Why We Owned The Podium

So, in the end, was it all really worth it?
Did the $117 million investment we made in our athletes really pay off at Vancouver 2010? Can we indeed say we 'owned the podium?'
In a word (or three) ... yes, yes and yes.
As Canadian athletes finish off their "home" Winter Olympics with a remarkable medal flourish — another two golds and a bronze have been banked today, with the Kevin Martin curling rink working on a fourth right now — all the snickering about the federal government's bold funding initiative seems to have all but disappeared.
Then again, given what's gone on in the last 72 hours, it's hard not to see why. Was it really only four days ago that Canada was stuck on 11 medals, woefully shy of the bold (some might say boastful) predictions that had been made by the Canadian Olympic Committee?
Don't look now, but the red maple leaf is poised to make its greatest showing in Winter Olympics history. No matter what Martin's foursome does against Norway (and its now-famed pants) tonight, they'll earn a medal. That'll be No. 25 of Vancouver 2010, surpassing the total Canadian athletes earned four years ago at Turin 2006.
Of course, there's one more not-so-insignificant medal to collect — Canada faces off against the United States in the hotly-anticipated men's hockey final on Sunday — which will give the host nation a third-place finish in the overall medal count (behind the U.S. and Germany). That's our highest finish ever in those standings.
We've even made history on two fronts. The 12 golds we've earned so far — snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson and the men's pursuit team in long-track speedskating added to that total today — are the most for Canada in any Olympics, winter or summer. It's also the most for a host nation in Winter Olympics history (and how many trees were killed anguised about our golden drought at home? Way too many).
Oh, and we're not done yet. If Martin's crew prevails tonight, Canada will match the Winter Games record for most golds, first set by the old Soviet Union in Innsbruck in 1976 and matched by Norway at Salt Lake City 2002. The record could be ours alone with a hockey triumph Sunday, adding further fuel to a matchup that hardly needs any.
Now, the naysayers will still stay Own The Podium targeted a No. 1 overall finish at these Games, which obviously won't happen. Unless, that is, you go by the International Olympic Committee's table, which ranks countries in terms of who wins the most golds.
While the latter point is always a subject of debate, the point is Own The Podium did do its job. Winning gold is owning the podium, and we did it more than anyone else at these Games. More importantly, we sent a team of athletes to Vancouver with a mindset that went way beyond just being happy to be there. As un-Canadian as it sounds, these athletes came to their Olympics with winning front and centre. It says here that alone is a major step forward on this huge stage.
The question now is, where do we go from here? What do we do with the incredible momentum and positive feeling that's been generated by Vancouver 2010? It is a most important query, indeed.
There is no question the extra funding provided by Own The Podium played a massive role in the gains we saw over the past two weeks. That's a tap that simply can't be shut off, if we're to continue to enjoy more success in future Olympics. Look no further than the smashing success of the U.S. at these Games — eight years after they played host to the world in Salt Lake City — for proof of what can happen if you stick to your commitment over the long haul.
Canada needs to decide once and for all if it wants to keep being a Winter Games power. And the pride alone generated by our athletes in Vancouver should make that answer a resounding yes.
Yes, it's true we didn't top the medal count at our Games. But it's much easier to believe now that it could happen someday soon.
At the very least, let's give our athletes a chance to try. That's all they really want, to be able to stay they're still right in the Games.

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.

