Now that the Winter Olympics are over and life is returning to normal for many of us who found ourselves addicted to television coverage of the Games, it’s safe to admit that this country did itself proud over the last couple of weeks.
Canadian athletes set a Winter Olympic record by winning 14 gold medals. Overall, Canada finished third in the medal count at 26, a record for Canada. And while the U.S. finished first overall with 37 medals, Canadians are more than happy with the fact our 14 golds topped their nine, and our men’s and women’s hockey teams were victorious.
But while hockey is this nation’s number one passion, the Vancouver Games offered so much more than that. Locally, there was the historic gold medal ice dancing performance of Ilderton’s Scott Moir and London’s Tessa Virtue, the first North Americans and youngest pair to win the event. And who will ever forget the gutsy bronze medal performance of Joannie Rochette, whose mother died suddenly mere days before Rochette was to skate? Everyone would have understood if Rochette had decided to pack her things and go home, but she stayed, performed the skate of her life and captured the hearts of people all over the world.
And speed skater Clara Hughes, a multiple medalist at both the Winter and Summer Games, capped off a brilliant career at the age of 37 to win bronze.
Admittedly, there was a rough start to the Games — tragically, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritoshvili was killed during a training run. There was an embarrassing technical glitch during the opening ceremonies and warm weather played havoc with skiing events for the first few days.
But the Games themselves captured the heart and imagination of this country. While there were disappointing showings by some Canadian athletes in the first week of competition, they were more than made up for down the stretch to a record-setting gold medal count. For a two-week period, this country, so often divided, was united. And when Sidney Crosby scored the gold medal-winning goal in overtime Sunday night, Canada cheered as one.
Of course, not everybody is happy. The grumpy British press wondered aloud at the start of the Games if this was the worst Olympics ever. They’re still grumbling. And the Russians made all kinds of unsavoury accusations about us.
But the barbs from those two nations are pretty easily explained: the British are no doubt a little nervous about the 2012 London Games (just think of the traffic nightmare in that city). They’re probably also a little upset at their medal count at the Vancouver Games — one.
As for the Russians, who will be hosting the next Winter Games in a place called Sochi, they’re probably still smarting from a 7-3 drubbing at the hands of Team Canada’s hockey team last week.