The Island's Olympic contenders

One year from today in the land of stiff upper lips, dreary skies and stout ales, more than 40 Island athletes will be among the Canadian team competing in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games from July 27 to Aug. 12 in London.

Top Island athletes are preparing to fulfil a lifetime of dreams.

The Island's contribution to the Canadian Summer Olympics team has historically, on a per-capita basis, been extraordinary. That's largely because the opportunity to train year-round in a mild climate has attracted elite athletes and made this a hub for national team training centres.

As a result, impressive numbers of home-grown Island athletes have in turn been inspired by what they see going on around them and have aspired to the Games themselves, with hundreds of Islanders making it over the years.

Support facilities, such as the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Camosun College Interurban campus, have sprung up as a result of all this top-level sporting activity in the region.

Qualification is on-going and the Canadian team is far from set, but one year-out, here are the Top-20 Island story-lines to look for on the road to the 2012 London Summer Games.

1 RYAN COCHRANE SWIMMING

After the bronze medal as a 19year-old in the 1,500-metre freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, followed by gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and silvers at the 2009 and 2011 world championships, expectations will be high on this Victorian's sinewy shoulders.

But standing in the way of a golden ending to the tale is world-record holder Sun Yang of China. The Yang-Cochrane duel will be among the most compelling in London.

2 DAVID CALDER, SCOTT FRANDSEN ROWING

This Victoria pair, silver medallists at Beijing in 2008, will also be under considerable pressure to take the next step to the top of the podium. They aren't shying from the challenge and have labelled their quest: "Turning Olympic silver to gold."

A confident pair, but hardly cocky, theirs will be a pursuit worth watching.

"It's a special situation and we're working and putting in the sweat hard every day to close that gap in London," said Calder, the father of two who has made a personal financial sacrifice by taking a two-year leave of absence from his job with the B.C. government to follow his dreams to London.

"We know we can go so much faster and are looking ahead to a great year of training."

The London Olympic trials for rowing are later this month in Bled, Slovenia.

3 LINDSAY JENNE RICH ROWING

Canada has notoriously had a bad rate of converting world championship gold to Summer Olympic gold. But this Claremont grad, who barely missed making the team for Beijing, is now defending world champion in lightweight and looks great for London.

4 SIMON WHITFIELD TRIATHLON

Can he possibly come through for a third Olympic medal at age 37? He was previously underestimated at both Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008. There is something about the glaring spotlight of the Olympics that brings out the best in this legendary Victorian.

Is there anything left to draw from in that seemingly magic well? That question will be answered in London.

5 GEOFF KABUSH MAX PLAXTON MOUNTAIN BIKING

Not yet a golden oldie like Whitfield, the veteran and steady Kabush, a UVic mechanical engineering graduate from Courtenay, is looking to go out a medallist in his third Olympics.