The Canadian Gold Rush

Maybe we had this one figured wrong all along.
Own The Podium? Not gonna happen at these Vancouver 2010 Games.
Own The Top Of The Podium? Now you're talking.
Don't look now, but guess who's leading the gold-medal count at these Winter Olympics. Yup, it's the host nation, which pushed its total to an all-time record 10 with a pair of golds in short-track speed skating events tonight at Pacific Coliseum. That's one better than Germany, a long-time winter powerhouse. Norway and the U.S. each have eight.
And get this. Canada has at least three more real shots at gold before the 2010 Winter Games end on Sunday. Kevin Martin's mighty foursome takes on Norway in the men's curling final on Saturday night, while the Canadians are also favoured in the men's team pursuit at long-track speed skating. There's also the matter of a certain hockey battle for gold against the Americans on Sunday afternoon.
Win them all and Canada would finish with 13 golds, matching the all-time Winter Games record first set by the old Soviet Union in 1964 in Innsbruck and matched eight years ago in Salt Lake City by Norway.
Now who saw that coming about five days ago, when Canada was floundering with nine total medals for its home Games and the critics were out in force lambasting the audacious (or arrogant, as some have suggested) Own The Podium strategy for Vancouver 2010?
Oh, and even if all of the above gold prospects wind up being silver, Canada's medal total would still move to 24, matching its all-time best set four years ago in Turin. That, too, also seemed highly improbable just a few days ago. But a 10-medal rush over the past three days suddenly has the red maple leaf riding high on home soil.
There's more. Lyndon Rush's Canada 1 sled stands a solid second after the first two runs of men's four-man bobsled. We've also got snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson coming Saturday in men's parallel giant slalom. In other words, move evidence of what seems to be a Canadian trend at the Olympic Games — start slow, take a very public flogging from the critics, then finish with a flourish.
Sounds like we've in for quite the wrapup in beautiful B.C., indeed.