Will Canada finally be able to win Olympic gold medal while hosting?
Citius, Altius, Fortius. Swifter, higher, stronger, this is the motto and modus operandi of the games. It’s February 2010 and there’s effervescence in the air, light electricity. It’s winter Olympic season, a time for vested interests, high hopes, and placing bets. The entire functional world is congregating in one location putting ideologies aside for about three wholesome weeks, where for a few brief moments, men will be made legends, and their measure will be defined by physical prowess. The foreign sun drenched battle fields will be replaced, if only momentarily, by frosty playing fields and it is here that the world will hold it’s breath as our respective ambassadors test their metal and wage a far more respectable kind of war.
In this time of grand excitement of high praises on snowy peaks one thing is on every body’s mind: Will this be the year Canada finally wipes that blemish off of our cultural tapestry? Will we finally be able to move past our terrible Montreal 1976 and Calgary 1988 seasons where we were the first and only country in the 114 years of Olympic history (since 1896) to not win any gold medals while hosting? Just a cursory glance at our line-up, and we can put our fears to rest, this is our year, we will not be denied. It’s unanimous, our athletes are swift, they’re hungry, and they will blaze a fiery path straight atop the podium and into the annals of history. But how far will we take it?
Luciano Bara deputy CEO of the 2006 Torino Olympics has been involved with the games since 1960, he was general secretary of the Italian Track Federation and for 15 years held the position of Sports Director of the Italian Olympic Committee. He has been to over 15 Olympic games. With this solid a track record it is only natural he gets asked the tough questions, and when asked how he thinks Canada will do in the upcoming Olympics Bara stated that he believes Canada will win the most medals. He then followed that statement by saying that our cocky bigger brother, best partner and most worthy of adversaries, our southern province, the United States of America, will come out with the most gold, and that technically speaking, that would make them number one. The way countries are ranked is not measured in the amount of medals they win, it’s a tally of the amount of gold medals won that garners the most respect. So how will we do? Let’s investigate.
Hockey, is our national pastime. After the blow to our hearts that was our overtime loss in the juniors, all we want is revenge. The good news is we’ve got a solid lineup. Helmed by Scott Niedermayer with a strong supporting cast which includes Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Patrice Bergeron, Dany Heatley, Rick Nash, Mike Richards, Eric Staal, Joe Thornton and Jonathan Toews our team is an all star crew of sharp shooters and great defenders. Our goal tenders are Roberto Luongo, one of the premiere goalies in the league and the first since 1947 to be named captain of his team (Vancouver Canucks) and Martin Brodeur, “old faithful” who set the NHL record with 104 career shutouts this past December. He is our final line of defense, and we couldn’t ask for any better. Yes, we will do some damage here. But in classic cold war fashion, we’ve got the Russians to worry about. Our nemesis includes famous names like Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Pavel Datsyuk, they’ve got the firepower but the headstrong Russians are lacking in defense. Here`s to hoping we`ve got the strength to capitalize on their weakness.
As far as heights go, my money is on Erik Guay for the Canadians downhill ski team. He led the Canadian team in last year’s World Cup event. Unfortunately to stand on an Olympic podium he`ll have to do a lot better than be the best Canadian at the event, and that`s where the doubts begin to settle in.
Speed skating. Something about people on blades cutting through solid ice with almost zero protection reaching speeds of about 40km/h really gets me going, and I`ve had my eye on the women`s junior team for quite some time now, long enough for many to leave the world of the Juniors and enter the running for Olympic gold. Tamara Oudenarden has been getting a lot of press lately, but in my opinion the women’s team is led by the Quebecois first timer Kalyna Roberge who broke the 1000 meter record in the 2008 qualifying rounds. Her energy and commitment is unparalleled.
Canada is currently known worldwide for being a country of wholesome, polite, good natured losers. We are the only country in history to have hosted without winning gold, and we did it twice! I have no doubts that we will rectify the situation this year, but in order to truly make up for lost time, we must leave our good nature aside and murder the competition. Let`s have this be the year Canada becomes known as killers, and have our snowy peaks go blood red with the sound of thundering applause.
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