Photos by Dr. Terry Defreitas
Just two months after winning the World Championships in Beijing, Karine Sergerie strikes gold again — this time in Brazil. And she was not alone; team mates Shannon Condie took silver and Ivett Gonda won bronze. These are spectacular results for the Canadian Team (in particular, the Female Team), although by all accounts Male Team members put up good fights, but were eliminated in their first matches of the single-elimination tournament.
These are better results than four years ago at the last Pan Am Games when Canada won no medals. Way better. But this is no small event, and of the 470 elite Canadian athletes in 41 sports, Sergerie’s gold medal was one of only six brought home to the Great White North so far. That puts Canada fifth in the medal count out of 42 countries.
Sergerie, from Ste-Catherine, Quebec, fought three matches to win the 67-kilogram division. She defeated Heidy Juarez of Guatemala 8-2 in the gold-medal bout. Earlier, she dispatched Asuncion Ocasio of Puerto Rico 7-0 in a semifinal and edged Taimi Castellanos of Cuba 1-0 in the quarter-finals.
“The beginning of the day was a bit difficult for me – I put way too much pressure on myself,” said Sergerie. “I was quite tight, but things went much better in the afternoon bouts. In all, it was a very good tournament.”
 Karine Sergerie - Gold |
 Ivett Gonda - Bronze |
Ivett Gonda (British Columbia), who fought at the 2004 Olympics, received an early injury which contributed to her semi-final loss to Mexico. Shannon Condie (Ontario) first met Brazil for a tense match which she won in sudden death. She was clearly superior in her next two matches (winning 5-0 and 4-0) but lost the finals against an experienced Mexican fighter.
And Brazil really loves their Taekwondo. Sure their fighters are solid, but the fans are a force to be reckoned with too. Team Doctor Terry Defreitas recounts the opening ceremony:
…we walked through a narrow path made by gates and police, along the entire gate were spectators and participants in the opening ceremony …. at first we could only hear drums, then once we saw the people they began clapping and cheering CANADA!! CANADA!!! The drums got louder and more people waved and cheered as we walked by…. The Brazilian people cheered for us almost as much as they would cheer for Brazil.
They booed USA. They were indifferent to many others…
That’s great, but any fondness for us evaporated once the competition began. In Shannon Condie’s match vs. Brazil, fans were booing Canada before the match even started. But Canada’s Taekwondo athletes are no stranger to this; similarly engaged fans are always seen at national games and may, it turns out, have helped prepare our fighters for situations like this.
2007 Canadian Pan Am Games Team
Other Canadian athletes were not as prepared. One trap shooter from Edmonton admits: “It was a difficult final because of all the yelling by the Brazilian fans. It’s not part of our sport to cheer, and especially to cheer when the shooters miss the target.”
A 14-year old female gymnast became flustered after receiving cheers for falling off the beam. After falling off a couple more times for good measure, she said “I’ve never ever experienced this as a gymnast, and I find it a lot like a hockey game”.
As unnerving as the crowd may have been for Canadians, the US had it far worse. Anti-American sentiment was a big issue at the games, aggravated by an incident which got one fellow kicked off the U.S. delegation.
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