SIMON Fairweather stopped the nation when he won gold for archery at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In stark contrast, his return to competition in Canberra over the past month or so has been decidedly low key.

After representing Australia at five Olympics, Simon took over as the head coach in 2009 before walking away from the sport a year out from the London Olympics, frustrated by the politics.

Right now he’s avoiding any talk about a comeback, saying simply he’s back shooting a few arrows. He has been down on the range in Canberra about 10 times but, like Michael Phelps’ return to swimming, it is often hard to hose down expectations.

A telling indication that he may be serious about returning in a bid for selection in Rio is his registration with ASADA, which is required if he intends to compete at the national titles later this year. That has been done within the six-month timeframe to take part in the Australian Championships.

THE Men’s Premier League soccer match between Woden Valley and the Cooma Tigers would have to go down as one of those special moments in Canberra sport.

Cooma was leading one to nil when Woden Valley was awarded a penalty. However, the Woden players didn’t believe they should have been awarded a penalty, even though a goal could have levelled the scores.

Woden’s Lukas Cole stepped up and, instead of attempting to fire the ball into the back of the net, simply dribbled it to the Cooma goalkeeper.

Cooma went on to win the game three to one, but in the eyes of many the Woden players emerged as champions as well.

JUST on Canberra soccer; I was watching my daughter play for Belconnen United in the under 17s Division 1 at Harrison and on the adjacent field the Belconnen United under 16 Premier League boys were playing Gungahlin.

To my surprise, playing for Belconnen was legendary Canberra United player Caitlin Munoz.

As I watched the game it was clear she more than held her own. She was using the tougher approach in the boys’ competition on Saturdays to prepare her for the W League. She is also playing on Sundays in the women’s Premier League.

While I was fascinated by the contest, not everybody shared my enthusiasm to see a competitor who has played more than 50 times for Australia battling it out with boys half her age. There were complaints about a 30-year-old woman playing in the 16 years boys’ Premier League.

The upshot is that Caitlin won’t be playing with them again.

FORMER Canberra Kookaburras skipper, Matt O’Connor, has found success as coach of Irish rugby giants, Leinster. He is making sure there is a Canberra connection with former teammate Marco Caputo appointed as the new coach of the set piece for the next two years.