The Olympics are over now. The word finally, however, does not belong in that sentence because why would anyone have been yearning for it to end. It turned out to be a thrilling event that excited, enthused and enthralled most Canadians and why would anyone want to lose those feelings.
But now that it is over, here’s some thoughts on Canada’s Games.
After Day 1, I was certainly worried and I know I was not alone in this country. The death of the Georgian luger, an opening ceremony that was at times more dreary than expected and concluded with an incredibly embarrassing moment — the malfunction of part of the cauldron — all led to some fear.
Canadians are very proud of who we are but we do fear criticism and judgment by those from other nations, especially the U.S. When the opening day did not go as well as hoped those fears kicked in — a concern that the world’s going to think less of us because we can’t put on a perfect Olympics.
The weather problems on Cypress Mountain and at Whistler in the first few days did not help alleviate those fears. Our national anxiety of being thought of negatively by the rest of the world was almost palpable.
And sure enough, after a few days, the barrage of negative words came flying at our Olympics — from the likeliest of sources, the British media, that bastion of positivity.
But instead of cowering in the corner and lamenting that the world was mocking us for hosting a disaster, we shot back at the naysayers, defending the Olympic organizers and workers for doing the best they could.
However, the Canada-bashing coupled with the fact our athletes were not raking in medals the way we hoped, while Americans were dominating, kicked the national worrying into overdrive and a lot of focus was negative. I know I was worried, and I was not alone, that these Games would be compared with the disastrous Atlanta Games in 1996
And then a funny thing happened on the way to this becoming a national disaster — it instead became a celebration of Canada by Canadians. A huge number of Canadians, many of whom said they don’t normally watch sports, just couldn’t get enough of the Olympics on TV because it was so compelling and was more than just sport.
While the Canadian victories and medals helped spur us on to waving the flag and singing the anthem whenever we had a chance, the fact that it was at home made us feel more a part of the Olympics than any other in the last 20 years. As well, many of the successful athletes made us feel a part of their joy and celebration. Who could forget skeleton athlete Jon Montgomery celebrating his win with a pitcher of beer during a march down the streets of Whistler?
And when there was defeat or tragedy, we felt a part of that as well. When Joannie Rochette skated onto the ice just two days after learning she had lost her mother, an entire nation offered her a hand of emotional support and she took it, making us feel a part of her triumph.
When skeleton athlete Mellisa Hollingsworth, a favourite for gold, finished fifth, her tears and comment that she “let down” her country made many of us, myself included, step back and realize that we may have been taking this quest to own the podium a little too seriously, to the point of putting too much pressure on the athletes
Now, the 14 gold medals were definitely important and it wouldn’t have felt as sweet without the successes, especially in men’s hockey. But what’s interesting is that some of the most memorable medals for me were not even gold.
Rochette’s bronze is an obvious choice for an obvious reason as one of my favourite medals.
Also, the victory dance and perma-smile of short track speedskater Marianne St-Gelais as she received her silver medal will always stick with me as one of my favourite moments. How could you not like St-Gelais and the emotion she showed as she watched her boyfriend, Charles Hamelin, win two golds in one night.
On the Olympics website there were pictures of every athlete and just by looking at them you could tell they were the pictures taken for the athletes’ ID cards. Clearly, everyone was told not to smile because all of the athletes in those pictures are stonefaced, except one. Even for that photo, taken before the Games, St-Gelais could not stop smiling.
My other was the bronze medal of long track speedskater Clara Hughes. At 37, after five Olympics — two summer and three winter — multiple medals in both summer and winter, Hughes succeeded in laying down a phenomenal time in her final race, which was enough to finish third. To see a class act like Hughes, one of the finest athletes Canada has ever produced, get one last taste of glory brought tears to my eyes.
But then there was the mountain of gold and that felt pretty good, especially the triumph of our men’s hockey team just when it looked like the U.S. could beat us at our own game.
What will stick with me is not just that game and Sidney Crosby’s winning goal, but also the moment during the medal ceremonies when Crosby was about to receive his medal from International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge. Rogge usually seems like a stuffed shirt but as the cheers for the hero of the hour, Crosby, grew in the arena Rogge stood back and gestured to the crowd to cheer even louder, leaving Crosby to smile sheepishly and wait a little longer for his piece of gold.
These moments plus many, many more contributed to one of the most wonderful two weeks in this country’s history — something in which we all shared.
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Last week, I introduced the idea of an award or three awards for the top countries at the Olympics based on top 10 finishes not just medal awards. Points would be awarded for each top 10 finish based on 10 for first, nine for second and so on down to one for 10th.
While Canada had the third highest medal total at these Games behind the U.S. and Germany, Canada actually had the second most top 10 finishes and the second highest total of points on the above system.
Canada had 83 top 10 finishes, right behind the U.S. at 86 and ahead of Germany’s 78. Austria was fourth with 61 and Norway was fifth with 60. In terms of points, Canada had 502 right behind the 520 of the U.S. Germany was next with 467, followed by Norway at 365 and Austria at 335.
In both categories, Canada was up from 2006 when it had 73 top 10 finishes and 431 points.
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Canada’s 26 medals mean one medal for every 1.3 million Canadians, good enough for eighth highest on the medals per capita chart.
Norway topped the list with one medal for every 211,326 people, considering the nation of 4.87 million won 23 medals.
Jason Small can be reached at 691-1255.
