Lögberg-Heimskringla - 27.08.2004, Blaðsíða 15

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 27. ágúst 2004 • 15
An Icelandic diplomatic victory in tennis
Left: Ambassador Guðmundur Eiríksson knows how to hit the tennis ball. Right: The Governor General presents the prizes to the finalists.
Recently Ambassador Guð- Ottawa. member of the Tennis Federation in Ambassador recalls. “I also played
mundur Eiríksson and his partner “The tournament was great fun,” Iceland. “I played tennis for KR basketball for the club, along with
Chief of Protocol Robert Collette says Guðmundur Eiríksson, who plays Sports Club in Reykjavík and my sis- Helgi Ágústsson, now Ambassador in
came out as finalists in the Governor tennis regularly with his diplomatic ter Guðný and I were once Icelandic . Washington, and we were Icelandic
General’s first tennis tournament in colleagues, and was a former board champions in mixed doubles,” the champions for many years running.”
PHOTO: STEINÞÓR GUÐBJARTSSON
First cousins Nathan Vadeboncoeur and Stefan Arnason.
Peking 2008 is the goal
Steinþor Guðbjartsson
GImli, MB
The first cousins Stefan
Arnason and Nathan Vadebon-
coeur have a few things in
common. They are Canadians
of Icelandic descent, they are
top athletes from Manitoba,
and their goal is to compete for
Canada at the Olympic Games
in Peking 2008.
Nathan Vadeboncoeur is
the son of Donna Lee and Neil
Vadeboncoeur. He is a 200 m
and 400 in runner and has com-
peted for Canada on a national
team on three occasions, the
2002 World Junior Champi-
onships, the 2003 Pan Am
Junior Championships where
he anchored the Canadian 4 x
400 team to a second place fin-
ish, and the 2003 World Uni-
versity Games.
The runner from Winnipeg
will be 20 years in November.
He is a student at the Universi-
ty of Ulinois and started com-
peting in track and field when
he was 14. His best time in 400
m is 46.46 seconds and 21.42
seconds in 200 m. He is the
national junior record holder in
the indoor 400 m and held the
17th best junior indoor 400 m
performance in the world last
year.
He had set his sights on
the Olympic Games in Athens
this summer, but the dream did
not tum out in reality. “Our 4 x
400 relay team did not qualify
because of some problems
throughout the season,” he
says. At one time he could not
be released from the University
and when he was released he
was sick and another runner
was injured.
The Olympic Games just
finished in Athens. Nathan
says that it was hard watching
the Games and it would have
been a great experience being
there. “This gives me a motiva-
tion for next time,” he says. “It
keeps me focused over the
four-year period and I’ll use it
as a stepping stone on the way
to the Gaines in 2008.”
Stefan is 17 years old, the
son of Janice and Cameron
Arnason in Gimli. Cam and
SlflHÍflll
PHOTO: GREG JOHNSON
Stefan Arnason is a versatile athlete, and a Canadian Youth Champion in octathlon.
Donna Lee are siblings.
Recently Stefan won the
octathlon (100 m, long jurnp,
shot put, 400 m, 110 m hurdles,
high jump, javelin, and 1,000
m) at the Canadian National
Youth Championships and he
is looking forward to the near
future.
“The World Junior Cham-
pionships will be held in China
in 2006 and I want to be there
as a preparation for the
Olympic Games there two
years later,” Stefan says.
Visit us on the web at http:llwww.logberg.com