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Greetings from Portugal!
The 2008 World Cup Final took place yesterday in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. The day started well for me with a strong shooting score of 181 followed by a third place fencing result of 936 points. I was sitting in 5th place after two events and had high hope of finishing in the top 10 of this final event of the season. The swim was on par with my results this year which unfortunately meant I dropped to 20th place, however a strong ride and run can bring about many changes.
The riding event didn't go as well as I'd planned and with 5 rails knocked down I dropped to 22nd. This was a big disappointment, but a risk of being a pentathlete. I had a strong run and moved up to 19th. While this was not the final result I had hoped for there were many good points to my day and I will be back next year to continue moving my way up the ranks of the world's best modern pentathletes.
I'm now taking a much needed break from training after a long season and I look forward to time at home with family and friends. Special thanks to Aliant and APM and my many other sponsors whose financial support has allowed me to be a world class high performance athlete. Many thanks also to all my family, coaches, and golf committee whose support and encouragement have been invaluable.
My Olympic Experience
The Beijing Olympic Games are very special to me as they represent over a decade of hard work, determination and a high performance career of which I'm very proud. This was my second Olympic Games and a wonderful experience. The Athlete's Village was a mere 2 kilometres from the Bird's Nest (the athletics venue) and the Water Cube (the swimming and diving venue), and my pentathlon venue was also nearby.
It very easy to get around and the Chinese people were extremely helpful and very, very proud to be hosting the Olympic Games. The atmosphere was tangible with a constant buzz of excitement at all hours of the day and night.
The Modern Pentathlon competition was well run and there were many interested spectators (over 20,000!), the climate was good, the volunteers wonderfully friendly and helpful. The competition was fierce from the first event and my average shooting result put me in 16th position. I was determined to come back with a great fencing result. Physically and mentally I felt ready, prepared, determined.
The warm up was excellent and I won my first three matches including both the Chinese competitors. Unfortunately my eagerness to make touches and win bouts made me a little overeager at times and I had trouble sticking to my game plan. I made a number of unnecessary errors which amounted to giving away matches. Considering the great training and results I had in fencing this year it was perhaps the biggest disappointment of the day. Swimming was next and although I had accepted that I would be the slowest swimmer I had prepared well and was ready to swim a best time. I did not even come close.
I was determined to make the most of the day and had high hopes that a strong ride and run would move me up considerably. The men had competed the day before and the riding had made a tremendous difference with some athletes moving up as much as 15 places.
The women's event was completely different. Many of the more difficult horses were removed from the draw and the riding did not bring about that many changes in the results. Despite the better quality of horses, my draw was not the most desirable. I rode my horse 3rd and was not overly hopeful of a great result, having witness the carnage of his first two rounds whereby he took down 8 and 9 rails respectively.
While a keen jumper, my steed had an inclination for speed and a disregard for the top rail of the jumps. He was too strong for me and I wasn't able to control his speed well enough to leave the rails up.
While my 5 rails were an improvement over his other rounds, the damage was done. I was well and truly at the bottom of the field this day.
The run was anti-climatic at that point as I started in 32nd place, well behind the majority of the other competitors. I moved up one place to finish 31st.
Was I disappointed in my 31st place finish? Yes. Perhaps more so since I did a great job with my preparation and was confident in a great performance in Beijing. The experience in Athens helped immensely and I felt very steady coming into these Games. I did a lot of reflection in the months leading up to the Olympics and I was ready. For whatever reason this did not translate into the lifetime best performance I was planning on giving.
I'm please to say that my result in Beijing has not affected how I feel about my choice to be involved in pentathlon, nor how I feel about the many excellent results I have had over the course of my 12 year career. I earned a top ten finish at World Championships and Canada's first ever World Cup medal, both of which I'm extremely proud. Representing Prince Edward Island and Canada at two Olympic Games and numerous international competitions has been the experience of a lifetime.
My involvement and successes have been made possible only through the encouragement and support from family, friends, coaches and sponsors.
Thanks to everyone who has made this incredible journey not only possible, but extremely rewarding.
Hello Everyone!!
I'm feeling great and can't wait to compete tomorrow!!
I compete from 8am to 8pm Friday here in Beijing, which is 8pm Thursday, Eastern daylight time to 8am Friday. There will be coverage of the shooting and fencing on the CBC website (on the internet): under Thursday the 21st starting at 9:19pm Atlantic time.
Click Here for more information.
You can also check on the official Beijing Olympic website under Schedule and Results and it will give results after each event. (if you click on modern pentathlon).
