Congratulations Team Canada!

What a difference a week makes!

Only a week ago, it looked like Team Canada was on its way to yet another disappointing showing in an Olympic Games. Thankfully, I’ve been proven wrong and I’m not too ashamed to admit it.

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In my post titled The Canadian Olympic Letdown I was pretty down on the fact that it seemed like our athletes were cursed to always languish in the bowels of Olympic dejection. Who could blame me? The story of these games was quickly taking on an all-too-familiar tone. One of high potential and higher disappointment.

I never focused my disappointment on the athletes. I know how hard they worked to get to this point and I appreciate their efforts—especially considering the challenges they face trying to be a successful Olympian in this country.

Let’s face it—compared to other nations—we don’t offer a whole lot of support for our athletes. It’s a wonder we win any medals at all. But things changed when we got awarded the 2010 Vancouver games. The powers that be—afraid of facing another embarrassment like in Calgary when we, as hosts, failed to win one gold medal—decided they’d better pump some money and support into the Olympic program. This turnout in Turin is a direct result of that added support.

Canada won 7 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze for a grand total of 24 medals—good for a 3rd overall ranking. This is great! Our best showing ever! We certainly have cause to celebrate.

The story of this Olympics for Canada—aside from the medal count—may be the performance of our female athletes versus the men. Our female Olympians won 16 of our 24 medals. That’s two-thirds of all our medals! Amazing! I can’t find the exact number—I did an extensive google search—but I think Canada sent one of the largest contingents of female athletes of all the countries to Turin. This is something we should be very proud of.

Most of all, we should be proud of all our athletes. Win or lose, they did us all proud:

Alpine Skiing

• Brigitte Acton
• Patrick Biggs
• Francois Bourque
• Emily Brydon
• Allison Forsyth
• Thomas Grandi
• Erik Guay
• Michael Janyk
• John Kucera
• Sherry Lawrence
• Christina Lustenberger
• Manuel Osborne-Paradis
• Jean-Philippe Roy
• Shona Rubens
• Ryan Semple
• Genevieve Simard
• Kelly VanderBeek

Biathlon

• Martine Albert
• Robin Clegg
• Sandra Keith
• Zina Kocher
• Jean Philippe Le Guellec
• David Leoni
• Marie-Pierre Parent

Bobsleigh

• Morgan Alexander
• David Bissett
• Lascelles Brown
• Jamie Cruickshank
• Nathan Cunningham
• Serge Despres
• Suzanne Gavine-Hlady
• Ken Kotyk
• Steve Larsen
• Florian Linder
• Pierre Lueders
• Heather Moyse
• Kaillie Simundson
• Helen Upperton

Cross Country Skiing

• Amanda Ammar
• Chandra Crawford
• Sean Crooks
• Drew Goldsack
• George Grey
• Chris Jeffries
• Devon Kershaw
• Sara Renner
• Dan Roycroft
• Beckie Scott
• Milaine Theriault
• Phil Widmer

Curling

• Mike Adam
• Brad Gushue
• Russ Howard
• Jamie Korab
• Mark Nichols
• Glenys Bakker
• Sandra Jenkins
• Christine Keshen
• Shannon Kleibrink
• Amy Nixon

Figure Skating

• Craig Buntin
• Jeffrey Buttle
• Bryce Davison
• Jessica Dube
• Marie-France Dubreuil
• Patrice Lauzon
• Mira Leung
• Aaron Lowe
• Valerie Marcoux
• Joannie Rochette
• Emanuel Sandhu
• Shawn Sawyer
• Megan Wing

Freestyle

• Veronika Bauer
• Jeffrey Bean
• Alexandre Bilodeau
• Deidra Dionne
• Jennifer Heil
• Marc-Andre Moreau
• Kyle Nissen
• Steve Omischl
• Amber Peterson
• Kristi Richards
• Audrey Robichaud
• Warren Shouldice
• Stephanie St-Pierre
• Christopher Wong

Ice Hockey

• Charline Labonte
• Kim St. Pierre
• Gillian Ferrari
• Becky Kellar
• Carla MacLeod
• Caroline Ouellette
• Cheryl Pounder
• Colleen Sostorics
• Meghan Agosta
• Gillian Apps
• Jennifer Botterill
• Cassie Campbell
• Danielle Goyette
• Jayna Hefford
• Gina Kingsbury
• Cherie Piper
• Vicky Sunohara
• Sarah Vaillancourt
• Katie Weatherston
• Hayley Wickenheiser
• Delaney Collins
• Sami Jo Small
• Martin Brodeur
• Roberto Luongo
• Marty Turco
• Rob Blake
• Jay Bouwmeester
• Adam Foote
• Ed Jovanovski
• Bryan McCabe
• Scott Niedermayer
• Chris Pronger
• Wade Redden
• Robyn Regehr
• Todd Bertuzzi
• Shane Doan
• Kris Draper
• Simon Gagne
• Dany Heatley
• Jarome Iginla
• Vincent Lecavalier
• Rick Nash
• Brad Richards
• Joe Sakic
• Ryan Smyth
• Martin St-Louis
• Joe Thornton

Luge

• Grant Albrecht
• Jeffrey Christie
• Ian Cockerline
• Samuel Edney
• Alex Gough
• Regan Lauscher
• Chris Moffat
• Mike Moffat
• Eric Pothier
• Meagan Simister

Nordic Combined

• Jason Myslicki
• Max Thompson

Skeleton

• Lindsay Alcock
• Paul Boehm
• Duff Gibson
• Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards
• Jeff Pain

Ski Jumping

• Gregory Baxter
• Graeme Gorham
• Jason Myslicki
• Michael Nell
• Stefan Read

Snowboard

• Jasey-Jay Anderson
• Philippe Berube
• Francois Boivin
• Sarah Conrad
• Justin Lamoureux
• Hugo Lemay
• Crispin Lipscomb
• Alexa Loo
• Dominique Maltais
• Brad Martin
• Drew Neilson
• Mercedes Nicoll
• Maelle Ricker
• Erin Simmons
• Dominique Vallee
• Tom Velisek

Speed Skate

• Arne Dankers
• Steven Elm
• Kristina Groves
• Clara Hughes
• Michael Ireland
• Cindy Klassen
• Vincent Labrie
• Brock Miron
• Denny Morrison
• Kristal Myers
• Christine Nesbitt
• Jason Parker
• Shannon Rempel
• Francois-Olivier Roberge
• Brittany Schussler
• Kerry Simpson
• Justin Warsylewicz
• Kim Weger
• Jeremy Wotherspoon

Short Track

• Eric Bedard
• Jonathan Guilmette
• Charles Hamelin
• Alanna Kraus
• Anouk Leblanc-Boucher
• Amanda Overland
• Kalyna Roberge
• Francois-Louis Tremblay
• Mathieu Turcotte
• Tania Vicent