Trip Reports - AA to Montreal: 2005 World Swimming Championships

I'm currently in an internet cafe along the Rue du Parc in Montreal, just across the street from my priceline hotel ($46 a night, and perfectly acceptable). As they want $C10 a day for high speed internet access (about $US8), I have decided to use an internet cafe across the street which gives me 8 hours for $C20 (about $US16), which will last me the rest of the week, as I will not be on line as much as I usually am. I am using a French keyboard, so some of the characters are not working (like the apostrophe...I have given up trying to figure out how to use that).

I almost did not make it to the airport, as the deadbolt mechanism in my front door broke as I was engaging it before driving away on Sunday night. After talking with my dad and one of the nephews, I barricaded the front door with a sofa, exited via the attached garage, and raced to SFO, arriving at the ticket counters 35 minutes before my AA 2345 departure to Chicago (cutoff for check in with carry on is 30 minutes, so not much time to spare). Spoke with my dad tonight (midnight Mon in Montreal now) and he did get over and replace the deadbolt during the day. I can always count on my dad to come through!

Needless to say I did not sleep much in first class (6A, MD80) on the 3.5 hour flight between SFO and Chicago, which arrived just 0530 Monday local time. We sat at the gate for about 15 mins as there was equipment in the way, and AA could not seem to locate anyone to move it so we could park.

I headed over to the Admirals Club for about an hour, and then went to the gate for the 0755 regional jet flight (CRJ) to Montreal. AA still had not got things together. This time we sat at the gate an hour, in light rain, and not once during that time did either of the flight attendants, or the pilot, enlighten us as to why we were still sitting there. Eventually we were out of there, and about 90 mins later, with some light turbulence, we arrived in Montreal (noon local time). I quickly made my way out of the airport, took the airport bus into the city, and checked into my hotel. Met with the Coughlins in old town Montreal at 2pm. Their hotel is just a block away from Notre Dame Cathedral, though we are both about the same distance from the pool at the Jean Drapeau Metro station.

The swimming venue here is outdoors, so potential thunderstorms this week could be a problem.

Overhead photo of swimming venue:
http://www.montreal2005.org/eng/Installations/installations.cfm

Although swimming runs 8 days, I have timed my arrival to coincide with Natalies individual events, 100 back and 100 free. She is the World Record holder and Olympic Gold Medalist in the 100 back. Tonight she swam semis in it (top 16 swimmers from prelims earlier today), and is seeded #1 going into finals tomorrow night. Hopefully another gold medal on the way.

I have to tell you I am seriously impressed by the RCMP who are poolside in their red tunics raising the flags of the winning countries. They march in (3 of them), get in formation to raise the flags, and once raised they turn around and salute until the anthem of the winning country is concluded. I know they raised the U.S. flag twice tonight due to gold medal wins, and hopefully we will see it a few more times this week. I have just not seen a more professional flag ceremony. Canada should be proud of them, as well as the excellent pool facilities here.

After tonights swimming, Speedo hosted a dinner for U.S. families that was well attended (beef, lamb, various pasta dishes, a very popular chocolate fondue for puring over strawberries, and much more). It was just a 5 min walk from the pool. I did not leave until 11pm (swimming went from about 6-8pm). Ièm only 3 Metro stops away from the pool. Nice being inside with air conditioning, as the hot temperatures here, combined with the humidity, have me dripping in sweat. I need AC :)

That is about it for now. I will add some comments below about the swimmer I am here following, for those of you not familiar with her.
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Natalie Coughlin is the daughter of close friend's that I have known for 30 years (and winner of 5 medals at the Athens Olympics, including two gold medals--I was there). She is co-captain of the U.S. Team in Montreal.

Link to event photos on Yahoo (some nice ones from today):
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=natalie+coughlin&c=news_photos

Link to event site:
http://www.montreal2005.org/eng/index.cfm

Next post will be after 100 backstroke finals on Tuesday night.

GO, NATALIE !!!

