I had a chance to speak with Tracey Ferguson about meeting Prince Charles, preparation for the London Games and getting ready to lead the women’s wheelchair basketball team in her sixth trip to the Paralympics.

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Starkman apparently became sick after returning from covering the Canadian Olympic swimming trials in Montreal, and when Star writers took to Twitter to announce Starkman’s death on Monday afternoon, the reaction was one of sadness and surprise. Journalists, from Toronto, Canada and beyond; athletes, all across the Canadian sports landscape; and people, every day readers and fans who seemed to have no connection to either world, all wrote how much he and his work would be missed – and he will be. His tireless work, in a niche area of sports, to be sure, was unique and can’t be matched by any other news outlet in this country.

What struck me the most when I heard he was sick, and then heard about his passing, was what a gigantic, gaping crater his loss leaves in covering amateur sports in Canada. Three months away from the London games there is no way for the Star, or anyone really, to fill that space.

I had the privilege of meeting Starkman only once, in a class when I was in grad school at  Centennial College in Toronto. As a fan and observer of the Olympics and amateur sports I had followed his work before that, and was really intrigued to hear him speak. Right now I can’t remember any of what he talked about – but it doesn’t matter. I remember him speaking honestly and earnestly about covering sports, as a bureau of one on a full time basis, that few others follow more than every four years when the Olympics brought them in to the spotlight. I remember the “passion for sport,” as Scott Russell, another pro in the amateur business, would say, that he showed in his work. I remember him being generous with his time to my classmates who did an interview with him. I remember him joining hosts on Sportsnet 590 The FAN over the years I’ve been here to advance the stories of athletes that, in all honestly, rarely get talked about, even on an all-sports station. I remember being inspired that my interest in “fringe” sports could really lead somewhere and be something that you could follow year-round and beyond the Olympic cycle.

So remember Randy Starkman by reading (just some of) his excellent work from over the years. Remember him as his colleagues at the Star did. Remember him with this touching tribute by kayaker Adam Vankoeverden that likely echoes what a lot of Canada’s amateur athletes would say about him. And remember him when you watch the London games and recognize the names of Canada’s athletes, because without the work of Randy Starkman, you probably wouldn’t know half of their stories.

“It’s hard to stay at the top of your game and completely motivated when it’s been over a year since I’ve lost,” she says. “Anyone who knows me knows that I love making a comeback, that’s my favourite part of competing. Its such a great feeling to do that, so I just feel like what better time than now to have a loss to feed that fire and get ready for the next tournament.”

With that renewed motivation comes an increase in training, and the task of actually qualifying for the Olympics. Spencer will travel to China next month to compete in Qinhuangdao and earn a spot in London. Along with being an Olympian, also comes the prospect of truly becoming one of the faces of boxing in Canada. In addition to her place as a trailblazer in the women’s side of the sport, Spencer will be recognized soon enough in another way by Canadians – as a face of COVERGIRL cosmetics, alongside stars like actor Queen Latifah, the comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres and singer Taylor Swift. The opportunity was “unexpected and came out of nowhere” for Spencer, but once she learned more about the brand she decided to sign on.

“I did my research because I never want to jump at something just because it’s going to benefit me, or I think it’s really cool. I’m really concerned about what it’s going to mean to other people that are looking to me as a role model.

Spencer said she appreciated the message of “inner and outer beauty” and could get behind the idea that “every one is beautiful in their own way.”

Here’s more of my conversation with Spencer about about working towards the London Games this summer, and just how on earth a boxer from Windsor, Ontario becomes a face of COVERGIRL.

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There’s the set of official Olympic and Paralympic £5 coins that are meant to be the main pieces of the collection, as well as a countdown series, the patriotic “Celebration of Britain” set and the 50 pence “Sports Collection” that will be in circulation in the months heading in to the Games.

