While the equestrian sports have never really been a big deal in North America, outside of the Triple Crown of course, the Canadian program itself has been growing in leaps and bounds. And today’s gold medal in the Olympic individual show jumping event is more than proof enough that the team is heading in the right direction.

And for Eric Lamaze, that gold medal is redemption, a sweet kind of redemption more than eight years in the making.

After making both the 1996 and 2000 Olympics teams, Lamaze was banned by the IOC for testing positive, on both occasions, for cocaine. At the time the equestrian circles had been labeling him young and reckless on the courses- and now the general population was labeling him young, reckless and a cheater out of the ring.

The tests brought the sport under closer scrutiny and made the interim years hard on the Canadian Equestrian Federation. But the success of Ian Millar, or ‘Captain Canada’ at the Pan American Games, and of the entire team at these Beijing Olympics are heralding a new, and probably the best ever, era for the sport.

Show jumping has, believe it or not, long been a Canadian sporting staple. In fact some of the world’s most prestigious competitions are held every year in our own backyard; Calgary’s Spruce Meadows, for example. The marquee event, the Masters, held every year in early September has over $2 million in potential earnings and draws more than 50,000 spectators- that’s more than the over-hyped Bills-Steelers game drew to the Rogers Centre a few weeks back. And you’d be hard pressed to find someone who paid attention to sports in the 1980’s and didn’t recognize the name Big Ben, Ian Millar’s iconic ride in two Olympics and one of only two non-humans entered in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (the other being Northern Dancer- a famous Canadian racehorse).

And while the show jumping wasn’t hyped prior to the start of the games, I think you’ll have a hard time finding a Canadian who'd want to give back the gold and silver medals our equestrians have won in Beijing.

According to the Daily Mail in London via a prison source, Conrad Black has been nicknamed "Lordy" by inmates at the Coleman Federal Correction Complex in Florida.

More interesting than Lordy Black's new title is that he has apparently conscripted his cellmate to be his gofer/butler/cleaner.

Seems like it should be a much easier job than trying to clean one of his mansions. I wonder what the cellmate is getting in return?

Lordy (who was denied yet another appeal today) is also lecturing prisoners and guards on American history and politics, according to the source and "was shocked by how uneducated most of his fellow inmates were".

Once upon a time, we were all about Canoes.

This is a country of watercourses and watersheds; the paths of many paddles knit into a nation.

In that spirit, here's a shout out to Canada's Olympic paddlers.

Video: Canoes and Kayaks for Canada, by Jeff Needham

Last night in Toronto Harbour, fifty-plus paddlers pulled together to salute the canoeists and kayaks who are doing us proud in Beijing. A grassroots gathering of folks from Harbourfront Canoe and Kayak Centre, The Complete Paddler, the Virtual Voyageurs Canoe Club and Canoe.ca raised our paddles and our voices to say "Go Canada Go!"

Based on Willows and Dober's performance today, it looks like the shout was heard...

Here's to all our paddlers, Olympians and otherwise. May your memories be all be gold!

Photo: Toronto skyline from Hanlan's Point, by Keith Nunn.

Check out the photo gallery on CanoeSpace for more pics from the event.