I just finished watching day one on Fox Sports Central (it is also on FSPacific early in the morning). Nice and very professional coverage without excesses.
Montreal facility and overall organization looks great although I expected somewhat better attendance. Weekday effect I guess.
Have fun overthere. ;)

Part of it might be the heat. It's hot and humid outside, and these events tend to run 2 hours or more. There is a big U.S. contingent here, including Michael Phelps mother, and one of his sisters, who I saw this morning at their hotel.

There were two police officers stationed between the U.S. families and the athletes last night, both with bullet proof vests that they wore over their clothing (instead of under, as is more typical). Guess they stay a little cooler that way, and bottled water was brought over to them.

Montreal had this event taken away from them earlier in the year, and then given back after the Mayor of Montreal guaranteed the various financing that is needed to underwrite it. Guess we'll know next week if they broke even or not. The Canadian swimmers are getting serious applause in their events, so certainly a lot of Canadians in the stands.

I forgot to mention last night that the USA Swimming web site (http://www.usaswimming.org) has some excellent day to day coverage, with emphasis on how the U.S. swimmers are doing.

Glad to see you are enjoying our city! It is great to have you all here!

Tom,

Nice to read your report. Just got back from MOntreal myself, stayed at the same hotel you Pricelined (Quality, correct?) and used the same internet cafe. I enjoyed the hotel for it's location, certainly not for the hoardes of people clogging the lobby every time I went downstairs! We visited Ile Ste Helene but did not go to any of the events unfortunately. Montreal is a beautiful city and I hope to head back again next summer.

Dave

Nice report Tom,

Sad day for Women US team. Coughlin finished 3rd in her signature event. Katie Hoff failed to qualify on 200 free, and Jessica Hardy lost to Leisel Jones after swam a world record in Semi.

Any insight on Coughlin performance today?

Thanks,

Just back from dinner in old Montreal (salmon and pesto spaghetti...very good..and Canadian beer).

Natalie looked good the entire swim, and then the last few meters Kirsty Coventry, who swims for Zimbabwe, picked up a burst of energy and passed her. The German swimmer who came in second was the same swimmer that placed second in Athens against Natalie, so all these folks swim against each other at different events. At least she made it to the awards stand again (bronze, second this week, as she has one from a relay event where the U.S. placed third on Sunday), and she had a big smile on her face when she walked by us after the medal ceremony.

Nice quote from her on the U.S. Swimming site:

“I just got third, and I am very happy about it,” Coughlin said. “I think it was a great heat.

“I took a long break after the Olympics, and I broke my foot, so mentally, it has been tough. Fortunately, these things don’t happen a lot. My training is going well, and I am just really happy. You want to win, but you can’t win all the time.”
---
Afterwards, it actually rained lightly. When Michael Phelps was awarded the last gold medal of the night, the U.S. anthem was played in some light rain. By the time we made it to old town for dinner, it was pouring.

Her next event should be prelims and semi-finals for 100 free on Thursday, with finals to follow, hopefully, on Friday night.

Today we've had cloud cover,which is holding the temperatures down a little compared to yesterday. Spent a couple hours in the air-conditioned underground shopping area downtown, as well as walking about street level. When we passed The Bay department store on the street, we saw a manequin in the window in a Speedo fastskin suit (the full body suit the racers wear). Strange to look at the cap and see "Coughlin" on the side :) Natalie probably does not know she is a featured manequin in the window. Guess the Speedo folks have been doing some marketing with The Bay.

Yes, I am at the Quality hotel. The lobby has been empty the times I have been through there, but location is excellent, and the swimmers are staying in a hotel around the corner (with high police presence). I walked down to the Metro earlier behind Aaron Peirsol, who won a gold medal tonight for the U.S.

Glad to see you are enjoying our city! It is great to have you all here!

Montreal is doing an outstanding job hosting this event. We are having a great time. Tomorrow is an off day for us, so we're going to start late (11'ish), and haven't even sorted out what we're doing yet. Hope the cloud cover stays around to cool things down (minus the rain, of course).

I didn't realize construction of the pools have already been completed!

I can confirm the pools have been completed and are full of water :)

Thanks for your report. I am really enjoying it, especially the first hand experiences with the swimmers and their families! Hopefully Natalie will be able to kick it into gear a little more for the 100 free.