Much like the series of quarters the Canadian Mint issued before the Vancouver Olympics, the 29 coins celebrate the sports that will be part of the summer Olympics and Paralympics. In a really cool added twist, the Royal Mint called on everyday Britons to come up with the coin designs, and over 30,000 ideas flowed in. The 29 final coins are stylish pieces of currency that show the best of each sport, and even the rules in one case. The “Football” coin caught the attention of Dan Girard at the Star for its unique front: half a soccer pitch with the words “Offside Explained” above it and a diagram showing an offside play.

The coin’s designer, sports journalist Neil Wolfson, explained in his video featured on the Royal Mint website how the idea came to him. ”I’m a football fan, I’ve followed the Premier league since it’s inception, and if I had 50p for every time someone asked what the offside rule was then I’d be a rich man.”

Which begs the question – why didn’t anyone in Canada think of that to explain icing rules in hockey?!

The news out of Switzerland this week is that the Amateur International Boxing Association will, at their technical and rules committee meeting in January, debate the idea of female competitors wearing skirts while boxing. Yes, you read that right: the women’s boxing competition might go girly so spectators can, in the AIBA’s opinion, tell the female fighters from their male counterparts.

At last year’s World Championships the AIBA brought skirts to the ring as an option for competitors, and at last week’s European championships boxers from Romania and Poland donned the new “uniforms.” The Polish team actually made it compulsory for its boxers to wear the skirts, and ones they apparently “designed themselves” because they’re more “elegant.”

“By wearing skirts, in my opinion, it gives a good impression, a womanly impression,” Poland’s coach Leszek Piotrowski told BBC Sport. “Wearing shorts is not a good way for women boxers to dress.”

Alright then.

I guess by the same logic, shorts aren’t a good way for female track and field athletes, golfers or tennis players to dress, either.  It’s just absurd. It’s like telling female hockey players that they need to have long, pretty hair flowing from the back of their helmets to distinguish them from men on the ice. That women’s soccer teams must wear pink jerseys so you can tell at at distance you’re watching players of the female gender on the field. Or Danica Patrick’s new NASCAR ride having pink bumpers and flowers painted on the hood of the car.

The AIBA isnt’t the first sporting federation to try and make its athletes looks saucier for the spectators – back in the spring the Badminton World Federation floated the idea of having its participants wear skirts while playing. The new dress code was supposed to have taken effect in May, but was pushed back to June to allow more consultation with players, who said that the new outfits  forced them to move differently and change their style of play.

I can sort of understand wearing bathing suits to play beach volleyball; but that doesn’t excuse the fact that men and women have decidedly different uniforms – guys get tank tops and board shorts while the women have barely-there bikinis - to wear on the court. I would never be comfortable playing a sport in any bathing suit I’d wear at a beach; not because of the skin I’d show, but for the very real possibility of a major wardrobe malfunction while I’m running around.

Personally, I’m not one for strict dress codes in any situation – school, work, sports – but I understand that they have a time and place and usually, hopefully, a reasonable explanation behind them. But making a sport “more appealing” to a certain demographic isn’t a good enough reason. And let’s face it – in almost every circumstance that a decision like this is made, it’s to change women’s outfits to appeal to men. The fact that organizations still believe that spectators, specifically male spectators, will only watch women play sports if they’re in the smallest outfits possible is outdated and sexist. If women said male soccer players, for example, should wear smaller, tighter uniforms to make them look better, they’d be laughed out of the room. Dictating how women should dress in their athletic pursuits, beyond what’s needed as equipment, in any way different than the men’s clothing is also sexist and demeaning.

Yes, showing more skin will get eyes on your sport – as it will in almost any other situation for women. But almost all of the time, it’s not the eyes you want, and they’ll look away once they’re bored. People will watch women’s sports if they want to, and will stick around if it’s a quality game being contested between two athletes at the top of their sport. Having a double standard when it comes to what women wear in the ring, on the field or anywhere else is a throwback concept that should be left in the past.

