Olympic Round Up

At the London 2012 Olympics, Canadian athletes --many of them from British Columbia -- continue to make Canada proud.

Canada's Olympic women rowing team took silver today.

Victoria native Malcolm Howard and Gabe Bergen of 100 Mile House were among the British Columbians of the men’s eight rowing team to bring home a silver medal yesterday. Brent Hayden of Mission, meanwhile, took bronze in 100m freestyle, Canada’s first medal won in the pool during London 2012.

Check out more photos here.

The Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) is, along with taking part in special events, launching a Facebook contest today to mark the 100 days until the start of London 2012 Paralympic Games, August 29 to September 9. They're looking for the "ultimate super fan" to win a trip to the Games.

Inspired by the CPC's recent "Super Athletes" marketing campaign, the "Super Fan" contest asks users to come up with a creative nickname, photo and brief description on what makes them a Canadian Paralympic Super Fan. Super easy, right?

Entries receive votes through Facebook "likes". The fan with the highest number of votes on their entry will be sent to London, England, with tickets to the Opening Ceremony, Paralympic events and spending money.

Here's what else is going on across Canada today to mark "100 days to go" milestone, from a press release sent to us by CNW Group.

Birthday girl Marianne St-Gelais wins short track silver for Canada

Marianne St-Gelais, the short-track speed skater from Montreal took second place in the 500-metre event on her 20^th birthday, despite a false start and a crash on the first turn that required a restart.

Said St-Gelais of this momentous victory, "It's a wonderful birthday present…It's touched me very much.”

Her teammates, Jessica Gregg and Kalyna Roberge took fourth and sixth place in the event.

Another Canadian blow out

Outshooting the team they faced in the final four years ago in Turin 43-4 over the first two periods, the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team won another convincing victory and clearly, have yet to face a proven competitor.

Until I checked out the Vectorial Elevation website, I didn't realize that participation is a part of the art. You log into the website, design your own array of lights and it emails you when it'll be in the sky, takes a picture and sends it to you.  You can dedicate it to a friend or loved one on the website.  What a valentine!

The site will run for all of February and only allows the user to design their own art in the sky by manipulating 20 large searchlights. It also takes pictures of the results in the beautiful Vancouver skyline and sends an email notification to the designer.

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今夜正式に点灯した“Vectorial Elevation”イングリッシュベイの両端に20個の動くサーチライトが設置されています。環境面に留意しているのみならず、ライトの動きを私たちがデザインできるのです。サイトをご覧になりますと、現在どなたのデザインなのかがわかりますし、ウエブカメラで現在の様子を知ることもできます。http://www.vectorialvancouver.net ご自身の思い描くアートをバンクーバーの空で試してみてはいかがでしょうか？（写真・文　菊地真澄）

View of the Vancouver skyline on Thursday night.