Just returned from Montreal. Had a great time there. Beautiful city with friendly folks. The artists' festival, the boat cruise on St. Laurent (although it was a bit pricey), the Biodome, the Botanical Garden, Old Montreal, and the St. Joseph Oratory were all great. :) :) :)

Great to see the American's keeping us honest, tom911 ...just for some spice, thought I'd point you to the Australian Swimming site (http://www.swimming.org.au/meets_and_results/news.cfm?ObjectID=1634) :D

I will be the first to say that Australia has some excellent swimmers. I've followed Grant Hackett for years, and was pleased, as were all the Americans that surrounded me, that he set a new world record last night in 800 free. At least an American came in second :)

We love the Australians so much, we're taking them on in Irvine on August 2, before they head back down under, one on one (will be televised on NBC in the U.S. the following weekend over 2 days). We did this last in 2003 in Indianapolis (U.S. won, Thorpe didn't show for that one either), but this one is really a tossup as to who will win. This event is already sold out (but I have my ticket, as do the Coughlins). I don't know if Australian television will be broadcasting this or not.

Went to prelims this a.m. and about 90 swimmers competed for the top 16 slots in 100 free semis tonight. Natalie made the cut (she took a bronze in this in Athens), but there is some tough competition, including Jodie Henry (think she won this in Athens) and Alice Mills, both from Australia, and another American, Amanda Weir. I hope she makes it into finals for Friday night (top 16 advance to semis tonight, then top 8 from there go onto finals on Friday), and it will be a very exciting race seeing all these swimmers in the pool together.

Gorgeous weather in Montreal today, with cool temps and bright sun. Just back from lunch at the Casino, and a quick walk across the park there to Metro, and back to the hotel. A lot nicer than yesterday, when it pretty much rained the whole day, and stopped just as finals were starting at 6pm.

Natalie competed in two events tonight. I knew she was going to compete in the 100 freestyle semi-finals tonight, which included the top 16 swimmers from this morning's prelims. To my surprise, she also swam one leg in a relay event tonight, also.

First, she placed 4th tonight of the 16 swimmers in semi-finals for 100 freestyle, so that qualifies her to advance to finals on Friday night (top 8 swimmers). She's definitely going to be the underdog here, as she is swimming against Amanda Weir from the U.S., who did very well tonight, as well as Australians Jodie Henry (she won the gold in Athens) and Alice Miller. It's going to be one exciting race to the finish line.

Speaking of exciting races: Natalie was selected to swim the first leg of the 4 X 200 freestyle relay tonight. It was a battle with Australia for the elusive gold medal right down to the finish line, but the U.S. pulled a rabbit out of a hat, and came out winning the GOLD, to an audience (the biggest of the week) that was all on its feet. The battle for 3rd place was between China and Great Britain, and China won that. During the middle of this event Great Britain was very close to passing the U.S. and Australia. Congratulations Team USA and Natalie!

Jim (Natalie's dad) and myself held up a big banner when the medals were awarded reading "GO NAT TEAM USA" that I'm sure she saw. She also stopped in front of us after the medalists circled the pool deck and waved. She had a big smile on her face and was clearly very happy. This is the same event the U.S. Team, which included Natalie (Cal) and Kaitlin Sandeno (USC), set a world record in Athens and won the gold medal last year.

She tossed her flowers up into the stands and they were caught by her mother, Zennie.

Couple other short notes:

Megan (Natalie's sister) commented that all the homeless people here, that seem to be everywhere asking for money, are the most well dressed homeless people she has seen anywhere. I'd have to agree.

We had lunch at the Casino, just across from the pool, today, but won't be returning. The food was OK (buffet, about $US12), and the seating was in a rather packed room and noisy. None of us cared for it, but then we've all been to the Bellagio and have serious buffets to compare to.

Had pub food and beer in Old Town Montreal tonight (just the beer for me) as we didn't have big appetites after lunch in early afternoon.

Looks like Natalie will also swim 50 butterfly prelims in the morning, in an attempt to get into finals for that event also.

