Four years after a record-setting performance in Vancouver, Canada’s top winter athletes are showing that we can compete against the best the world has to offer.
With several days to go until all of the events of the Sochi Winter Olympics are completed, Canada is once again putting in an outstanding collective team effort. At the end of Tuesday’s competition, Team Canada had captured 17 medals, including four gold, nine silver and four bronze. It appears all but certain that Canada will surpass the 2010 medal count from Vancouver (26), although it remains highly unlikely that we will surpass the gold medal count of 14.
While each and every Olympian should be exceptionally proud of qualifying to compete on the world stage against the very best athletes on the planet, Canadians, like most other sports fans, do care about results and medals.
It wasn’t so long ago that Canada became the first host nation in history to not win a single gold medal on home soil when Calgary hosted the Winter Olympic Games back in 1988.
The things have certainly changed for the better over the past 25 years and Canada is certainly considered a powerhouse in too many winter sports to mention. The impressive medal count and world-class performances by dozens of Canadian athletes clearly indicates that the Own the Podium program, which provides stable and guaranteed funding to athletes who attain world-class results in their respective sports, is working.
Very few will deny the gold medal that matters most to the vast majority of Canadians is the one in men’s hockey. With Canada a heavy favourite to defeat Latvia in a winner-take-all quarter-final matchup Wednesday morning, the odds are strong that Canada will face a tough and talented Team USA in the semi-finals on Friday.
Both teams have performed exceptionally well so far in this tournament and it should be a classic for the ages, just like it was in the gold medal game in Vancouver four years ago. A win over the Americans would put Canada in the gold medal game on Sunday, likely to face the winner of the game between Russia and Sweden. No matter what happens, this has been another amazing Winter Olympics for Canada and every Olympian and fan should be very very proud.