Raising The Flag Debate

Admittedly, it was first floated in this space a few days ago on the wings of sheer admiration ... but hardly without a sense of logic.
Now it seems there is a growing movement to have the indomitable Joannie Rochette carry the Canadian flag in Sunday's closing ceremony at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. I've seen it mentioned on Facebook, on Internet message boards and — perhaps most tellingly — even in the words of at least one former Games gold medallist.
"That was the most inspiring thing I have ever seen!" ex-Canadian women's hockey goaltender Sami Jo Small posted on Twitter shortly after Rochette earned a courageous bronze medal in women's figure skating on Thursday night. "Joannie should carry the CND Flag at the closing ceremonies. Represents the best of us!"
That's pretty much a universal sentiment after the world watched Rochette's stunning performance in the wake of the death of her mother, Therese, early Sunday morning — about 48 hours before she had to skate the short program at Pacific Coliseum. The 24-year-old from Ile-Dupas, Que., never wavered for a second in deciding to compete and reach for the dream she shared with her mom.
By the time she skated for the medals on Wednesday night, Rochette's story had reached global proportions, with one report this morning calling it "the iconic moment" of Vancouver 2010. All the more reason, it says here, to hand Rochette the red maple leaf on Sunday night.
In all likelihood, it won't happen. Freestyle skier Alex Bilodeau, who gave Canada it's first-ever Olympic medal on home soil in the men's moguls, is the logical choice in many eyes. In fact, the Canadian closing ceremony flagbearers at the past four Winter Games (Cindy Klassen, 2006; Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, 2002; Catriona Le May Doan, 1998, and Myriam Bedard, 1994) have all brought home gold.
But what a statement it would make if the panel selecting the flagbearer decided this time to pick someone who represents the true Olympic spirit. An athlete who didn't just earn a medal but showed remarkable character and courage in the face of the worst of adversity, yet refused to surrender in the face of it all. A person who authored an astounding Olympic story that will be remembered for decades after the flame is extinguished in Vancouver, in Canada and beyond.
You will find all of that, and so much more, of a little fighter from Quebec who taught us all so much with a magnificent display of heart.
Joannie Rochette did Canada so very proud this week and the world stood at her feet in awe and admiration. Amid all the Own The Podium bluster, maybe she stands for the Canada we should want them all to remember after they depart our remarkable Winter Games.

How High Can They Go?

The cheers could be heard all the way from Vancouver.
And we're not just talking about the rabid hockey fans who all but blew the roof off Canada Hockey Place on Wednesday night during their hockey heroes' 7-3 demolition of Russia in a quarter-final showdown (that really wasn't much of one) at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
Rather, we speak of the suits that run Canada's Olympic Media Broadcast Consortium, who no doubt erupted with glee when they saw the enormous (but hardly surprising) audience figures for the game.
BBM Canada figures released today indicate Canada-Russia was watched by an average audience of 10.5 million, making it the second-most watched sports program in Canadian television history. Only Sunday's Canada-U.S. matchup (10.6 million) rated higher.
There's more. The game had a total reach of 21.6 million (two-thirds of the Canadian population) and was watched by 9.3 million on CTV alone.
The best might be yet to come. Consider that the Canada-Russia game was a) never really competitive, b) played on a Wednesday night and c) was only a quarter-final game. Canada-Slovakia in semifinals has the potential to be record-breaking, given that a berth in the gold-medal game is on the line and it's being played on a Friday night.
(yes, the 9:30 p.m. start time seems odd, but that means everyone in the Mountain and Pacific time zones will be home from their jobs in plenty of time to watch it. As for those out east ... hey, it's a Friday night. Break out those six-packs and just give 'er).
It boggles the mind to think what kind of number a gold-medal game involving Canada on a Sunday afternoon might produce. Some 10.3 million tuned in eight years ago at Salt Lake City 2002. I'd say 15 or even 20 million isn't out of the question this time (factoring in that the new personal people meter measuring system has inflated all TV ratings).
So yes, it's pretty easy to presume some of those cheers coming from the Left Coast on Wednesday night emanated from the offices of CTV's bigwigs in Vancouver. And they might well just be warming up, indeed.
*****
The weather outside is a bit frightful, which has had the predictable effect on my satellite TV system. Meaning I'm giving extra thanks for all the live Olympic coverage available at CTVOlympics.ca.
Not a bad way to go, if you ask me. Nope, not so bad at all.

