Tragedy and Triumph to Start Games

One thing that seems to be true of all Olympic Games, whether they be Winter or Summer, is to expect the unexpected.

I don’t think anyone could have expected the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics to begin in such a shocking and tragic manner with the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia. During his training run before the Olympic Games had even officially started, Kumaritashvili lost control of his sled at over 140 km/h and was launched off the track and into a steel support beam. The injuries proved deadly for the young luger. Some feel the blame for this rests squarely on VANOC for not allowing enough time for foreign athletes to train on the track ahead of time. I strongly disagree. This young man made a mistake and sadly it cost him his life. When you’re traveling at those speeds it only takes a brief moment for an accident to occur.

Nobody could have predicted this could happen. If they had, they would have been able to prevent it. At the Opening Ceremonies his teammates from Georgia walked into the stadium without smiles and with black armbands. They did not stay for the rest of the show which included several mentions of the accident and one minute of silence.

The Opening Ceremonies were impressive and despite what some Quebec politicians think, I believe there was a good balance of both English and French during the show. But as usual, there are those in Quebec who are never satisfied. If it had been 90% French they would have been angry that it wasn’t 100% Francophone. Of course this comes from the province that won’t allow English signage. The saying “do as I say, not as I do” comes to mind.

The big thing from a Canadian perspective for these games was the question of not if but when and how soon will Canada have its first Gold Medal on Canadian soil? At the two previous Olympic Games held in Canada in 1976 and 1988, no Canadian athlete had won Gold. I believe five Silver Medals was our best at the ’76 Summer Games in Montreal.

Jenn Heil was the early favourite to achieve this in Ladies Moguls on Day 2 but despite putting together a fantastic run, she was edged out by an American girl and had to be happy with Canada’s first medal, Silver. Next up was Charles Hamelin in short-track speed skating who seemed likely to finish with a medal in the 1500 metre event if not at the top of the podium. But, fate played a cruel trick and Hamelin failed to qualify for the final and instead had to settle for easily winning the “B” final.

Next up was the Men’s Moguls on Sunday night where there was potential for Canadians to sweep all three podium positions. That didn’t happen of course as two of our athletes finished fourth and fifth. But the Gold Medal drought seemed like it could end on this night. With one last Canadian at the top of the run ready to make history, Alexandre Bilodeau took off and put in the performance of a lifetime and moved into top spot moving the defending champ to the Silver position.

One final skier remained and needed a perfect run to upset Canadians across the country. As I watched the French athlete make his way down the run, even a novice moguls competition watcher as me could spot a couple of major mistakes in his run and I knew it was in the bag. A few moments later it became official and Canada had its first Gold Medal on Canadian soil. The whole country celebrated and Bilodeau became an instant celebrity and hero to millions. Now that the goose egg has been broken, we can only hope this will lead to many more Gold Medals. Of course as Canadians, we’ll be proud of our athletes regardless of how they finish.

The biggest and most humourous Gaff of the Games so far has to go to NBC and their broadcast of the opening ceremonies. I’m sure some Americans wouldn’t have caught the mistake but it was a real doozy if you did.

As the Olympic flag was brought into the stadium, the flag bearers were introduced and the very first one was Betty Fox. Of course any Canadian with half a brain will tell you that Betty is the mother of Canadian hero and one-legged runner Terry Fox who died while running across Canada to raise money for cancer research. It was known as the Marathon of Hope and since 1980 the Terry Fox Run has been held in Canada and numerous other countries raising millions upon millions of dollars to fight cancer. The brain trust at NBC were right on the ball and quickly identified Betty Fox as the mother of Canadian actor Michael J. Fox…complete with pictures. Ouch!