semifinals.

“It’s fantastic. I’d prefer it was gold, but I’ll take bronze” Huynh said.

Elsewhere, Damian Warner of London, Ont., sits third halfway through the men’s decathlon. The final five events go today.

It was a good morning on the track as Cam Levins of Black Creek, B.C., advanced to the semifinals in the men’s 5,000-metres and Jessica Smith of North Vancouver, B.C., moved on in the women’s 800.

Levins built off his impressive 11th-place finish in the 10,000 metres earlier in the Games and set a personal-best time of 13 minutes 18.29 seconds to advance out of the heats.

Smith advanced by finishing second in her heat. It was a slow group and came down to a sprint for the finish.

Montreal’s Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion of Laval, Que., who combined to win bronze in women’s 10-metre platform synchronized diving, both qualified for the semifinal of the individual event.

In individual show jumping, 10-time Olympian Ian Millar of Perth, Ont., finished tied for ninth, and defending gold medallist Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., failed to make the final round.

“I think my mare is tired. She has jumped a lot of big courses here and she hasn’t a lot of experience,” Lamaze said. In other Canadian results:

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— In track and field, Jared Connaughton of New Haven, P.E.I., and Toronto’s Aaron Brown failed to advance to the final of the men’s 200 metres.

— Hilary Stellingwerff of Grand Bend, Ont., and Winnipeg’s Nicole Sifuentes failed to advance of the semifinals of the women’s 1,500 metres.

— Tory Nyhaug of Coquitlam, B.C., finished 20th in the men’s seeding event in BMX cycling with a time of 39.515 seconds.

— Curtis Moss of Burnaby, B.C., finished 22nd in qualifying for the men’s javelin throw and did not advance to the final.

— The Canadian Press