Thanks for all the great notes of encouragement!
Hello Everyone!!
Training is going extremely well these days and my preparation for the Olympic Games is on target. I had a very successful fundraiser in PEI on July 14 in the form of my Aliant Swing to Beijing Golf Tournament. Thanks again to all those who helped make the day such a success.
While I was home, my main sponsor Aliant took some video footage and made several great clips which they've posted on their website. Please click here to view the video.
I'm now back in Quebec City where I spent most of the summer training and the countdown is on!! I leave for Seoul, South Korea one week from tomorrow and compete in the Olympic Games three weeks from tomorrow - August 22, 2008. Time flies when you're having fun!!
Kara's story
Here are some audio files about my experiences and goals as I prepare for the Beijing Olympics.
These files are courtesy of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Click on the links to download or listen to the files.
June 15, 2008
Kara Grant named to Canadian Olympic Team!
Beijing will be Kara Grant's second time competing for Canada at the Olympic Games. She made her debut in Athens in 2004 where she finished 22nd. Four years of hard work and dedication have brought Kara to the top of her game and she is ready to give the ultimate performance in Beijing. Kara is currently training in Quebec City until August 8th when she departs for Seoul, Korea for a pre-Olympic training camp. She will arrive in Beijing August 16. The women's Modern Pentathlon event will take place August 21, 2008. Go Kara!!
May 30, 2008
World Championships - Budapest, Hungary
The 2008 Pentathlon season was my best ever until a very poor result at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary yesterday. The day began with a slightly under par fencing result, followed by a similar swimming result. There was also some confusion in the swim and I ended up with a time 3 seconds slower than what I actually swam.
These factors did not lead to a great mental state going into the shooting and although I was relatively calm, my focus was not at its best and I had a very up and down shoot with poor results. At this point it was clear that not even a miracle would allow me to advance to the final and the run was not very exciting for me. I finished 26 in my semi-final and will not be competing in tomorrow's final.
While this poor result is a large blow to my pride, it will not affect my Olympic Qualification as I had such great results earlier in the season that my ranking is high and I will still be awarded a spot for the Beijing Olympic Games. This will be officially confirmed following the Women's Final tomorrow.
I now look forward to a few days of rest before I begin my preparation for the Olympic Games in August. I will use this small setback to focus my strengths and strengthen my weaknesses over the next 3 months and thus prepare for the competition of a lifetime.
April 13, 2008
Great results for Kara Grant at Madrid World Cup!
Greetings from Spain!
I had a great day of competition yesterday at the pentathlon World Cup in Madrid. I had a slow start in shooting and a disapointing score of 175, my lowest of the year, however, I followed this up with one of the best fencing performances of my life. It was very gratifying to win the fence at this event as it was very strong.
I had swum poorly in the semi-final and had hoped that with the extra incentive provided by my great fencing, I would have a better result in the final. This was not the case and despite the excellent training I'd been doing at home I swam my slowest time of the year. This dropped me to 28th after swmming.
I refused to be discouraged as the scores were all close and riding and running are two of my best events. I drew a wonderful horse and had one of the very few clean rounds. The riding changed everything and I moved up to 12th with a big group of athletes around me. The run was very exciting with lots of changes throughout the race. I had an excellent run and moved up to 9th place.
This result moves me into a very secure position on the ranking list for Olympic qualification. It's a great feeling to know that all the years of training is coming together at the perfect time.
Beijing, here I come!!
Thanks again to all my loyal supporters. Kara
March 14, 2008
Mexico Competition #2
I had a good 10 days in Mexico City including my bronze medal performance at the world Cup and my more recent 5th place in an Open North American Championship yesterday. I had a strong start to the day once again with a winning shooting score of 180. The fencing was good, but not great and although I scored 936 points it was a much weaker field than the world cup and this score was only good for 8th place in fencing as the top people won most of their bouts.
I was 4 after fencing and 11th after swimming. I rode a very nice clear round, but the course was not that challenging for the top athletes and most of these athletes also had excellent rides, which meant with a clear ride I moved up only 2 placings to 9th position.
I ran well and moved up to 5th but was unable to crack the top 4 this time around. This was a little disappointing as I had hoped for a top 3, however, my performances were solid and I can improve upon these results for my next World Cup in Madrid, Spain April 10-13.
Thanks for all the great notes of congratulations and encouragement after my bronze medal win at the World Cup! It was a very exciting moment for me and it was wonderful to be able to share it with all my friends, family and supporters.
