Instead of “Own the podium,” Canada should have gone with “Change the podium.”
If the Olympic podiums were changed to accommodate four — or even five — places instead of the traditional three for medals, Canada would be kicking some serious butt this year.
But alas, our athletes who finish just outside of the medal count — mostly in fourth place — will have nothing but memories and stories to tell of their Olympic adventure. No medals.
And typically Canadian of us, we are pretty much OK with that. Admittedly, we are a little disappointed because of all the hype over “Own the podium,” and being told Canada’s medal count will put us in first place overall. And the men’s hockey “Dream Team” doesn’t look too golden following Sunday’s loss to the United States (a very bitter pill to swallow indeed).
But when someone like Mellisa Hollingsworth, who finished fifth in women’s skeleton, tearfully apologizes for letting Canada down, almost all Canadians are willing to forgive, forget and get on to the next event.
Perhaps we are no longer that comfortable with saying at least they made it to the Olympics or at least they had a strong finish. We are beginning to look for medals. We don’t want to always live in the huge shadow our southern neighbours cast.
So if there were medals for fourth and maybe even fifth place, this would be one Olympics-crazy, happy country today.
But there’s not, so we have to just be happy with strong finishes in many events again this year.
