| Local Content |
| Written by Dave Sulz |
| Wednesday, 03 March 2010 11:24 |
|
OK, so maybe we didn’t “Own the Podium” at the recently completed Vancouver Winter Olympics. But we established squatter’s rights on the top step. By winning 14 gold medals, our Canadian athletes established a new Winter Games record. Early in the weekend, Canada had already set a new standard for most gold medals won by a host nation. Overall, Canada placed third among competing countries with a total of 26 medals, including seven silver and five bronze to go along with the trunkful of gold medals. Not a bad showing, I would say, even if Canada’s Olympic officials had been hoping for better. But I think we, as Canadians, have a lot of reasons to be proud of what our athletes accomplished at these Games. For example, how about the showing by figure skater Joannie Rochette? I can’t even imagine what it must be like to try to compete on the world’s most pressure-packed stage just after enduring the death of a loved one, as Rochette did following her mother’s sudden death. Rochette showed incredible courage in skating a brilliant short program, then skated a solid long program a few days later to win the bronze medal. Amazing. I was also amazed at the story of ski cross competitor Chris Del Bosco, who came so close to a bronze medal. The powerful story of his climb from the depths of substance abuse and onto the Olympic stage was inspirational. Inspirational, too, was the performance of snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson, who won gold in the men’s parallel giant slalom. After missing out on the podium at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Anderson chose to dedicate another four years toward his Olympic dream and finally fulfilled it, at age 34. In fact, all of our Canadian athletes were inspirational. I’m not sure most of us are able to truly appreciate the amount of hard work and dedication that goes into just getting to the Olympic level, let alone earning a medal. And these athletes are to be commended for being willing to put themselves under the microscope to represent their country on this pressure-packed stage. I was trying to imagine what it must have been like for Cheryl Bernard, skip of Canada’s women’s rink, to be facing that final shot in the women’s curling final with a gold medal on the line. Make it and she and her teammates are Olympic champions. Miss it and an entire country is disappointed. Wow! How would you like that kind of pressure on your shoulders? I tried to picture it in terms I could relate to. I imagined myself facing a five-foot putt — not automatic for me at the best of times. Then I imagined trying to make that putt with thousands of people looking on and several million others watching on television. Make the putt and I’m a national hero. Miss it and I dash the hopes of a nation. Some of my countrymen will probably call me a choker. I’m not sure I would even want to put myself in that situation. So kudos to all of our Olympic athletes for their hard work and courage to even be Olympians in the first place. To those who won medals, good job. And to those who didn’t, good job, too. You’ve all made your fellow Canadians proud. |
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| Trevor Panczak releasing his new CD with a party Sept. 9 08/09/2010 | Richard Amery for the Sun Times There are a couple big shows this week. |
| Due for an overhaul? 08/09/2010 | Dave Sulz, Sun Times I’m embarrassed. |
