Our Golden Moments

I've had a chance to think about the success of our Olympics over the past week. It does seem to make a difference to throw money at an issue - this is the first time that Canada has ever really supported its athletes and it did make a huge difference. I hope it will continue. It sort of bothers me that everyone will now only think about the men's hockey game, which had its storybook ending, as the biggest event of the Olympics. Those guys always get all the glory and winning the Olympics was simply another 'notch in the belt' to them. I was impressed with our improvements in men's cross-country skiing and with the fact that a few long distance male skaters finally got on the podium. The results in snowboarding and ski-cross were also impressive.

I'd have to say that our media continues to put expectations on athletes without predicted results. This was particularly true of the alpine ski teams. It was interesting to hear that Erik Guay won in Norway on the weekend, but the news media reported he didn't get on the podium at the Olympics. He did come 5th - what's wrong with that???! I think it was a good result in comparison to other years. Kevin Martin was expected to deliver and he did. Most of our gold medallists were people we'd never heard of unless we are sports enthusiasts who follow all the details of events. When will Canada learn to take the pressure off its "expected" medalists?

I disliked the title, "own the podium" - it seemed really rude to invite the world to a competition in your our country and then let them know we plan to "own the podium". I liked that we supported the people financially.

I've also heard many people say that medals should perhaps be considered on a per capita basis. If that's the case, Norway would certainly surpass us - they have a population of only 4.5 million.

I was pleased that everything went so well at the Olympics, especially after a very shaky beginning. I also worried about a major "incident" related to security and I'm relieved it went off okay. The few people I know who attended thought it was great. We all know that the ParaOlympics won't get the same attention. I congratulate the organizers on putting on a good show. I criticize them for their poor budgeting. I get to be one of the many British Columbians who gets to pay for this party.