Durham and GTA athletes have a busy Thursday

August 20, 2008

Just four days of competition left at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but there's still lots of action.

Your Durham Region and GTA athletes in action Thursday include:

In men's decathlon at the National  Stadium today's competition will include the 100-metre, long jump, shot put, highjump and the 400-metres. Watch for Massimo Bertocchi (Toronto). Start time is 9:20 a.m. (9:20 p.m. Wednesday in Ontario). Bertocchi, 22, was born in North York and is an aspiring chef. He earned his trip to Beijing by winning the decathlon at the Olympic track and field trials with a personal best in the 1,500-metre run with a time of four minutes 42.42 seconds, bettering his previous best by five seconds.

Nicole Forrester (Aurora) will also be at the National Stadium or 'Bird's Nest' today competing in high jump. She jumps at 9:50 a.m. (9:50 p.m. Wednesday in Ontario). Born in Toronto she now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Personal best in the high jump is 1.97 metres.

Adam van Koeverden (Oakville) competes in the Kayak Single (K1) 500-metre semifinal  at 3:30 p.m. (3:30 a.m. in Ontario). The final is Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Mark Oldershaw (Burlington) competes in the Canoe Single (C1) 500-metre semifinal at 4:10 p.m. (4:10 a.m. in Ontario).

Watch for Alexandra Orlando (Toronto) at 6 p.m. (6 a.m. in Ontario) in rhythmic gymnastics being held at Beijing University. Orlando earned a spot to represent Canada at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics with a ninth-place finish at the world rhythmic gymnastics championships in September, 2007. She missed a berth at the 2004 Athens Games by one-tenth of a point.

Eric Lamaze (Schomberg) on Hickstead, and the remaining members of the Canadian equestrian jumping team -  Gillian Henselwood riding Special Ed and the legendary Ian Millar on In Style - will compete in the individual jumping final today in Hong Kong. Mac Cone (King City) saw his horse injured in the team final earlier in the week. At the team final the Canadian team took home silver. Competition begins at 7:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m. in Ontario).

At 8:20 p.m. (8:20 a.m. in Ontario) Pickering's Anson Henry will be on the track in th e 4x100-metre relay. Henry competed earlier in the games in the 100-metre but failed to advance to the final.