I’ve been cursorily following the olympics so far and have to say I’m rather disappointed with how Canada has fared so far. Much has been made of Canada’s plan to own the podium in Vancouver in 2010, which is supposed to be showing dividends this Olympics by giving added opportunity and funding to Canadian athletes. Now 4 days into the games and Canada seems to be showing the same type of luck we have every Olympics, going in with high hopes and aspirations, only to come up empty or worse.

Canada always seems to have lots of favourites for medals that always come up short. Very rarely do we actually have a world champion who manages to follow through and actually achieve a gold medal. This go around was supposed to be different. Our athletes were given more so they would be able to train properly and be able to excel at their sports, yet it simply hasn’t materialized. So far this olympics we’ve had Jeremy Wotherspoon finish 9th in an event he was favoured to win. Cindy Klassen managed only a bronze after faltering in the final stages of a race she had been dominating and favoured in. Defending Olympic champion Beckie Scott fails to medal, finishing sixth. We fail to get a medal in a sport like snowboarding, where we should dominate and have medaled in the past.

Why does this happen all the time? Why does Canada constantly come up short when it’s all on the line? It’s because Canada breeds a mentality that it’s good enough to have made it to the Olympics. I listen to the commentators on the CBC and they’re proud of the fact we simply had an athlete qualify in ski jumping, where Stefan Read finished 42nd. The article about I mentioned about snowboarding, one of the Canadian officials mentions "that not only will Canadians be in the final of both the men’s and women’s halfpipe at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada will also win a medal." While that’s the right kind of thinking, it’s still flawed. Why do we shoot for a medal? Why not three medals? In sports where other countries dominate, they send their best with the intent of winning gold, silver and bronze, not just a single medal. If Canada really intends to in fact own the podium, this is the type of mentality they require to truly excel. I know when the USA sends an athlete in to the Olympics who is favoured, they quite often end up winning. Canadians seem to falter under this pressure of expectation, whereas other countries seem to be able to send athletes who are mentally tough and handle the weight of the nation on their shoulders.

[[tt:olympics]][[tt:canada]][[tt:own the podium]]