By DAVE FULLER -- Toronto Sun
  SYDNEY -- It wasn't a hungry shark that wrecked Carol Montgomery's Olympic triathlon, but it felt like one.

 Montgomery -- the first Canadian woman to qualify in two sports at the same Olympic Games -- was released from hospital yesterday with a sprained wrist, a deep gash in her hip and a body scrape from her neck to the top of her left ankle.

 Montgomery, who was at least a sentimental choice to win a medal in the women's triathlon, also shattered her helmet after piling into a bike wreck set off when Britain's Sian Brice swerved to avoid a pothole while reaching for her water bottle.

 Canadian teammate Sharon Donnelly -- another potential medallist -- suffered cuts to her right leg in a separate crash, but finished 34th after a race volunteer helped replace her flat tire while she straightened the handlebars.

 Both racers were lucky to walk away from their accidents, although Montgomery's hopes of running in the 10,000 metres now are in jeopardy.

 Although she is scheduled to compete in a heat 10 days from now, the 34-year-old Vancouver resident said she won't run if she doesn't think she can do well.

 "I'm not going to go out there and embarrass myself on the track," Montgomery said. "When you have that many people in the building and everyone sees what you're doing ... I just wouldn't do that to myself," she said.

 Montgomery and Donnelly both blamed a narrow, potholed bike course for eight separate wrecks during their event.

 "It definitely was the course," Montgomery said. "It's so rare that women crash. The course was so narrow and with people watching -- they were so close and reaching over waving their flags and that took another metre of space. And with the manhole covers and potholes, they came up so fast on you. They were impossible to avoid."

 "I just don't feel it's fair that, with everything I've been through, I have to end a great year like this."