(watch the Gold Medal Victory Ceremony for Jon Montgomery today [2.20.2010] on CTV - 22:00 EST / 21:00 CST / 19:00 PST)
HERO OF THE MONT !!
Manitoba's Golden Boy...
Prairie Son...
Jon Montgomery
(Click images to enlarge)
Jon Montgomery, from Russell, MB has won GOLD in Skeleton!
With a 4th Heat top speed of 144.8 kph and combined finish time of 3:29.73 (209.73 seconds)
JON REILLY MONTGOMERY with
(Mother) Joan, (Father) Eldon, (Girlfriend) Darla, Jill and Jodi
(CTV interviewer) Jennifer Hedger
Goofin' with Jon...
Spirit of the Turtle and the Thunderbird...
Jon Montgomery has the First Nation's depiction of the Turtle and and the Thunderbird on his helmet. (by artist Phil Gray)
A kiss for Turtle.
A free pitcher of golden beer
Victory Inscribed on the HEARTS of All Canadians...
Carried on the back of the spirit turtle...
Spirit of the Thunderbird...
Manitoba, Canada's area code is "204"
View Larger Map
Olympic Gold Medalist in Skeleton, Jon Montgomery was born on May 6, 1979 and grew up in Russell, MB.
Russell, MB is located at the junction of MB HWY 83, MB HWY 45 and the Western turn of the Yellowhead Trail CDN HWY 16.
TRIVIA:
The Manitoba portion of the Yellowhead Highway route 16 was originally numbered MB Highway #4 until 1977, when it was redesignated in order to make all of the Yellowhead Highway numbered as Highway 16 across all four provinces of western Canada. (Manitoba, Sakatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia)
The Highway Runs from Winnipeg Manitoba through to Prince Rupert British Columbia.
The Yellowhead Highway association's 2010 Annual Conference & AGM is being held April 29 - May 1, 2010 in Prince George BC.
[The Flashforward date of 4.29.2010]
Russell is a small Manitoba town of 1700 people. The town of Russell is located at Highway 16 and Highway 83, approximately 15 km from the Saskatchewan border and 340 km northwest of Winnipeg. The community is home to approximately 1,400 people, with a trading area population of over 14,000.
Russell is the home of Manitoba's Beef and Barley Festival, which is held annually in October to celebrate the region's strong agricultural tradition. Festival events include the King & Queen Pageant, a volleyball tournament, a car rally, and a craft fair. Grain farming and cattle ranching are extensive in the surrounding areas.
8 arches span Russell, MB 's Main Street.
See official Town of Russell, Manitoba web site
Community Notables:
Red Dutton - Athlete - NHL hall of famer
Theoren Fleury — Athlete - NHL (Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks)
Jon Montgomery - Athlete - Olympic Games Gold Medallist Skeleton racer
Charles Arkoll Boulton - Historical Figure - Lieutenant Colonel during North-West Rebellion
Winnipeg Free Press - Pride of Russell charges to top of skeleton with furious finish
By: Ed Tait
20/02/2010 1:00 AM
Now that Montgomery's won a medal, what's in his future?
"A pint," he said.
WHISTLER, B.C. -- Strike up the band and begin mapping out the parade route back home -- Russell's Jon Montgomery has delivered a 2010 Olympic gold medal for Canada and for Manitoba.
Montgomery, the 30-year-old part-time auctioneer, full-time daredevil and proud product of the Keystone Province, blistered through the final two runs in the Olympic skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre to overtake Latvia's Martin Dukurs and stand atop the medal podium and give Canada its fourth gold medal, and eighth medal overall, of the XXI Winter Olympics.
"It feels.... is stupendous a word? Outrageous. Unbelievable... all those things rolled into a big ball. It's bearing down on me pretty heavy because I don't even have words to describe it," said Montgomery.
Montgomery began the day 26 hundredths of a second behind Dukurs, the reigning Federation Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) champion and chipped into the Latvian's advantage in Friday's final two runs.
Montgomery posted a time of 52.20 in his third run -- breaking Dukur's track record set a night earlier -- to cut the lead to .18. And in the fourth and final heat he was timed at 52.36 while Dukurs finished in 52.61. Montgomery's four-heat total of 3:29.73 was .07 better than Dukurs at 3:29.80.
"I have no clue how this might change my life," said Montgomery. "You get beyond what's in front of your nose on a skeleton track and you're going to be ass over tea kettle and in a world of hurt. We'll worry about how this might change my life after the Olympics are over."
Dukurs, the likable 25-year-old from Riga, was trying to deliver the first-ever gold medal for his Baltic country. Rounding out the podium was Russia's Alexander Tretyakov, who finished third with a combined time of 3:30.75.