The Kids Are All Right

So what next, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir?
You're 20 and 22 years old, respectively, and now the youngest Olympic ice dance champions ever. And you did it right on home soil at Pacific Coliseum on a memorable Monday night at the Vancouver 2010 Games.
All of which makes it easy to ask ... does it get any better than this?
To hear and watch the fetching Canadian couple afterward, it's hard to imagine. And, as Virtue told CTV's Sara Orlesky, this one's been in their thoughts for awhile.
"We've been dreaming of this moment our entire lives," said Virtue, who bounced with excitement behind the boards before dashing to the medal podium with her partner and best friend. "We've pictured it in our minds so many times. But actually living it is so much better."
They belted out O Canada with gusto and pride on the top step of the podium as the red maple leaf rose to the rafters before a wildly cheering throng. That, too, was always part of the dream.
The topper for Virtue and Moir? They did it on the heels of one of the most sublime, magical performances in Olympic history, knowing full well that nothing less than that would get it done. You know that when you train every day with Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who were full value for the silver medals they earned on this night.
It was an unprecedented result in an Olympic discipline traditionally dominated by Europe and Russia in particular. But there is now no doubt that the world's two best ice dance teams share the same training ice and coaches (Marina Zoueva and Igor Shpilband) in Canton, Mich.
Skate Canada, no doubt, couldn't be more thrilled to trumpet the achievements of their first Olympic gold medallists since Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in pairs at Salt Lake City 2002. But the association also has to wonder just how much longer they'll get to enjoy them.
Many an Olympic champion has chosen to take a pass on the ensuing world championships, figuring they've got nothing to gain in the wake of the ultimate triumph. But given they're the ultimate team players, it's easy to see Virtue and Moir heading off to Torino in a month's time and trying to help land Canada a third ice dance berth for the 2011 worlds. They've also never won a global title themselves, so there's the matter of checking that one last major goal off their list.
Creatively, Virtue and Moir are still only scratching the surface of their potential, and they've always struck me as the kind of people who want to keep giving to their sport and making it better. And while their ages suggest Sochi 2014 is well within reach, four years is a long time to commit to chasing a goal you've already achieved — and in the best way possible, right at home in the most pressure-packed Olympics of all.
These are interesting times, indeed, for Virtue and Moir. And despite the magnitude of what they achieved tonight, they've really just begun.
Maybe it's best we let them enjoy this one. Their glee was so wonderfully evident as they celebrated a dream come true. Perhaps somewhere inside, they've got a few more in mind yet to chase. We joined them for a remarkable ride at Vancouver 2010. We should be so lucky to have them invite us along for another one someday.
*****
Sometimes, you've just gotta love Brian Williams' honesty.
While the Canadian Olympic Committee has run up the white flag in its bid to 'Own The Podium' at Vancouver 2010 — they're now conceding catching the United States in the medal standings is pretty much impossible — matching or beating our medal total at Turin 2006 (24) is still very much within their thoughts. Even if that would require at least another 14 of them over the final six days of competition.
That certainly didn't sit well with Williams, as the CTV prime-time anchor made eminently clear during a studio interview with Own The Podium program architect Roger Jackson.
"They are absolutely dreaming in technicolour," Williams said bluntly. "To me, they're putting an incredible amount of pressure on the athletes who have yet to perform ... that's not fair."
Hard to argue with that point, I'd say.

Medal Rush A Bonanza For NBC

Everyone loves a winner.
And nowhere is that more true than south of the border, where Americans celebrate victories with a special kind of gusto. No wonder, then, that our neighbours are tuning into NBC's coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in increasingly huge numbers.
Yes, folks, the stars and stripes are on a serious march on Canadian soil, charging into the lead in the medals table with 21 pieces of gold, silver and bronze earned as of this writing. That's eight better than Germany — the medals champion at the 2006 Turin Games — and 11 ahead of Norway, the all-time powerhouse of the Winter Olympics.
But ever since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, the U.S. has become a much more formidable force in winter sports. American alpine skiers have racked up seven medals at Whistler, their greatest Olympic haul ever. There are even hopes for trips to the podium in sports such as Nordic combined, not exactly a traditional source of U.S. strength.
Clearly, all of this is hitting home with Americans watching back home. NBC reports some 157 viewers — half the U.S. population — have tuned into coverage on its family of networks through the first eight days of Vancouver 2010. That's five million more than four years ago in Turin.
More impressive is the nightly average of 26.2 million viewers. Not only is that up 27 per cent over Turin, it's the most-watched Winter Games in the U.S. since Lillehammer 1994 (38.3 million), which was fuelled by the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan figure skating soap opera.
Two nights ago, the Winter Olympics beat Fox's American Idol in the ratings, which is apparently a victory of epic proportions (I'd rather look at it as a whole bunch of people finally coming to their senses).
Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that the top U.S. metered markets happen to be Denver, Milwaukee (a speed skating mecca) and Salt Lake City, where all of this got started. But too many people are watching for it be limited to these winter sports havens.
Nope, Americans have definitely caught Winter Olympics fever. And, like the feats of their athletes, it doesn't show any signs of slowing down.

