Shooting star Chao irked by timing of city’s gun ban
Olympian frustrated as Union Station gun club’s closure gets bumped up to end of next month
July 25, 2008
Randy Starkman
SPORTS REPORTER
Avianna Chao arrived home from being hailed as a first-time Olympian to find an eviction notice from the city.
Chao has been informed that the shooting club she uses as her main training base, the Canadian National Recreation Association, upstairs in Union Station, is being closed Aug.29, five days after the closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics.
It was quite a blow for Chao to get the email with the bad news after an upbeat news conference Wednesday, when the Canadian Olympic Committee presented her as part of the Beijing team.
“We were all very happy from the COC launch and then we get home and, bam, this thing just slaps you in the face,” said Chao yesterday.
“I really didn’t know how to take it. Either the city really hates me or it’s the city council or is just David Miller. It was extremely disappointing.”
The lease on the club ran until the end of the year, but Mayor David Miller pushed through a plan to address gun violence in Toronto last month that, among other things, cancelled the lease and permit for the CNRA and another range in a Scarborough community centre.
No date had been announced for the closure and Chao said they’d been given the impression they’d have until the end of year. Now, the Pan Am Games air pistol champion will be spending a lot of the week she has left before heading to Beijing helping to clean out the club.
“This is time consuming,” said the 33-year-old computer engineer. “I wasn’t even going to worry about this sort of stuff before the Olympics. If this was any other sport … if one of our swimmers was going to the Olympics, would they be shutting down their pool just as they’re heading off? You wouldn’t even think about that. It’s unconscionable.”
Patrick Haynes, Chao’s coach and fiance, warns the move may have implications for Toronto’s bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games. The head of the Pan American Sports Organization is Mario Vazquez Rana, a former Olympic shooter and founder of the Mexican Shooting Federation. His brother, Olegario, runs the international shooting federation.
Haynes said he plans to make sure during the Beijing Games that the other Pan Am nations know what’s happening to sports shooting in the GTA.
“I think that Toronto being so hostile to sports shooters, it greatly strengthens Colombia’s and Venezuela’s and Peru’s bids,” he said. “I don’t think that short-sighted politicking should be rewarded with a major international Games.”
Stuart Green, a spokesperson for Miller, said he doesn’t believe the gun ban will hurt the city’s chances.
“The bid is never solely within the city of Toronto. Some venues are outside the city,” Green told the Star’s Vanessa Lu. “I don’t see how that would affect a judging panel’s decision.”
Green pointed out that the shooting clubs at Union Station and in Scarborough have been granted permission to stay in the city at another range, just not on city property.
Haynes isn’t expected to have an effect on the number of handguns available to criminals. Chao has said the type of gun used in competition, a single-shot pistol, would not be much use to a criminal.
“It’s hypocritical and it’s just showboating,” said Haynes. “I can’t really understand where he thinks he’s getting support. There’s no public support for this. … Disassembling an 83-year-old club under the pretense of public safety is absurd.”
Toronto Star
http://olympics.thestar.com/2008/article/467050/article/467050
