Oh Canada!

 

The Winter Olympics have just concluded and I have just watched the closing ceremonies.  During the two weeks of the 2014 Olympics, I, like most Canadians, experienced an entire range of emotions from tense anxiety prior to games and competitions to pride as our athletes won gold, silver and bronze medals.  Even those who did not win medals displayed sportsmanship, dedication to their sport and pride for our country and we can be proud of all our Canadian athletes.  In fact, news outlets all over the world commented on the kindness and friendliness of Canadian athletes and spectators.  But no one gave us the glowing review and high praise in such detail as Tanya Chen of Buzzfeed.com, an American on-line site, in her story “10 Ways Canada Has Already Won The Winter Olympics” which she posted on February 12 – only five days into the 2014!  Five days in and she was telling the world how Canada had already won the Winter Olympics!  These are the reasons she gave (and yes, it is ok to swell your chest in pride).

1.     “When the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion released its response to Russia’s anti-LGBT laws. This was done through the release of a 30-second commercial advocating the gay rights. It is very well done, humorous but gets the point across.

2.     “When an Olympic qualifier took one for Team Canada and gave up his spot to another teammate.” Chen is of course referring to Gilmore Junio who gave up his spot in the 1000 meter speed skating to Denny Morrison. Morrison went on to win silver.

3.     “When, shortly after his win, Morrison started a Twitter campaign to select Junio as Canada’s flag bearer during the Sochi closing ceremonies.” We now know that Junio was not selected to be our flag bearer, but it was a very nice gesture on the part of Morrison.

4.     “When a Canadian coach helped a Russian skier complete his Olympic race with dignity.” This was one of my favorite moments of the Olympics.  What a wonderful action on the part of Canadian cross-country coach Justin Wadsworth and so “Canadian”.  So proud of that coach.  This was also, by the way, chosen by CNN as the third most memorial Olympic Moment out of fifteen.   

5.     “When they showed everyone up by creating an ingenious beer fridge that can only be accessed by a Canadian passport.” I love this concept and I love the pictures of Canadians accessing refreshments by scanning their passports. 

6.     “When Ottawa’s mayor shut down some haters in the best possible way.”  Mayor Jim Watson flew the Pride Flag in Ottawa through-out the duration of the 2014 Winter Olympics. Many other cities followed suite, but Chen rightly credits him because he led the way.

7.     “When only two of the Dufour-Lapointe sisters took medals home but all three siblings cheered for each other.”  These free-style skiers are so supportive of each other and take such pride in the accomplishments of their siblings. It is heart-warming to see sisters behave in this way in such a competitive setting. 

8.     “ When, after beating his fellow countryman to get gold, Alex Bilodeau left his competitor with only kind words” Bilodeau grew up with Mikael Kingsbury, they skied together, belonged to the same clubs and had the same coaches. When Alex won gold in freestyle skiing over Kingsbury who won silver, he was quick to praise him and proclaimed him to be the one who will win everything one day. 

9.     “When Bilodeau then dedicated his Olympic gold to his brother who has cerebral palsy.” We saw Bilodeau do this at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and it was no less heart-wrenching to see him do this again in Sochi.   

10.   “And when — amid all sportsmanship and thoughtfulness — Canada actually won a bunch of medals.” On February 12 when Chen posted this, we were only up to eleven medals.  We would go on to more than double that number, which proves what Canadians have known all along: you can be nice and win at the same time. 

Tanya Chen, an American writing for an American site, has listed ten reasons why we as Canadians are winners regardless of how many medals we bring home.  Sometimes, we need to be reminded that it is ok to be nice and to be fair.  That is, after all, what makes us Canadian.   Winning the Olympics before it is even over . . . it's a good thing!