Do You Still Believe?

For months and months now, we've been inundated by the message.
Canada, we've been told, wants to 'own the podium' at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. As in, top the medal table for the first time in the long and storied history of the Winter Games.
We were third behind Germany and the United States four years ago at the 2006 Turin Olympics in terms of total medals. Backed by a massive influx of cash — and an investment in the best in sports sciences — the stage was set for the red maple leaf to rise to the top.
'Do You Believe?' screamed the message at the heart of a relentless marketing campaign by Canada's Olympic broadcast media consortium that seems never ending.
Less than a week into Vancouver 2010, however, it seems the grand plan has gone off the rails. The U.S. is off to an astounding start in these Games and, heading into Friday night's competitions, held a wide 20-7 edge in the medal count over our gang. Even the Canadian Olympic Committee, which has spoke often about our second-week potential in medals, is beginning to admit the two-touchdown deficit might be too much to overcome.
"It's going to be tough," COC boss Chris Rudge conceded in a Toronto Star report today, adding the Americans are "way ahead" of projections.
Rudge seemed to be laying the groundwork for such sentiment a day earlier, when he told Sun Media that owning the podium was merely "a goal" for the Canadian team, not a declaration or prediction that it was actually going to happen.
“Nobody ever said we ARE going to be No.1,” said Rudge in doing his best word dance. “We put that out as a goal and objective. Is the sky going to fall if we don’t? I don’t think so.”
Don't tell that to the athletes, who very much want to put on a great show in front of wildly supportive Canadian fans. Check out this line from Canada's Mellisa Hollingsworth. After flaming out on her final skeleton run when a medal was in her grasp, the teary-eyed Albertan told CTV's Farhan Lalji "I feel like I let the entire country down."
Yep, this is serious business for our athletes, folks. And while Hollingsworth is probably beating herself up too much by saying that, I think most Canadians would agree they like the aggressive attitude our gang has brought to Vancouver. As un-Canadian as it might sound, there's nothing wrong with saying we're here to win, is there?
Meanwhile, the Americans' stunning showing at these Games — they've absolutely cleaned up in the alpine events at Whistler — is a testament to the legacy of Salt Lake City 2002. The U.S. decided it wanted to be a winter sports powerhouse heading into its "home games" and the athletes continue to reap the benefits of that major investment.
The question is, will Canada's finest enjoy the same windfall at Sochi 2014 and beyond? Two Games past Salt Lake, the stars and stripes are still rolling and showing no signs of slowing down. But there is great uncertainty about Canada's future beyond Vancouver.
Already, there is real apprehension — even outright fear — about what lies ahead for our winter athletes. Own The Podium shuts down after these Games and the federal government has yet to guarantee it'll make up the shortfall created by the loss of those significant funds.
All of which makes one wonder: Was Own The Podium about looking good on home soil or laying the base for winter sports dominance going forward? The Americans are showing what can be done by using a home games as a springboard. If we don't do the same, it's opportunity lost.
An opportunity, it says here, that will be gone and lost forever.
So the question remains: Do you believe?