Current medal count: 1 GOLD, 2 BRONZE

Photos from tonight (one has a Mountie standing behind her..and look how excited she gets when she is cheering on her team mates):
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=natalie+coughlin&c=news_photos

Next events: 100 free finals Friday night (medal event), and possibly 50 butterfly semi-finals

Forgot to mention that Jenny Thompson was in the stands with us tonight (if you know anything about swimming, you'll know her name). She retired from swimming, after a stellar career, a few months after the Olympics.

Just left the Coughlins after dinner at an Italian restaurant near the UQAM station (University of Quebec, at Montreal), and we'll catch up with each other in Irvine this Tuesday when the U.S. swims head to head against Australia in an afternoon meet. I fly back to the Bay Area on Saturday morning, and will drive down to Irvine on Monday to meet up with them. They'll remain behind here in Montreal for Natalie's remaining events (there's another relay she could be a candidate for). The meet ends on Sunday night.

Natalie had an excellent day today. In this morning 50 butterfly heats, with about 70 competitors, she was the fastest swimmer. The Coughlins tell me she qualified for this event in Santa Clara, something I was not aware of, thinking she only qualified for two individual events (this is her third). In this evening's semi-finals (top 16) she came out #5, good enough to gain her a slot in finals for this event on Saturday night (and a potential 5th medal), in which the top 8 competitors from today move on.

Natalie did win a SILVER medal in the 100 freestyle final this evening, which brings her up to 4 medals total (1 GOLD, 1 SILVER, 2 BRONZE). She was beat out by Australian Jodie Henry who also won gold in this event in Athens (Natalie took bronze in Athens).

While out shopping this afternoon, we actually boarded a Metro car to find Natalie and another U.S. swimmer on board. What are the chances of that happening? She was on her way back to the team hotel after her morning event and practice (this was about 2 hours after we had left the pool). We don't get to see her often during the international meets, as she is with the team or at the team hotel. Nice bumping into her.

The 4 X 200 freestyle relay was also another exciting event this evening. Although won by the U.S. men, the fans were on the feet in jubilation that Canada came in second and took a silver medal. I'm sure this will be the highlight of swimming results on Canadian TV tonight.

That's it from Montreal. I'll update swimming results from Saturday when I'm safely home in the afternoon. Hoping for another medal for Natalie (she got 5 in Athens, so would be nice to at least tie that count).

GO NATALIE!

Home from Montreal. Both MD80's departed on time. I used Metro ($C18 for a 7 day pass running Mon-Sun, about $US15), and the airport bus ($C22.75RT, about $US18.50), which I picked up at the central bus station above the UQAM Metro station. As a single Metro ticket is $C2.50, we received excellent value from that weekly pass (averaging about 4-6 trips per day). They also offer 1 and 3 day tourist passes.

Breakfast on YUL-ORD (90 min flight) was yogurt, fresh fruit, and a bagel (or croissant if you wanted that). They offered an option of rice crispies. I had en empty seat next to me.

Lunch on ORD-SFO was breaded chicken fingers with pasta, and a small salad, or a vegetable pizza (pretty standard AA offerings). Dessert was a package of applesauce cookies (pretty standard, too).

Service was fine on both flights, though I only got about an hour sleep ORD-SFO because of a screaming child in F that was vying for my attention.

Did check the 50 butterfly results, which was swam at 6pm in Montreal, and Natalie did not medal here, taking 6th place. There is a 4 X 100 medley relay, in which each swimmer does a leg in a diferent event, that she could still medal in. Waiting for those results to get published any minute, as the relays are the last event of the night.

Looks like Natalie had the fastest first leg (1 minute even) in the 4 X 100 medley relay, but the U.S. did not retain the lead and Australia won the gold. Team USA takes silver. Same results as in Athens last year. The Australians have some excellent swimmers.

Natalie's leg was 100 back. She set a course record in that leg. It's the event she holds the world record in, and she was the first person ever to swim it in less than one minute. She came pretty close to breaking that one minute barrier again tonight.

Natalie ends the week with:
1 GOLD
2 SILVER
2 BRONZE

..so I'm sure she's pretty happy with all those. I'll see her in Irvine on Tuesday.

