So Canada's first medal at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics is a silver.
Wonder how long it's going to take for the phrase "failed to win the gold" to appear beside the name of Jennifer Heil, who was favoured to win the women's moguls final tonight — and give Canada its much-anticipated first gold on Canadian soil at an Olympic Games.
Instead, the hand-wringing will begin anew as our wait for this biggest of moments heads into the second full day of competition at Vancouver 2010. Much of it done by folks who, outside of these two weeks every four years, couldn't tell you a damn thing about moguls.
It would almost be comical if it wasn't so true. Already, I've seen the words "another Canadian choker" on a Twitter feed in reference to short-track speed skater Charles Hamelin, who didn't make it to the final of the men's 1,500 metres tonight. Never mind that the Quebecer's best distances are the 500 and 1,000. Fact is, Hamelin had been pumped up as a gold threat and didn't come through.
All of this takes me back to Calgary 1998, when Brian Orser was outpointed by a hair by American rival Brian Boitano in their epic 'Battle of the Brians' men's figure skating free-skate final. But the sentiment time was that Orser lost the gold — even though his medal was the same colour as that of Elizabeth Manley, who became a national hero for "winning the silver" in the women's event.
Perspective, folks, is a wonderful thing. And you'll find plenty of it right here in this blog post by the Toronto Star's Randy Starkman, which should be required reading for every Canadian tuning into these Games.
In the meantime, I'm going to celebrate what Jenn Heil did tonight. In my books, winning a silver medal at any Olympics is always something to cheer. Wouldn't we all like to be able to say we did that.
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