Canada's Jeff Pain, a silver medallist four years ago in Turin, was ninth with a time of 3:31.86 while teammate Michael Douglas, who began the day seventh, was disqualified.
Montgomery's medal performance perfectly caps a wonderful tale of the small-town hero who first began sliding at Tower Hill in Russell, virtually just outside his back door.
Appreciation
"I'm looking forward to getting back to Russell at the beginning of March and showing my appreciation for everything that everybody's done for me, all the well wishes that I've got and the support I've gotten from my hometown, Russell, Manitoba," he said.
Montgomery didn't officially pick up the sport until eight years ago when he first gave the skeleton a try at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.
Working as an auctioneer in the auto industry, Montgomery could see the lights of the skeleton run from his apartment.
Visiting the park with his parents one night...
(read the rest of the story at Winnipeg Free Press)
Phil Gray
(The First Nations Artist behind the famous Turtle and Thunderbird Helmet of Jon Montgomery)
In September of 2009, members of the Olympic Skeleton Team consulted with British Columbian shaman Sandra Molendyk to receive some spiritual guidance, and to have their sleds blessed. During this consultation, Montgomery discovered that his spirit animal is the Turtle. After discovering this he commissioned his famous Turtle and Thunderbird helmet from Vancouver First Nations artist, Phil Gray.
Phil Gray
CULTURAL GROUP:
Tsimshian/Cree
BORN:
March 15, 1983
BIRTHPLACE:
Vancouver, BC
Phil Gray began carving in 1999 with Salish artist, Gerry Sheena. Since then, Phil has worked with artists Mike Dangeli, David Boxley, Henry Green, Lyle Campbell, Jay Simeon and Ian Reid. He also had the opportunity to study Advanced Design under acclaimed Haida artist, Robert Davidson. Phil works primarily in cedar, alder and boxwood. He creates masks, panels, poles, sculptures and drums. Philip belongs to the Killerwhale Clan and the majority of his works are created in his traditional Tsimshian style. In September of 2003, Philip had three of his pieces donated to the Burke Museum in Seattle. In 2005, Phil was featured in the 'Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2' exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design in New York. In the winter of 2007, Phil completed a large commission of sculptural works for Sonora Resort on Sonora Island, BC. Also in 2007, Phil completed the Northwest Coast Jewellery Arts Program at the Native Education College in Vancouver, under Kwakwaka’wakw/Haida artist, Dan Wallace. Phil was included in two major exhibitions in 2009. The first was the 'Challenging Traditions' exhibition at Ontario's McMichael Gallery, a show that was dedicated to exploring innovative and experimental works from the Northwest Coast. The second was 'Continuum: Vision and Creativity on the Northwest Coast' at Vancouver's Bill Reid Gallery, which highlighted 23 established Aboriginal artists from BC, Washington State and Alaska. In September of 2009, Phil completed a pair of large red cedar doors here in Lattimer Gallery, which depicted a 'Grandmother Moon' design. In February of 2010, Phil designed the helmet of gold medal-winning Skeleton racer, Jon Montgomery. Montgomery held Phil's helmet throughout the Olympic awards ceremony.
VICTORY !!
(Watch video of Jon Montgomery's interview with Jennifer Hedger @ CTVOlympics.ca)
(for winning run replay see also the YouTube CTVOlympics Channel)
(read the BIO for Jon Montgomery on AthletesCAN)
Visit the official Jon Montgomery Web Site
OLYMPIC MEDAL TRIVIA:
The Olympic Medals were minted in the center [heart] city of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, at the Royal Canadian Mint. Each medal is a piece of a larger puzzle. All the medals fit a place in a larger picture. Each "crop" and medal is number coded for medal winning athletes to reference which part of the picture they have on their medal.
(click to play)
The Mint produced all 615 gold, silver and bronze medals for Olympic Winter Games athletes, as well as the 399 athlete medals for Paralympic Winter Games competition.
BONUS SYNCH (2.22.2010):
I was checking out Deconstructor's Superheroes vid on youtube (ref: the Strange Eye TESLA article) and at the very (and I do mean very) moment that he said the word SUPERMAN... this is what was displayed by Canada's CTV. I have had it on, as of late, to hear the latest Olympic NEWS, catch up, and grab some fitting images but this morning I happened to look over at the screen right as the Deconstructor video said Superman.... I took a screen cap to post here - as this moment was the perfect example of a "personal synch" [ref: Jungian Synchronicity]... (Kudos to the inventor of PVRs)
(be sure to check out the rest of the Olympic articles!)
