Read the opposing arguments from Sports Geek and Babe Ruthless.
The torch hadn’t even been lit, and things were not looking good for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics. It seemed like our neighbors to the north were to be cursed with yet another Olympic letdown – a curse that started nearly 35 years earlier.
The 2010 Games in Vancouver was to be the third Olympiad hosted by the Canadians, but the nation had failed to claim a single gold medal in either of their first two runs as host nation – Montreal in 1976 and Calgary in 1988. They were the only nation in Olympic history to have never won a “home” gold, and for a country which was no stranger to the medal podium in other Olympic years, this failure to hear ‘O, Canada’ played on their own beloved soil was simply too much for them to bear any longer.
The Canadian Olympic Committee had even created an initiative called “Own the Podium”, and it was designed as a program that would FINALLY put Canada’s Maple Leaf at the top in as many events as possible. But before the games even got underway, fate had proven unwilling to make hosting or winning these games easy.
During practice runs on the day of the Opening Ceremonies, Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvila was tragically killed on the luge track. The result of that tragedy was to first cast a very somber pall over remaining events of the Opening Ceremonies that day, and it subsequently sparked a controversy over how the Luge event would be run during the games, if they were to be run at all.
Then came the actual ceremony.
Whether fair or not, the city of Vancouver was asked to follow Beijing, whose spectacle to kick off the 2008 Summer Games was nothing short of amazing. Imagine having to follow Jerry Seinfeld in a standup comedy show – the bar simply had been set to high for Vancouver to meet, and in comparison to the Beijing Ceremonies, they had no chance.
Still, the Canadians put forth their best effort in creating a show that would entertain the world while simultaneously celebrating their own culture. Within the build-up to the Opening Ceremonies, the Canadians had been very secretive about who would actually be the one to light the Olympic Torch. The reason for this secrecy was because they had hoped to surprise the world by becoming the first nation to have the cauldron lit by more than just one person. In all, four of Canada’s most beloved athletes had been given the honor of being part of the first ever group lighting – Wayne Gretzky, Steve Nash, Catriona Le May Doan, and Nancy Greene.
Instead of being the dramatic scene of unity that Canada had hoped for, though, a glitch in the mechanism that was supposed to help raise the cauldron prior to lighting created an extremely awkward two-minute delay. Rather than prolong the agony any further, the Canadians finally resolved themselves to having only three of the four final torch-bearers proceed to light the cauldron. It was an anti-climactic ending to a ho-hum ceremony that featured the best Canada had to offer – K.D. Lang, “Slam” Poetry, and a giant polar bear.
But just three days after the less-than-spectacular opening to the XXI Winter Olympic Games, Alexandre Bilodeau succeeded in wiping away 34 previous years of Olympic disappointment.
Bilodeau, a 22-year old skier from Quebec, managed to finally clinch gold in the Men’s Moguls event. It was the moment that Canada had been waiting for, and as Bilodeau stood atop the medal podium, millions of Canadians stood with him, all singing the Canadian national anthem. That single win by Bilodeau helped break the dam, and from that point on Canada could not be denied.
Although the United States would go on to win the most total medals in any single Winter Olympics with 37 overall, it would actually be Canada – gold-starved on their home court for the last 34 years – who would go on to claim the title of “Most Gilded Nation” as they entered the final day of Olympic competition.
Even that wasn’t enough for the Canadians to sleep easy, though. For Canada, there was only one gold that mattered, and it was not to be awarded until the final event on the final day of competition – Men’s Hockey. Standing in their way, however, was an American team that had shocked the world by upsetting the heavily favored Canadians during round-robin play earlier during the Games, and Canada knew that they could not consider their Olympic experience a complete success unless they avenged that loss. For Canada, hockey was the nation’s premier event, and theirs was the premier team.
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period the Gold Medal seemed a foregone conclusion for the Canadians, but with only 0:24 remaining in the game, the United States managed to tie the game up and force overtime. It was Canada’s worst fear realized. Here they were, on the brink of Olympic glory, and those pesky Americans had snuck in once again and tried to take it all away. But this time the Canadians would not be denied, and 7:40 into the overtime period Sidney Crosby scored the game-winner for Canada. There could not have been a more dramatic (and fulfilling) way to close down the Winter Olympics for our friends up north.
Over the last 16 days, the world witnessed as Canada triumphed time and time again, all on their way to a Games-leading 14 Gold Medals. They rose to meet every challenge put in their way, and came through shining like the golden medallions hanging around their necks.
Both gracious host and worthy adversary, the Canadians made their nation proud!
Posted by Bleacher Fan 
