Day 13 proved to be lucky for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
A 1-2 finish in Women’s Bobsleigh, another Silver in Women’s 3000m Short Track Speed Skating, and a Bronze medal by Speed Skater Clara Hughes in the 5000m – capping her brilliant six-medal Olympic career. The four medals won on Wednesday tied the Canadian Olympic record for most medals ever captured on a single day of competition. Nice work Ladies.
Hughes Finished Off Her Olympic Career In Style
Factor in the dominating performance by the Men’s Hockey team in a 7-3 Quarterfinal rout over Russia and you have arguably Canada’s most successful day at the Olympics – ever.
Finally, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) can stand behind their Olympic motto: ‘Own the Podium’, at least for one day. Deservedly so.
Prior to Wednesday’s triumphs, “Blown the Podium” seemed to be the catchphrase of choice when describing the host nation’s failure to medal. Many critics were already deeming the 2010 Olympics to be a failure for Canada, with the COC promising to examine more closely how it all went wrong for the host nation.
Following Day 13 at the Olympics, to quote Mark Twain, it now appears that “the reports of (Canada’s) death are greatly exaggerated”.
Crosby and Team Canada Appear Poised To Win Gold
Canada has now won 15 medals – including 7 Gold – good for 4th place in the overall medal standings. Although at this stage unable to reach their ultimate goal of winning the most medals of any nation, Canada is on the verge of breaking their own single Winter Games record for most Gold medals (they’re currently tied with 7). If that final tally also happens to include Gold medals in the yet-to-be-decided Men’s and Women’s Hockey Tournaments, I have a hunch that critics will quickly find themselves changing their tune regarding the overall success for Canada at the 2010 Olympic Games.
Personally, I believe the time is now for a new motto to be put in place to better represent Canada’s performance in Vancouver:
“It’s not how you start, but how you finish.”
We want that double gold in hockey. We all know it’s tough to beat the US and Germany for overall medals. And the Norwegians always come out to play for the Winter Olympics. As usual we’re our own worst enemies. Why do Canadians have to talk down about themselves so much? I wish we had a little more of the American bravado and pride sometimes.