Saint John Times Globe Monday, August 9, 1999

By KEVIN BARRETT- SportsWeek

Ed Winchester

So here we are, 18 days of competition in the memory banks and a wealth of medal-winning performances by New Brunswickers at the marathon edition of the XIII Pan-American Games.

These Games, too big for smaller centres and too small for large areas, took on an interesting and at-times unsettling character during our stay in Winnipeg, which from all accounts should stand proud of its volunteer efforts and performance.

For the 12 New Brunswick athletes, though, the Games were as positive as you could imagine.

Sure, individual disappointments occurred along the way, but collectively, NBers produced 10 medals, remarkable considering the opposition provided, principally from the United States and Cuba but also from other strong delegations from Brazil and Argentina.

By comparison, the highest Canada Games total was 21, that coming in 1997 in Brandon (not sure if Sport New Brunswick will set up headquarters in Manitoba as a result).

However, the medal haul is only part of the story.

The other aspect was the emotion displayed by the athletes during and after their respective events, with equal amounts of tears and smiles from the veteran group of NBers, many who are the senior members of their teams.

Easily, the highlights were the two gold medals won by Marianne Limpert and the one secured by Joel Bourgeois, but it was an upstart women's basketball team that provided one of the most exhilarating moments when it edged Brazil 56-54 on a last-second basket after blowing a 14-point lead.

There was Joel Bourgeois's thrilling back stretch break from an American in the 3,000-metre steeplechase that gave him a gold, his first in a major international meet. And there were Limpert's relay golds, the second on the 4xlOO relay that wasn't decided until the final lap when Waterloo, Ontario's Laura Nicholls caught and passed an American swimmer in the dying strokes.

Also, Canada rallied from a slow start in women's softball to defeat Cuba for silver, take the Americans to the limit in the gold- medal game and leave Winnipeg with an optimistic outlook, confident and ready for another crack at the U.S. in Sydney, Australia, next year.

Moncton native Mike Murray didn't win a medal but he helped promote a sport low in awareness with countless interviews and public relations moves during his short stay at the Games as an in-line skater.

Looking back, it was Bourgeois who said it best when he compared racing to classical music, detailing the co-existence of highs and lows in sport, even in gold medal performances.

That analogy could transfer to the N.B. contingent in Winnipeg. Most poignantly was the disappointment expressed by Limpert on Friday when she missed her Olympic qualifying time of 2:15.01 in the 200 IM, a result that left her questioning her strategy and her potential recovery for a second shot later this month in Australia, all with tears in her eyes.

Ditto for Sue Tingley of Rothesay, so distraught after a 1-0 setback to the United States in field hockey she had difficulty composing herself for interviews afterward.

And the same for Cynthia Johnston of Rothesay when she stood on the silver medal podium for Canada - a first for her and basketball teammate Dianne Norman of Fredericton - wondering if she'd ever dress for Canada again after her playing time diminished considerably at the tournament.

Fellow Rothesay resident Ed Winchester fell 0.30 seconds short of the bronze in a grueling 2,000-metre rowing final that proved his once-injured back can withstand the rigours of international competition but also that his crew can't relax if it hopes to secure an Olympic berth for 2000.

But Tingley recovered and, with Sarah Forbes anchored a powerful recovery en route to bronze, outscoring their opponents 17-1 in their final four games.

Limpert should bounce back and if she makes the grade in Australia, her Pan-Am Games disappointment should be eased.

Bouctouche's volleyballer Brigitte Soucy and Team Canada struggled to a 1-5 fifth-place result but the veteran Soucy was easily one, if not the best, player on the Canadian roster.

And the Canadian gymnastics team, with Kris Burley and Darin Good, agonized over a bronze when they felt they should have won silver but new routines earned international grades and maybe they can make the jump to the Olympics later this year during the qualifier in China.

It was a great two weeks for the local athletes to expose their sports and abilities to the Canadian and provincial fans. The female component of the N.B. delegation was strong with eight women involved, collecting seven of our 10 medals.

So, while the value of the Games was questioned, the abilities of N.B. athletes cannot be. Through all the attention given to dopers, defectors and other aspects, the collective N. B. effort was high-quality.

In short, well done.