March 10, 2008
Kara wins bronze at Mexico World Cup
I had the day of my life yesterday.
It's been a long time coming with a lot of soul searching over the past couple of weeks to try and get myself in the right frame of mind to have a great competition. I won the shooting event with a personal best score 187. I was fifth in fencing with 976 and second after two events. The swimming went very well for me although I did drop to 9th overall.
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2008 Mexico City World Cup
Left to right: Margaux Isaksen USA (2nd),
Marta Dziadura POL (1st), Kara Grant CAN (3rd)
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The riding was a little scary as the quality of the horses wasn't great and the horse I drew pulled up lame and I had to take a reserve horse. This could have gone very poorly but I lucked out and got a slightly complicated horse that suited me perfectly and had only one rail down.
I started the run in 5th place and ran up to 3rd within 800m. Then it got a little tough as there was a gap to first and second and a fast girl 20 seconds behind me so I had to run hard from the beginning with no one to chase or to run with. I managed to keep the gap large until the last 500m when I started to fade. Fortunately I had a nice lead so it was no problem. Although this was the smartest way to run, it was also the toughest as starting fast and hanging at altitude is a whole different world. Needless to say it was worth the effort as I now have my first World Cup medal!!
Thanks to everyone who has encouraged me and believed in me!!
February 20, 2008
Cairo World Cup
I had a strong start with the shooting event where I shot 183 out of a possible 200 points for a pentathlon score of 1120. This is my best world cup shooting score in several years and bodes well for the coming season. I made some changes at the end of last season and have been training very well in shooting so I'm very happy to see this is carrying over to the competitions as well.
Unfortunately the day took a turn for the worse after that point. I had a very slow start to the fencing and although I fenced spectacularly in the middle portion it was still a below average score of 776 in the end. Swimming was also disappointing as I swam a much slower time than usual. As my swimming was already weak this left me in a very poor position at the beginning of the running event.
Only the top 18 advance to the final and I started in 25th and quite a ways back. I was able to move up to 20th but it was not enough. It was a disappointing start to the season, but hopefully this experience will sharpen me up and help prepare me for the next World Cup in Mexico in early March. I'm very pleased with the training I've been doing so it will just be a matter of tweaking a few details to get the performance I'm capable of giving.
Cheers,
Kara
Happy New Year!!
Once again we've said good bye to a year of experiences and are looking ahead to all the fun in store for the coming year. 2007 was an amazing year for me as I had some great training and competition results, not to mention the fact that I married a wonderful man!! The next 12 months will also be very exciting as 2008 is an Olympic year and all my hard work in the sport of modern pentathlon will be coming to fruit in time for the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2008.
I wanted to start the year off the right way, so I took part in a high performance training camp in the Swiss Alps over the holidays. We did some excellent training is a very scenic area and even had the pleasure of ringing in the New Year with a traditional fondue on a mountaintop, followed by a toboggan ride down the mountain at the stroke of midnight. I have to say that any toboggan run that requires access from a chairlift and takes 35 minutes to wind down to the bottom is pretty spectacular - especially on a clear, starry night!!
My fitness and mental focus are both in great form and I will continue training at this level here in Switzerland for another two weeks before heading back to Canada for my final pre-season preparation phase. There are several important competitions remaining in the Olympic Qualification period (ending June 1, 2008). The first event of the season is a World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, February 20-22 followed by another World Cup in Mexico City, March 7-9. I plan to be in top form to secure a good result early in the season and thus strengthen my position on the Olympic Qualification World Ranking list. While there will be several other opportunities to perform at other world cups in April and May as well as the World Championships in Budapest at the end of May, I would prefer to have a strong position early on!!
My Olympic Dream is made possible through the support of my husband, family, friends, supporters and sponsors. This exciting journey includes training and competitions, but also motivational speaking, sponsorship events, and of course my annual "Swing to Beijing" Golf Tournament which has been the cornerstone of my fundraising efforts over the past four years. We hope to confirm the date of the 2008 Swing to Beijing soon so keep a tentative place on your calendar for July 14th!
I've also been part of the Aliant Atlantic Canada Contenders Team since last July and this has provided me with additional support and opportunities. Check out the website for more information and contest details for a chance to win a trip to Beijing to watch me compete!! Click here to visit the Aliant Contest site.
The adventure continues. Thanks to everyone who has supported and encouraged me in
my pursuit of excellence!!
I wish you all the best in 2008.
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