I’m an avid Olympics watcher, summer or winter, but I’m having trouble. As cute as Nikki Yanofski is, and as beautiful as the Olympic song may be, I’m starting to struggle with Believing.
We’ve been the source of humor on the American talk shows for our $113 million “Own the Podium” campaign– how un-Canadian of us! Pushy and confident. It’s our podium! Try to take it at your own risk! Under the big bucks of the OTP campaign, they’ve helped athletes, studied the science of the sports, supplied the most high-tech suits and equipment, done everything known to man to assure victories.
Doesn’t seem to be working out that way. Canada now has 8 medals, falling overnight to fifth place, far behind the US, which is having a great Olympics and has a present medal count of 23. Korea, which has largely owned the speed skating tracks, moved ahead of us in the medal count.
“Owning the Podium” has been estimated as a state of having a medal count of 30+; it’s starting to look like Canada will be fortunate to ever make 20, possibly finishing our “own” Olympics below our Turin total of 24 (which was only 1 medal less than the US 25 at that time). If we own anything, it’s starting to look like 4th and 5th place. We own that, for sure. Just try and take 4th place away from us, if you want a fight!
What is the problem? I don’t know. There are silly stories of Haiti’s earthquake troubles being due to making a pact with the Devil, and I’m starting to wonder if Canada made a pact with the Sports Devil at some point, and now we’re paying up. Big time.
I just watched a re-run of the short track 1000m final that featured the Hamelin brothers (with my early mornings, I watch a lot of the late night BC stuff in the early hours). Both of them made the final. What are the odds? Two Canadians in a field of five competitors. Three of the skaters would get medals. What are the odds? I almost didn’t dare watch. I could have written out the results for you before the first skate hit the ice. Two Canadians! Five skaters! Three medals! All you need is for one of the two to get ahead of any of the other three and we have a medal. All you need.
Final results? As expected: the two Koreans, Apolo Ohno, and then the two Hamelins trailing the field. Medals for all– except the Canadians.
This morning’s Chronicle-Herald bore only one sports-related headline: Medal Favorite Morrison Ninth. “Denny Morrison emerged from his latest poor performance at the Olympics and began to question everything.” Gee– what happened to him? People beat him out of fourth?
“_______ tried too hard,” is the comment we hear too often following an event. Fill in the blank as needed. Tried too hard? I’m not sure what that means. Sometimes it translates into a justifiable “took the lead to early and burnt himself out”, which might be legitimate. Other than that, I’m not sure it isn’t a copout. Tried too hard.
When Apolo Ohno went in his first Olympics as a teenager, he did poorly… gave up after a lack of success in his first races and just went through the motions after that. Finished last. His father, who had pushed the lad into racing, had a unique, perhaps more typically Japanese response: he put Apolo in an isolated cabin in the woods and left him there. “Decide what you want to do with your life.” After eight days, the rebellious Apolo contacted his father. He had decided: he wanted to skate. Since then, he has become the most decorated winter Olympian ever for the US.
I wonder if the Canadian team should be locked in cabins at White Point Beach, doors nailed shut, until they REALLY want to win?
Later today the Canadian hockey team meets the USA. I’m scared stiff. Despite being armed with weapons like Sid the Kid, they barely got past the Swiss last week, a team peppered with less than NHL caliber players. Did someone forget to freeze a Loonie under center ice? Maybe we should be going for hidden eagle feathers.
Oh, I know, the Olympics have brought some great moments. The Jon Montgomery party is still going on at Whistler two days after his gold, the victories of Christine Nesbitt, Alex Bilodeau, and Maelle Ricker were great, as were those of the other four who won silver and bronze, but there have been a lot of disappointments along the way. Maybe if they hadn’t made these people into household words with the TV promos, touting them as sure medalists, we wouldn’t have had such hopes.
And I know the women will come through for hockey. With only Canada and the US as worthy competitors in women’s hockey, we can’t help but get at least a silver, and (yes, I Believe!) I just know our women can get the Gold.
It’s just going to be hard to hold my head high with those darn Americans by using the argument, “Sure, you took a million medals in OUR Olympics, but you didn’t get the gold in Women’s Hockey, now did you? So there! Braaaaaahhh!
At least I hope they didn’t. I quote scripture to you: “Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief!”
And don’t you feel silly now, with Canada achieving
the highest gold count of any winter olympics?
Sometimes we whine a bit too much about ourselves.
Not really (well, maybe a little!). At the time I posted that, Canada was not doing well, with a series of 4th or 5th place finishes and many athletes who were anticipated to bring home medals coming up empty. News commentators on television and in print were drawing attention to the poor results, it was nothing unique to me. Athletes themselves were making comments on the impending failure of the Own the Podium forecast.
Who knows? Perhaps the attention given at that time spurred the later athletes to redouble their efforts and in some way contributed to the great final results.
The record number of Gold medals is fantastic. However, while impressive in its own right, the emphasis now on the Gold portion of the podium is a bit of damage control on the part of the OTP administration. The initial target was 30+ overall medals as the measure of the Own the Podium campaign. The US met that target and more with their also record-breaking overall medal results.
More of a success, particularly in light of some initial blunders, and the tragedy of the Luge death, is the success of the Olympics both in making an impression on the world, and in awakening a national pride from coast to coast in our own country. In that area it was particularly record-breaking.
Despite the fact that we didn’t win the overall medal count (3rd ain’t so bad, or maybe I am being “too Canadian” with my optimism), I think that your blog may have been the turning point to Canada’s success. Almost like a reverse jinx. You know how Sports Illustrated features an athlete on their cover and then the athlete SUCKS… I think your blog did a reversal of that. You said we might not reach 20 medals, etc. Well here we are the day after the Olympics are over and we didn’t do too badly. Thanks for the reverse jinx Francis!! YEAH!
Well okay, maybe John Montgomery swilling the pitcher of beer after his gold medal was more of a catalyst and an inspiration, but still. Joannie Rochette, Jasey Jay, the curling teams, the hockey teams, speed skating etc. They came to play.
I don’t think you could even say that Canadians redoubled their efforts because they weren’t owning the podium. Sometimes you either “have it” or you don’t. On any given day there are so many things that lift or hinder one’s spirits. To sum it up, I thought the OWN THE PODIUM was a success.
Besides aside from the fact that you don’t come away with a medal, what’s wrong with being fourth in the WORLD?? Is a medal the only measure of success. If Joannie Rochette had finished 4th would that make her a loser? Is she a loser for getting 3rd?