In Montreal for the weekend... Staying at Marriott Chateau Champlain. Many athletes staying here especially from Japan, China and Spain... Very busy weekend as Gay Pride is also being celebrated this entire week. Glad to hear that many Americans are enjoying Montreal. Also happy to see many Canadians on the medal podium :)

Just wanted to say to all our American friends YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED IN CANADA!! ^

tom911, watched the 100m freesytle and other races yesterday here (would have been Friday's races there in Canada) and saw Natalie on the medal dias with Jodie. Was thinking you'd be in the stands somewhere.

Trust you enjoy the head-to-head in Irvine.

I was only there through the Friday night events, as this was set up after I decided to retire, and there was a limited availability of award tickets at that point (if I had been able to book back in January just about every AA flght was open). Just couldn't get a seat home on Sunday, though if I wanted to stay a couple extra days there were seats later in the week (but then I wouldn't be able to get to Irvine). I did the best with what was available. If I had been working full time still, I wouldn't have been there at all, as I had scheduled my vacation for other times of the year.

I'll be driving down to Irvine at 6 on Monday morning, as I'm going to combine it was a Las Vegas visit afterwards (friends live there). The Coughlins fly in and arrive from Montreal around the same time I'll get to Southern California.

Just wanted to say to all our American friends YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED IN CANADA!! ^

We had a great time there. I'd like to come back and get over to Quebec City on another visit. We had people on the street help us with directions to certain shops or restaurants, correct our French when needed (that started for me at immigration, when I mispronounced the street name of my hotel making it sound Spanish instead of French), or generally wish us a good time during our visit. I wore USA apparel (shirt, cap) every day going to and from the pool, and not once was I bothered (that was a concern in Athens last year, but no problems there, either). I felt right at home there.

I'll say it again: Montreal, the province of Quebec, and Canada did an amazing job hosting this event.

We had a great time there. I'd like to come back and get over to Quebec City on another visit. We had people on the street help us with directions to certain shops or restaurants, correct our French when needed (that started for me at immigration, when I mispronounced the street name of my hotel making it sound Spanish instead of French), or generally wish us a good time during our visit. I wore USA apparel (shirt, cap) every day going to and from the pool, and not once was I bothered (that was a concern in Athens last year, but no problems there, either). I felt right at home there.

I'll say it again: Montreal, the province of Quebec, and Canada did an amazing job hosting this event.

Glad to hear you loved Montreal and if you do go to Quebec city you will fall in love all over again. The oldest city in North-America has it's European charm but yet Canadian flavour... I have been told by many Americans the only country they feel safe in is Canada.

Tom -

Once again - As a swimming fan - Great report!!!

Congrats on your retirement.

cejkwj

Hope you're able to watch Duel in the Pool on NBC this weekend. I'm just home from Irvine (fantastic dual pool facility there that sat 2,700), where we sat in the hot sun for 4 hours of great swimming, and enjoyed an Hawaiian luau buffet afterwards poolside. Watch for me on TV in my blue "Cal Swimming" shirt, about 4 rows behind the starting blocks (right behind the Phelps entourage in row 3).

Natalie flew up on UA this morning (I drove), and her parents and other relatives flew on Southwest. All of us are are safely home now. Natalie told me she's taking a 6 week break. Not sure where she's going to turn up swimming next (maybe the World Cup circuit this fall). She does have a vacation trip in mind next week.

I did meet Australia swimmer Grant Hackett's parents last night, who were also in Montreal. Seemed like very nice people. Due to the expense of coming out for Montreal and Irvine, I don't think many Australians came out.

Good news is that Worlds are in Melbourne in 2007, and Duel in the Pool III afterwards in Sydney, so they'll be seeing (hopefully) a lot of Americans coming over for that.

Well, I won't get NBC on (Foxtel) cable over here in Australia, but I'm sure that Fox Sports will have it on...I'll check out the programming over the weekend. Will be on the lookout for your blue shirt.

Grant's a really down to earth guy, similar to Ian Thorpe. Two great (male) ambassadors for Australian swimming...