The weather may be cold, but Canadians have always maintained the reputation of being warm, friendly people. Certainly not the kind to boast or brag about athletic prowess.
As far as the Olympics go, there hasn’t been much reason to celebrate. The country has never come in first for medals, and the previous Canadian-hosted games – Montreal in 1976, Calgary in 1988 – failed to produce a single gold medal for the Great White North.
But that all may change with this month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The government has upped its game, shelling out more money than ever for training, resources and equipment. With that comes a more aggressive attitude, one that’s not afraid to lay it all out for the competition.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the country’s motto for the Vancouver Games: “Own the Podium.”
“This is a very different world than either 1976 or 1988,” says Canadian broadcaster Brian Williams (not the NBC News anchor), who will co-host the prime-time coverage of the Games for CTV.
Dominick Gauthier, a former Olympian skier now coaching two of the country’s top medal prospects, told The Wall Street Journal, “Canada is finally more concerned with winning than being nice.”
For many, in fact, it’s not even a question of whether Canada will do well in the Games, but just how bright their Olympic stars will shine. Canadian Olympic organizers have gone on record as saying they expect Team Canada to take at least 30 medals. It’s a goal that has been put in doubt by a rash of injuries to Canadian skiers, including a broken leg for world downhill champion John Kucera.
“I caution the Olympic officials who have been predicting first overall, and 30-plus medals,” Williams says. “You just have to look at all the injuries to the skiers. I certainly think they’ll surpass 24, but I’m not sure about 30. There are so many variables.”
Some Canadians have voiced uneasiness about the newfound brash approach, claiming it’s not in the country’s character, that such jingoism is better suited to places like the United States.
But some find it just what the athletes need to bring home the hardware.
“As a Canadian I’m happy to see Canada becoming aggressive like America,” former hockey coach Barry Melrose, now an ESPN announcer, told the Journal. “If you’re afraid to talk about winning, you’ll never win.”
Some of the big stories for Canada should be the women’s hockey team, which won silver in Nagano in 1998, followed by consecutive gold in Salt Lake in 2002 and Turin in 2006. Meanwhile, the country will be holding its collective breath over the men’s hockey team. It won gold in Salt Lake – the first time in 50 years – and then finished seventh in 2006. The men are coming into Vancouver with something to prove for a nation that doesn’t have much patience with hockey teams that don’t finish first.
“Go through the list: men’s and women’s hockey; curling; figure skating; alpine skiing; freestyle skiing; long track and short track speed skating,” Williams says. “Canada has a realistic chance in all these sports. That’s what makes it so exciting.”