The Day The Music (Almost) Died

Eight years ago tonight, the eyes and ears of the world were glued to one of the most bizarre scenes in Winter Olympics history.
Four figure skaters — two of them Canadian, two of them Russian — standing on the top step of a podium, every one of them wearing gold medals. It was the final chapter in one of the most sordid tales the sport had ever seen. And one that almost struck it with a death blow.
We speak, of course, of the judging scandal that enveloped Canadian pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Within hours of the final verdict in the event — which saw Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze declared the winners despite the fact Sale and Pelletier clearly outskated them with one of great performances in Olympic history —it was revealed back- room dealing between Russian and French officials rigged the result.
The scandal almost immediately ignited a global media firestorm that wasn't quelled until International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge announced, in an unprecented move, that Sale and Pelletier would be awarded duplicate gold medals.
Cue the awkward double medal presentation. While we heard the words "special ceremony" used to describe it earlier today on CTV, I got an entirely different viewpoint from Sale and Pelletier when revisiting "Skategate" in an Ottawa Sun feature four years ago before the 2006 Turin Games.
Pelletier called it "a great TV moment, not a great athlete moment" and that about summed it up. Clearly. neither he nor Sale wanted any part of the ceremony (we'll assume the Russians felt the same way) and just did it to appease NBC in particular.
What can't be denied, however, is that the aftershocks of that dark moment in figure skating history are still being felt to this day. The sport is still struggling to regain the popularity it enjoyed before Salt Lake, even in Canada, where its support has always been the greatest.
Perhaps the scandal's biggest legacy: the code of points scoring method that replaced the old (and easily manipulated) 6.0 system of days gone by. While it is still a mystery to far too many people, it says here that figure skating is much better off with what it has today. But much work still needs to be done to satisfy a public that, seven years later, finds the whole thing entirely too confusing.
Figure skating, it must be said, does a horrible job of explaining the system to its paying audience. They see all kinds of numbers and a huge segment of them haven't a clue what they mean. That's something that absolutely must be addressed, and sooner rather than later.
And much as the system is an improvement over the old way, it still must be tweaked regularly to help the sport evolve. There has been a great outcry this week about the lack of quadruple jumps in the men's event, and it's valid criticism. But until the point value for the jump is increased to make it worth the risk, nothing will change and the sport stands still. It's also been proven, by Canadian Jeffrey Buttle in 2008, that you can win a world title without one if the rest of your repertoire is top notch and your execution is of the highest level.
But here's what I like the most about COP. Canada's Patrick Chan is about nine points out of the medals heading into Thursday night's Olympic free skate final — a veritable mountain to climb, indeed, but not beyond the realm of possibility.
Under the old 6.0 system, Chan's hopes would be dead and buried. But COP makes the impossible seem possible and the fans feel that, too. And when it comes to figure skating, anything that makes the fans believe is a very good thing, because they're the lifeblood of any sport.
But COP is far from perfect yet. A few tweaks here and there and maybe figure skating can find its way back to its glory days again.

The Five-Ring Quest Begins

So it's nowhere near as audacious, historic — or hyped — as Michael Phelps' great swimming eight in '08 on the big stage in Beijing.

But every Olympics needs a big home-country hero and Canada has a start on getting one of its own after a nerve-wracking finish in the 3,000 metres in women's speed skating at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

That person would be Kristina Groves, a humble 33-year-old from Ottawa who does everything but seek out the bright spotlight. But after skating in the shadows of Catriona Le May Doan (2002) and Cindy Klassen (2006) at the past two Winter Olympics, it just might be Groves' time to be the queen of the speed skating oval for Canada.

She is entered in five events at Vancouver 2010 and given a chance to win a medal in every one of them, though the gruelling 3,000 — the event in which she earned a bronze medal today at the Richmond Olympic Oval — isn't considered her specialty (that would be the 1,500, which comes later on this week).

But when Groves edged Daniela Anschutz Thoms of Germany by a scant .03 seconds for the bronze, the celebration was on Richmond, which hopes to cheer the home side on to a boatful of medals before the Games long-track program ends.

"I've never felt that before," Groves told CTV when asked about the massive support Canadians are getting on home turf. "I've heard it, but it's never been for Canada or for me."

Indeed, she and the Canadian speed-skating program have come a long way since 1995, when she was first flashing her potential at the Canada Winter Games in Grande Prairie, Alta. (and spent several moments doing interviews about it all with your humble blogger, an Ottawa Sun amateur sports columnist at the time).

There were two Olympics to follow in Salt Lake City (2002) and Turin (2006), when she had big breakthrough on the big stage with a pair of silver medals. But Klassen's haul of five medals were the story of those Winter Games in Italy.

Now, however, it appears it's Groves' time to take centre stage, though teammates Christine Nesbitt and Clara Hughes figure to make some noise as well before these Games are in the books.

We'll save a few special cheers, though, for a certain fellow Ottawan whose achievements were always a delight to chronicle during my days at the Sun. Someone who you always knew would get her day in sun, no matter how long it took. 

That's what champions are made of, don't you know?