The Right Choice ... The Wrong Story

In the end, the Canadian Olympic Committee got it right.
But the way the news got out ... not so much.
The official word is that figure skater Joannie Rochette will be Canada's flagbearer for the closing ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics later tonight. Rochette skated her way to a bronze medal — and into the hearts of millions of Canadians — just days after her mother, Therese, died of a sudden, shocking heart attack at age 55.
What followed was the most inspirational story of the Vancouver Games. Through tears and a heavy heart, Rochette gave the world a remarkable display of the Olympic spirit. Messages of condolence and encouragement poured in from around the planet, all of them utterly amazed at the iron will of the petite 24-year-old from Ile-Dupas, Que., in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
It moved us to suggest, after the short program of her life, that Rochette should be given the honour of carrying our flag into the closing ceremony. It seemed to be the perfect choice in so many ways and a growing media groundswell threw its weight behind the idea in the days after she won the most remarkable Canadian medal of these Games.
Simply put, Rochette had touched a nerve among all Canadians.
That being said, had the honour gone to Alex Bilodeau — the moguls skier who won the first Canadian Olympic gold ever on Canadian soil — a lot of heads would have nodded in agreement. There were a dozen more golds, for that matter, in what has been a record-breaking Winter Games for Canada on a number of fronts.
So when reports began to emerge this morning that short-track speed skater Charles Hamelin was the choice of a COC selection committee, it certainly made some sense. Hamelin, after all, was the only double gold medallist for Canada at Vancouver 2010. According to one report, he had accepted the honour at a reception involving a number of other Canadian medallists. But not so fast, as it turned out.
The COC's news conference confirmed that it was indeed Rochette who'll carry the red maple leaf — and with a big smile, she promises — into B.C. Place tonight. But the fact that Hamelin's name was reported so widely had to leave a lot of folks, well, red-faced.
Gee, it isn't possible that everyone was just a little too preoccupied with a certain other event involving Canada today, is it?
Not that it's an excuse in any way. Embarrassing is the word, indeed.