Now that Salt Lake City has been forgotten and our athletes return to accolades (shunning, obscurity) or endorsement deals, it is a time for us to reflect and appraise how we fared as a nation in this high-profile surrogate for global warfare.
Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of total land mass, but taking into account the fact most of this is uninhabitable wasteland, our nation is only about the size of Denmark or the state of Maine. So, when you consider we came in fourth in the total metal standings, it’s a definite accomplishment.
And not only did we break our previous medal record, our team of multimillionaires brought home the only thing that mattered, the men’s Olympic hockey gold!
Once again Canada was the source of Olympic scandal. In Seoul it was Ben Johnson, in Nagano it was Ross Rebagliati, but this year it was the Salé and Pelletier story.
So actually, in terms of Olympic scandal, we did quite well.
While other nations were having medals stripped for doping, we were awarded, and our dynamic duo won the hearts of millions of Americans, (and will undoubtedly reap a windfall of corporate dollars).
So, in all, there is a sense we won this Olympics, with our hockey teams and our skaters, but, to be honest, we lost horribly. We came in fourth! Think of that—fourth! Why should we consider this an accomplishment? Do Americans ever say, “Yeah! We’re fourth!” Why are we willing to accept so much less? We represent winter! We are the gods of winter! We breathe snow and spit ice! We should accept nothing less than total victory, with our adversaries ground to a fine powder beneath the blades of our skates. And to what do we owe this national failure? The fact that we lack facilities and governmental support.
It is easy for our politicians to rally behind our Olympic athletes while the games are in effect, but once enough time has passed and no political advantage can be gained, our athletes are quickly forgotten.
Other than perhaps Elvis Stojko, our little kung-fu troll, how many of our “amateur” athletes garner enough financial support?
Our speed-skating team is our best-funded, with the athletes receiving monthly stipends, but what about our snowboarders, our lugers, our cross-country skiers? Chances are they will continue to be under-funded, while facilities in Ontario and other provinces will not be built.
In a few months they will be forgotten and will once again slip into obscurity, training hard to compete against athletes from countries where amateur athletics are given more respect.
The government should stop at nothing… they should, like… do something!
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