• on Day 1 Melanie McCann finished fourth in Modern Pentathlon
• Dorothy Ludwig won a gold medal in women’s 10-metre Air Pistol on Day 2
• also on Day 2 the Equestrian team won a silver medal in Dressage
• Elise Marcotte and Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon took the gold on Day 6 in the women’s Synchronized Swimming Duet event
• on Day 7 the women’s Synchro Swimming team - Stephanie Durocher, Jo-Annie Fortin, Stephanie Leclair, Tracy Little, Elise Marcotte, Karine Thomas, Valerie Welsh and Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon –  also took gold

Olympic places are up for grabs in events like Water Polo, Field Hockey and Handball as many of the team events get underway in week two. Individual sports like Athletics, Diving and Canoe/Kayak Sprint competitions get underway with lots of Canucks looking to earn their place in London.

The training partners, who run out of the Speed River Track Club in Guelph, now have their sights set on London as Canada’s first representatives in the sport since the 2000 games in Sydney.

Some of the sports Canada can qualify an Olympic berth include…

• men’s and women’s triathlon
• men’s diving
• synchronized swimming
• men’s and women’s waterpolo
• sprint canoe and kayak
• equestrian
• and more!

Because of the odd timing of the PanAms this year – the games are usually held in July and August, but it can be a tad hot in Mexico in the middle of the summer – quite a few of the top athletes who will be going to the Olympics are taking a pass on Guadalajara because it comes after the end of their sport’s usual season. But for those who are going it’s an important warmup before the big show in London next summer, both athletically and psychologically. The PanAm games are one of the biggest sporting events outside of the Olympic games and a crucial step in the learning process for young athletes. Christine Sinclair, captain of Canada’s national women’s soccer team, spoke about how special the PanAm games are to her and how important they were for her development as an athlete when she was named flagbearer for the opening ceremonies in Guadalajara. Sinclair first competed on the international stage for Canada in 2007 at the PanAm games in Rio de Janeiro and credits that experience with preparing her for further competition at the Olympic and World Cup level.

The PanAm experience will be just as important for athletes who aren’t trying to lock up Olympic spots, like Sinclair’s soccer team. After a disastrous World Cup in Germany this past summer, Sinclair said the team is using the PanAm tournament to prepare for the next stage of Olympic qualifying that they will face. Other sports federations use the PanAms as a testing ground for up-and-coming athletes in their dvelopment programs to give them that elite level international competition they can build on towards future Olympic games.

Sinclair will lead Canada’s team in to the Guadalajara opening ceremonies to kick off the games which run until October 30.

The Canadians got a 59-46 win over Cuba in the third place game on Saturday, and impressed head coach Allison McNeill in the process. Her team lost a close semi-final 62-59 to Argentina on Friday, and McNeill told reporters afterwards  that she was proud of how they bounced back.

“It was a tough loss [Friday] night in terms of the way it kind of went down and we really had to regroup today and they did and showed a ton of character,” she said. “Cuba’s a very explosive team and we just played great defence so I was very proud of them.

“You can’t look back and you can’t go back so I was really pleased that (Friday’s loss) didn’t grind our team down. They were resilient and got the bronze.”

By finishing in the top four, Canada has earned a place in next summer’s worldwide Olympic qualifying tournament with 11 other teams and a chance to take the next step and make it in to the Olympics, something the mens national team failed to do at the FIBA Americas last month.

Brazil won the tournament, and secured a spot at the Olympic games next July, with a dominating 74-33 win over Argentina.

Carl English led the way for Canada, scoring 24, while Andy Rautins added 14 points. Kelly Olynyk and Jevohn Shepherd each had 13 points, and Levon Kendall grabbed seven rebounds. Gary Forbes was the main offense for Panama, netting 39 points and nailing a three-pointer with 16 seconds to play that made it 91-86 before Rautins hit a late three of his own.

Canada crumbled in the second round of the tournament, finishing with a 1-3 record after losses to Argentina and Puerto Rico before edging out Uruguay on Wednesday morning.  In the preliminary round, Canada was 2-2 including a tough overtime loss to Venezuela on Saturday.

The last time Canada qualified for the Olympics was the 2000 Games in Sydney.