July 22, 1996
PERFECTLY CLARA
By TERRY JONES
At the Olympics
BUCKHEAD, Ga. -- Clara Hughes' mom and dad are coming from Winnipeg to Atlanta to watch their daughter compete in the Olympics.
Next week.
She asked them to be there on the day when she thought she could be something of a surprise story and maybe manufacture a medal.
Oops. Sorry mom. Dang it, dad.
The unheralded redhead went and won Canada's first medal at the Olympic Games, in the women's cycling road race.
In this bedroom/bar-room community where Atlanta wets its whistle, the Manitoba miss who lives and trains in Hamilton turned a dark day into a dandy day and won a bronze which was as good as gold.
Heartbreak for Jackson
One of Canada's best bets for a medal at these games was Linda Jackson in the event. And one of the best stories on the Canadian Olympic team was the Ottawa native who gave up more than a million in income as an investment broker over the last four years to chase her Olympic dream. The Canadian media mob was there in force. Half of them had never heard of Clara Hughes.
On the first lap, the second left-hand turn, Haijuan Zhao of China, Dania Perez of Cuba, Camille Solis of Belize and Svetlana Samokhvalova of Russia went down in a twisted wreck of high performance bikes and Jackson crashed into their mangled machines.
At 37, her Olympic dream was over.
A no-fault fluke.
There was no kiss that could make it better for Linda Jackson, but Clara Hughes, pushed herself home to provided the kiss that made better for Canada.
In the same uniform, they were poster girls for the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory.
What a complete contrast of emotion we witnessed in a matter of moments.
There was Jackson, sobbing uncontrollably in the arms of her father, getting it together to talk to the media, breaking down a few times but fighting through it.
Despite it being the most disappointing moment of her life she said he was thrilled for her team-mate.
Vocal support
"I yelled `Go Clara' as hard as I could,'' she said.
"I saw her,'' Hughes said of Jackson back from the hospital with her arm in a sling for the bell lap at the start/finish line.
"I think she yelled `Go Clara!'
"I could tell she was very happy for me.''
It was impossible not to be happy for this girl Canadians hadn't really heard of before she suddenly popped away from the pack with world and now Olympic champion Jeanie Longo-Ciprelli of France and Imelda Chiappa of Italy along with Australian Kathryn Watt.
The Aussie couldn't keep up.
Only three were left.
And Clara Hughes, being the daughter of a retired University of Manitoba English professor, figured it out.
She was going to win a medal.
